Einführung

Hausmann, Frank-Rutger

doi:10.1524/9783486594492-001

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“…This “action” represented the so-called “war efforts” of the humanities in German universities between 1940 and 1945, under the direction of the legal scholar Paul Ritterbusch. This enterprise entailed a battle waged with words, comprising papers and monographs published by scholars with the aim of demonstrating the superiority of the “German spirit” and the German “sciences” ( Wissenschaften ) over “western” (mainly French and British) thinking (Hausmann 2011 : 84). As part of this project, a conference of German orientalists was organized in Berlin from 30 September to 3 October 1942.…”

Section: Aktion Ritterbuschmentioning

confidence: 99%

Knowledge of India as an Instrument of Nazi Politics: Ludwig Alsdorf, German Indology and Indian Anti-Colonialism

Roy

2023

N.T.M.

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Ludwig Alsdorf (1904–1978) is primarily remembered as a scholar of ancient and medieval India. This paper examines a little known aspect of Alsdorf’s career: his role as an expert of modern India in Nazi Germany. Alsdorf, who was in India from 1930 to 1932, joined the NSDAP and a few of its subsidiaries after 1933. Political contacts as well as his claims of having “first-hand experience” of India secured Alsdorf writing assignments that aimed to fulfil the regime’s political objectives. In return, he gained professional advancement and the reputation of being an authority on modern India. This paper reviews Alsdorf’s trajectory within the NS state by focussing on the following aspects: the ways in which Alsdorf offered his knowledge of India to the Nazi regime; the material and symbolic resources that he received in return; the relative importance of political affiliations, professional networks and academic accomplishments for Alsdorf’s career; the “politics of the past” practised by Alsdorf and some of peers after 1945; and the (re)presentation of the “uses” of Indology in the “Third Reich” and in the Federal Republic of Germany by Alsdorf and his colleagues.

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Section: Aktion Ritterbuschmentioning

confidence: 99%

Knowledge of India as an Instrument of Nazi Politics: Ludwig Alsdorf, German Indology and Indian Anti-Colonialism

Roy

2023

N.T.M.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Einführung

Cited by 1 publication

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Knowledge of India as an Instrument of Nazi Politics: Ludwig Alsdorf, German Indology and Indian Anti-Colonialism

Knowledge of India as an Instrument of Nazi Politics: Ludwig Alsdorf, German Indology and Indian Anti-Colonialism

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