Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Press – Germany – History'

A Nazi news editor declared in 1934 that there were indefinable "magic connections" between news and politics. This dissertation demystifies those links between communications and society. An untold story of news networks lies behind the media sources that we mine constantly as historians. In particular, news agencies, the essential bottleneck of news supply, remain obscured behind the newspapers printing their reports. This study explores why news agencies became the intuitive modern form of news collection and dissemination and how they functioned as a central locus for tussles over the creation of news from events, the limits of government or business control over news, and the role of technology in revising communications infrastructures. 1905 to 1945 represented the zenith of German faith in news agencies’ ability to overturn the existing world order. Along with industrialists and academics, politicians and bureaucrats thought that news agencies could change not only Germany’s role in global communications, but politics, economics, and society too. Coupled with technical advances in wireless telegraphy, news agencies seemed the best means to improve Germany’s international reputation, boost foreign trade, and create societal cohesion at home. News agencies seemed the key to controlling public opinion as well as to creating global news networks conducive to Germany. This news agency consensus united German elites of all political stripes in the belief that news agencies provided an ideal outlet to solve political, social, and economic problems. While such schemes did not always succeed, German news agencies often altered the modern infrastructure of global communications. They briefly achieved media dominance on the oceans, challenged Reuters’ and Agence Havas’ control of European news, and became a leading supplier of news to South America and East Asia in the Nazi period. This work illustrates the interdependence of communications and history by integrating approaches from business history, communications studies, sociology, book history, and the history of technology. It shows the spread and success of German news at a moment when news agencies played a central and underappreciated role in the negotiation of a new relationship between politics, economics, and society in first half of the twentieth century.
History

When Martin Luther supposedly nailed his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517 to the Castle Church door in Wittenberg, the small town had only a single printing press. By the end of the century, Wittenberg had published more books than any other city in the Holy Roman Empire. Of the leading print centres in early modern Europe, Wittenberg was the only one that was not a major centre of trade, politics, or culture. This thesis examines the rise of the Wittenberg printing industry and analyses how it overtook the Empire's leading print centres. Luther's controversy—and the publications it produced—attracted printers to Wittenberg who would publish tract after tract. In only a few years, Luther became the most published author since the invention of the printing press. This thesis investigates the workshops of the four leading printers in Wittenberg during Luther's lifetime: Nickel Schirlentz, Josef Klug, Hans Lufft, and Georg Rhau. Together, these printers conquered the German print world. They were helped with the assistance of the famous Renaissance artist, Lucas Cranach the Elder, who lived in Wittenberg as court painter to the Elector of Saxony. His woodcut title page borders decorated the covers of Luther's books and were copied throughout the Empire. Capitalising off the demand for Wittenberg books, many printers falsely printed that their books were from Wittenberg. Such fraud played a major role in the Reformation book trade, as printers in every major print centre made counterfeits of Wittenberg books. However, Reformation pamphlets were not the sole reason for Wittenberg's success. Such items played only a marginal role in the local industry. It was the great Luther Bibles, spurred by Luther's emphasis on Bible reading, that allowed Wittenberg's printers to overcome the odds and become the largest print centre in early modern Germany.

This dissertation is a quantitative study with elements of qualitative analysis. The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate WHAT was written about Ukraine's independence 1917 in Swedish press 1917–1918. The qualitative part of the survey was intended to answer the question if the newspaper's political attitude influenced the news reports during the chosen period. The exact periodization was determined to be between March 1, 1917 and June 30, 1918. This periodization was chosen because of the March Revolution in 1917, which triggered independence declarations in a number of countries oppressed by Moscow, who now saw their chance of freedom. June 1918 became the end of the investigation because it was just when the peace agreement between Ukraine and the Soviet Union was signed. The source material has been chosen to represent a multitude of ideological orientations. It was liberal, moderate, conservative, liberal and left-wing orientations. The source material consisted of newspaper articles from the following newspapers: Dagens Nyheter, Aftonbladet, Göteborgs Aftonblad, Svenska Dagbladet, Dalpilen, Kalmar Tidning and Norrskensflamman. Quantitative methodology was used on the source material. This method consisted of a reviewing of newspaper articles in searching of news reports from Ukraine or articles which had something to do with the events in Ukraine. Every newspaper was searched day after day. The crawled material was presented in two chapters representing different periods. The first chapter of the results presented the results from 1917, and more precisely from March to December 1917. The second chapter presented the results from 1918, but also from December 1917, that is, the result from December 1917 through June 1918. The whole result was then discussed in a separate chapter where the qualitative analysis was also discussed. The result of the quantitative analysis showed that it has been written relatively sparcely about Ukraine's independence although the volume of articles increased from December 1917 and even more in 1918. Sometimes there were articles on the first page. But for the most part, the articles with Ukraine issues were placed among other foreign articles. It was also found in the survey that it was the first World War that drew attention to the newspapers, even though the events in Petrograd and then in Ukraine took more space. This survey also showed that what was written about Ukraine's independence was also what appears in the reference literature. The news reports reported how Ukraine proclaimed independence in March 1917 and later on proclaimed an independent republic in November 1917 when the Bolsheviks conducted their coup d'état in Petrograd. The newspapers also wrote how the Russian Communists sent a declaration of war to Ukraine in December 1917 and about the war that followed. The articles also tell us how negotiations on Ukraine Peace went on in Brest-Litovsk, and how they ended up with alliance between Germany and Ukraine with the campaign against the communists. It was told how the German army marched into Ukraine to free it from the bolsheviks. Until May 1918 there were battles between the German-Ukrainian Army and the Communists. In June 1918 the peace agreement was signed and this survey’s investigation ended. The survey showed that it was written about Ukraine's independence in all newspapers. Dagens Nyheter had the most news articles linked to the survey. Although the number of articles was not subject for analysis in this survey. The qualitative analysis was based on using Höjelid's theoretical concepts "positive sound" and "negative sound" on the quantitative analysis material. The qualitative analysis’ result showed that it was almost impossible to see the differences between the newspapers because the articles were traded between the newspapers, i.e. the content was copied straight away. It should be noted that not all content was the subject of copying between the newspapers. Copying occurred to a greater extent, but there were still original articles derived from the respective newspaper. Most of the articles were also direct telegrams that were communicated abroad to the newspaper's editors. A lot of these telegrammic articles were sent with a purpose to mislead society. These angled articles were published without further examination in Swedish press. There were articles from, for example, Dagens Nyheter whose editors noted the "strange Petrograd reports" and informed about it for the purpose of enlightening the public. However, as most newspapers were occupied with World War I, as was shown in the source material, the newspaper editorial office was less interested in other foreign events. Therefore, such angled articles could be found in Swedish press on a larger scale.
Denna avhandling är en kvantitativ studie med inslag av kvalitativ analys. Syftet med denna kvantitativa studien var att undersöka VAD som skrevs om Ukrajinas självständighet 1917 i svensk press 1917–1918. Den kvalitativa delen av undersökningen ämnade att besvara frågan om tidningens politiska hållningen påverkade nyhetsrapporteringen under den valda perioden. Den exakta periodiseringen fastställdes att vara mellan den 1 mars 1917 och den 30 juni 1918. Denna periodisering valdes på grund av marsrevolutionen 1917 som utlöste självständighets-förklaringar i en rad länder som var förtryckta av Moskovitien och som nu såg sin chans till frihet. Juni 1918 blev slutpunkten i undersökningen därför att det var just då som fredsavtalet mellan Ukrajina och Sovjet undertecknades. Källmaterialet har valts att representera en mångfald ideologiska inriktningar. Det var liberal, moderat, konservativ, frisinnad samt vänstersocial inriktningar. Källmaterialet bestod av tidningsartiklar från följande tidningar: Dagens Nyheter, Aftonbladet, Göteborgs Aftonblad, Svenska Dagbladet, Dalpilen, Kalmar tidning och Norrskensflamman. Det användes kvantitativ metod på källmaterialet som bestod i en genomsökning av tidningsartiklarna efter nyhetsrapporter från Ukrajina eller som hade något med händelserna i Ukrajina att göra. Varje tidning genomsöktes dag för dag. Det genomsökta materialet presenterades i två kapitel som representerade olika perioder. Det första resultatkapitlet presenterade resultatet från år 1917, och mer exakt från mars till december 1917. Det andra kapitlet presenterade resultatet från år 1918, men även från december 1917, det vill säga resultatet från och med december 1917 till och med juni 1918. Det hela resultatet diskuterades sedan i ett eget kapitel där även den kvalitativa analysen diskuterades. Resultatet från den kvantitativa analysen visade att det har skrivits relativt sparsmakat om Ukrajinas självständighet även om artikelmängden ökade från december 1917 och ännu mer under 1918. Ibland förekom det artiklar på första sidan. Men för det mesta placerades artiklarna med Ukrajina-frågor bland andra utlandsartiklar. Det framgick också i undersökningen att det var mest första världskriget som upptog tidningarnas uppmärksamhet, även om händelserna i Petrograd och sedan i Ukrajina tog allt mer plats allt eftersom. Denna undersökning visade också att det som skrevs om Ukrajinas självständighet var också det som förekommer i referenslitteraturen. Nyhetsrapporterna berättade hur Ukrajina utropat sin självständighet i mars 1917 tills landet proklamerat en oberoende republik i november 1917 när bolsjevikerna genomförde sin statskupp i Petrograd. Tidningarna skrev också hur de ryska kommunisterna skickade krigsförklaring till Ukrajina i december 1917 och om det kriget som följde efter det. Artiklarna berättar även om hur förhandlingarna för Ukrajinafreden gick till i Brest-Litovsk samt hur dessa avslutades med att Tyskland allierade sig med Ukrajina i kampen mot kommunisterna. Det berättades hur den tyska armén marscherade in i Ukrajina för att befria det från bolsjevikerna. Fram till maj 1918 pågick det strider mellan tysk-ukrajinska armén och kommunisterna. I juni 1918 undertecknades fredsavtalet och där slutade undersökningen.  Undersökningen visade att det skrevs om Ukrajinas självständighet i samtliga tidningar. Dagens Nyheter hade flest nyhetsartiklar kopplade till undersökningen. Även om antalet artiklar ej var i syfte att analysera i denna undersökning. Den kvalitativa analysen gick ut på att använda Höjelids teoretiska begrepp ”positiv klang” och ”negativ klang” på den kvantitativa analysens resultatmaterial. Det kvalitativa resultatet visade att det var nästintill omöjligt att se skillnad mellan de olika tidningarna eftersom artiklarna traderades mellan tidningarna, det vill säga innehållet kopierades rakt av. Det bör påpekas att inte allt innehåll var ämne för kopiering mellan tidningarna. Kopieringen förekom i större utsträckning men det fanns ändå originella artiklar som härstammade från respektive tidning. De flesta av artiklarna var dessutom direkta telegram som kommunicerades i utlandet till tidningens redaktioner. En hel del av dessa telegraferade artiklar skickades med ett givet syfte att vilseleda samhällsopinionen. Dessa vinklade artiklar publicerades utan vidare granskning i svensk press. Det förekom artiklar från exempelvis Dagens Nyheter vars redaktion uppmärksammat de ”märkliga Petrogradrapporter” och informerat om det i möjligt syfte att upplysa allmänheten. Men eftersom de flesta tidningarna var upptagna med första världskriget, som det visades i källmaterialet, var tidningsredaktionerna mindre intresserade av andra utländska händelser. Därför kunde sådana vinklade artiklar förekomma i svensk press i en större omfattning.

The primary focus of this thesis is on representations of Germany and Germans in the sports pages of English newspapers from the mid-1950s to the mid-1990s, when EURO 96 generated press coverage that prompted much comment and criticism, both in England and in Germany. Studies focusing on media representations from the mid 1990s onwards, such as those by Maguire, Poulton and Possamai (1999), Garland and Rowe (1999) and Garland (2004) have been helpful in deconstructing the language used by football journalists and in identifying negative national stereotyping. More recently, however, Ramsden (2007) and Young (2007) have developed our understanding of Anglo-German cultural relations and how they have changed since 1945. In the light of these recent developments this thesis seeks, firstly, to analyse the discourses embedded within the ‘Two World Wars and One World Cup’ meta-narrative which has characterized press coverage of Anglo-German football since international fixtures between the two countries were resumed in 1954 and, secondly, to contextualize them in the broader history of Anglo-German cultural relations and how they developed over the forty years or so that followed. Though drawing on some insights from both cultural and media studies the methodology employed is essential historical. This does not mean, however, that press reports and comment are regarded as unproblematic primary sources. Recent methodological approaches the history of sport, notably by Booth (2005) and Hill (2006), have pointed to the importance of viewing such sources as texts which are thus open to deconstruction. A complementary emphasis on historical context is nevertheless justified, principally because it is important to explain variations that have occurred over time. Though there were some similarities in the way that Anglo-German football was covered in 1954 and 1996 – and at various points in between - there are also striking differences which it is argued here are primarily explained by conditions prevailing at the particular historical junctures at which representations were generated. The relationship which existed between Britain and the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s was significantly different to that which existed between Britain and re-unified Germany in the 1990s. This was an important contingent factor and helps to explain variations in the deployment of journalistic discourses over the years. Thus this thesis breaks new ground in that it emphasizes the historical contextualization of representations over a long period and seeks to counter any tendency to look backwards from the viewpoint of the mid 1990s. The discussion proceeds chronologically from the 1950s to the 1990s in order to demonstrate variations in the way that discourses were deployed over the years. Thus the representations generated provide a way of reading the state of underlying Anglo-German relations at any given point. One chapter is devoted to the 1966 World Cup Final on account of its significance in press discourses relating to Anglo-German football and in what is popularly referred to in England as the 'thirty/forty years of hurt' that followed. Whereas academic attention in relation to football-related representations has previously concentrated on the downmarket tabloid press, this study is equally concerned with quality and middlemarket titles. Thus The Times and the Daily Express are considered alongside the Daily Mirror and the Sun. Finally – and in contrast to previous accounts which have considered the English press in isolation – a chapter on German newspaper coverage (principally Bild, Die Welt and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) has been included to allow some comparisons to be made and to point to directions in which future research might be pursued.

The purpose of this study is to find out how editorials in various Swedish newspapers interpreted the ghost flights. The study shows how the phenomenon was interpreted based on defense and security policy. Through text analysis 44 editorial articles from the period 1934-1938 were investigated which showed that the most editorials interpreted ghost flying as military flights. The agenda of swedish liberal and moderate newspapers was to interpret military aviation as a reason for establishing an independent air force and in giving the military greater authority to make security decisions for the country. The Social Democratic agenda in editorials was to downplay loud defense interests. And the communist editorial agenda was more ideologically expressed in countering imperialist and warlike interests. Local Norrland newspapers were more likely to express hopes for greater military efforts for Norrland's sake and the development over time shows that it was the newspaper Norrskensflamman and Aftonbladet, political and ideological antagonists, that were the ones who kept the debate about the ghost flights alive until the outbreak of the Second World War.

Godkänt datum 2020-06-05

Avant même la première distribution d'un film allemand en France, la presse spécialisée s'emploie à dénigrer les productions de l'ennemi héréditaire qui sont réduites à des œuvres de propagande. Ce n'est qu'à la fin de l'année 1921 que Louis Delluc parvient à projeter un premier film germanique. Aux réactions chauvines et nationalistes succèdent rapidement des commentaires plus réfléchis. Ces analyses sont construites sur des stéréotypes issus d'une vision romantique de l'Allemagne telle que Madame de Staël a pu la décrire. Pour les critiques, le succès mondial du cinéma d'outre-Rhin montre la supériorité des cultures européennes sur la " jeune " civilisation américaine. Dès lors, les productions allemandes deviennent un modèle pour le cinéma hexagonal. Avec Les Nibelungen ou Faust, le 7ème art allemand apparaît aux yeux de la critique comme l'archétype de la culture européenne. Ces longs métrages sont représentatifs de l'identité allemande mais dépassent les cadres nationaux pour atteindre une forme d'universel qu'atteste les réussites économiques des productions du milieu des années 1920. L'apparition du cinéma parlant renouvelle les relations franco-allemandes. Les collaborations sont désormais le lot commun des réalisations du début des années 1930 ce que symbolise la production de versions multiples. De part et d'autre du Rhin, les professionnels coopèrent à l'édification d'un cinéma européen sans pour autant perdre de vue l'indispensable ancrage national des films. Des transferts culturels franco-allemands seront multiples jusqu'en janvier 1933. Toutefois l'émigration allemande ne trouvera pas un accueil favorable dans les studios parisiens.

Die Dissertation untersucht mittels Lokalstudien die Massendemokratie der Zwischenkriegszeit im Medium der Praxis von Wahlkämpfen. Sie argumentiert, dass die britische Demokratie bereits in den 1920er Jahren in deutlich stärkerem Maße als die deutsche nach den Prinzipien eines politischen Marktes funktionierte. Während in der hiesigen politischen Kultur Wähler als Individuen von den Parteien umworben wurden, standen sie sich in Deutschland als Großgruppen und feste Anhängerschaften der Parteien als Gegner - und Feinde - entgegen. Das gab der demokratischen Auseinandersetzung in der Weimarer Republik ein kriegerisches Gepräge, im Kontrast zum pragmatisch-spielerischen Umgang mit Konflikt in Großbritannien. Erklären lässt sich dieser Unterschied aus den Traditionen der Eingewöhnung politischer Partizipation in beiden Ländern im Verlauf des 19. Jahrhunderts, die der „Politik“ in Deutschland ein deutlich höheres Gewicht im sozialen Miteinander mitgab als in Großbritannien. Das letztendliche Scheitern der Weimarer Republik an dieser Attributierung des Politischen mit Bedeutung und des Konflikts mit Ernsthaftigkeit, wirft die Frage auf, ob die moderne Demokratie für ihr Bestehen ein gewisses Maß an Gleichgültigkeit benötigt.
The thesis uses local contexts to study mass democracy in the inter-war period in the medium of electioneering practice. It argues that British democracy already followed the logic of a political market in the 1920s, to a much higher degree than was the case in Germany. Whereas parties wooed voters as individuals here, they were rather seen as part of big social groupings in German political culture, standing off against each other as opponents - and as enemies. This gave democratic contests in the Weimar Republic a war-like character, which stood in contrast to the pragmatic and playful way of dealing with conflict in Britain. The difference is explained by the traditions of how political participation had been learned throughout the 19th century in both countries, where the German path had resulted in 'politics' weighing much more heavily on social relations than was the case in Britain. The eventual failure of the Weimar Republic due to the attribution of meaning to everything political, and due to the seriousness of conflict, begs the question of whether modern democracy, to persist, requires a certain amount of disinterest among the electorate.

Avec l’introduction d'ateliers à l’université de Paris en 1470 commence l'histoire de l'imprimerie dans l'espace francophone. Un des fondateurs fut l'érudit allemand Johannes Heynlin von Stein. Il marque le début d'un développement durant lequel les imprimeurs allemands furent d'une importance décisive : Jusqu'en 1500, sur 40 villes francophones dans lesquelles nous pouvons attester la présence d’au moins une imprimerie, onze ont été introduites par des Allemands. Ils les ont installées surtout dans le sud-est du royaume de France ainsi que dans le Duché de Bourgogne, le Comté de Bourgogne et dans les régions de la Suisse francophone actuelle. Ce bouleversement important de l'histoire des médias était le sujet de la thèse. À la base d'une méthode sur l'histoire de la matérialité, l'étude montre que les imprimeries devaient être à la croisée de différents développements. L'étude examine les biographies des imprimeurs, présente leurs programmes d’imprimerie, décrit le milieu universitaire, urbain et monastique et épluche les éditions qu’ils ont imprimé. Elle a permis de comprendre la complexité transitionnelle entre l’époque des manuscrits et celle des livres imprimés, des sociétés non-typographiques aux sociétés typographiques. Finalement, l’analyse met en évidence que les premiers imprimeurs allemands furent un groupe communicatif en mouvement ayant un réseau au-delà des frontières qui peut être considéré comme exemplaire pour l’histoire de l'imprimerie en France et et même en Europe. En analysant en détail un groupe important des imprimeurs cette approche présente des nouveaux résultats quant à l'histoire précoce de l'imprimerie française et incite à un dialogue scientifique international
With the establishment of a press at University of Paris in 1470, the history of printing presses in the French speaking world began. One of the founders was the German scholar Johannes Heynlin von Stein. He marks the start of a historically significant development in which printers from the Holy Roman Empire are of central importance. In the 15th century, it were in fact German printers who took the initiative to establish printing presses in eleven out of forty French cities. Geographically, those presses were predominantly located in the southeast of the French Kingdom and in the Duchy of Burgundy, in the Palatinate County of Burgundy, as well as in the region of what is today the French-speaking part of Switzerland. This media-historically important transition is the focus of this dissertation. On the basis of a profound methodology rooted in the history of materiality, the thesis shows that printing presses must be understood as an intersection of different developments. A comprehensive examination of the biographies of the respective printers and their printing portfolios are presented. Additionally, this thesis records the university, urban and monastic environment of the presses and critically evaluates the printed editions. By doing so, it is possible to work out in detail – while always referring to the sources – the complexity of the transition from a period of manuscripts to a period of printed books. Hence, a transition from non-typographic to typographic societies. Finally, this thesis proves that the German printers were a communicative and trans-border networked group which exemplarily stands for the French and partly for the European history of the printing press in the 15th century. By precisely and extensively analysing one of the most important groups of printers in the 15th century, this thesis allows for new insights to the history of early French printing presses and therefore seeks to fill a gap in academic literature. Furthermore, it encourages an international and scientific dialogue
Mit der Einrichtung einer Buchdruckerei in der Universität Paris im Jahre 1470 beginnt die Geschichte des Buchdrucks im französischsprachigen Raum. Einer der Gründer war der deutsche Gelehrte Johannes Heynlin von Stein. Er steht am Anfang einer Entwicklung, in der den Druckern aus dem Heiligen Römischen Reich entscheidende Bedeutung zukam - in elf von rund 40 französischen Städten, in denen in der Inkunabelzeit eine Druckerpresse eingerichtet wurde, ging die Initiative von deutschen Druckern aus. Sie waren vor allem im Südosten des Königreichs Frankreich sowie im Herzogtum Burgund, in der Freigrafschaft Burgund und in Gebieten der heutigen französischsprachigen Schweiz präsent. Dieser mediengeschichtlich bedeutsamen Umbruchphase widmet sich die vorliegende Untersuchung. Auf der Basis einer materialitätsgeschichtlich fundierten Methode kann gezeigt werden, dass die Druckereien als Kreuzungspunkte unterschiedlicher Entwicklungslinien verstanden werden müssen. Die Studie untersucht die Biographien der Drucker, stellt ihr Druckprogramm vor, erfasst das universitäre, städtische oder monastische Umfeld der Pressen und wertet die von ihnen produzierten Ausgaben aus. Auf diese Weise kann detailliert, und stets mit Bezug auf die Quellen, die Komplexität des Übergangs vom Handschriften- zum Druckzeitalter, von non-typographischen zu typographischen Gesellschaften herausgearbeitet werden. Darüber hinaus wird nachgewiesen, dass es sich bei den deutschen Erstdruckern um eine kommunikative und über Ländergrenzen hinweg breit vernetzte Gruppe handelt, die als exemplarisch für das französische sowie in Teilen auch für das europäische Druckwesen des 15. Jahrhunderts gelten kann. Dieser Ansatz einer präzisen und umfassenden Auseinandersetzung mit einer bedeutenden Gruppe von Buchdruckern präsentiert neue Erkenntnisse zur Geschichte des frühen französischen Buchdrucks und regt zur Intensivierung des internationalen Forschungsdialogs an

Fondée sur un corpus de huit films allemands réalisés entre 1919 et 1924 (Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari, Genuine et Raskolnikow de Robert Wiene, Algol de Hans Werckmeister, Von morgens bis mitternachts et Das Haus zum Mond de Karlheinz Martin, Torgus/Verlogene Moral de Hanns Kobe et Das Wachsfigurenkabinett de Paul Leni), cette étude porte sur l'esthétique et la réception du cinéma expressionniste, dont l'étiquette fait aujourd’hui encore l'objet de confusions. Pour identifier des traits constitutifs de son esthétique, trois axes sont envisagés : la réception critique, l'esthétique fantastique et la réflexivité. Le retour à la première phase de la réception repose sur un corpus de 225 documents d'archives majoritairement inédits, principalement extraits de huit revues de cinéma allemandes, et notamment des trois périodiques qui font alors autorité : Der Kinematograph, Lichtbild-Bühne et Film-Kurier. Le recours aux critiques et aux premières théories esthétiques qui précédent les célèbres ouvrages de Siegfried Kracauer et de Lotte Eisner permet d'appréhender l'horizon d'attente de la critique. Dans le contexte du débat sur la valeur artistique du cinéma, l'expressionnisme est perçu comme l’avènement d'un art du cinéma, caractérisé par la volonté des créateurs de faire œuvre d'art, qui s'exprime par l'unité stylistique, la conception des décors et l'opposition au naturalisme. La réception se fait aussi au prisme du fantastique et témoigne à la fois de l'héritage du romantisme et de l'importance du renouveau du fantastique. L'enjeu de l'analyse filmique proposée est de dégager en quoi la tension entre les deux pôles du fantastique est constitutive d'une esthétique des frontières, à l'origine de la structure narrative, de la configuration de l'espace et d'une réflexion ontologique. Enfin, ambition artistique et fantastique se rejoignent dans l'esthétique d'un cinéma qui se prend lui-même pour objet. En recourant à la notion d'écran second, élaborée dans le cadre de l'énonciation cinématographique, l'analyse identifie des formes de mise en scène du regard et de l'expérience cinématographique, dans leur rapport au désir
Based on a corpus of eight german films made between 1920 and 1924 (Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari, Genuine and Raskolnikow by Robert Wiene, Algol by Hans Werckmeister, Von morgens bis mitternachts and Das Haus zum Mond by Karlheinz Martin, Torgus/Verlogene Moral by Hanns Kobe and Das Wachsfigurenkabinett by Paul Leni), this thesis investigates the aesthetics and the reception of German expressionist film. Up until today, there is still some confusion over the definition of expressionist cinema. In order to identify constituent characteristics of its aesthetics, three areas of research are explored: the critical reception, the fantastic aesthetics and the self-reflexivity. The analysis of the first period of reception is based on a corpus of 225 mostly unpublished archival documents. These documents come from eight different film periodicals, mainly from the three leading trade journals of the early twenties: Der Kinematograph, Lichtbild-Bühne and Film-Kurier. By focusing on film reviews and on the first theories of aesthetics that preceeded Siegfried Kracauer's and Lotte Eisner's famous works on Weimar cinema, we get a sense of film critics' expectations back when the movies were first released. In the context of the debate about cinema and its artistic value, expressionism was perceived as the advent of film art, caracterised by the deliberate will of its contributors to create art. This ambition expresses itself through stylistic unity, a very distinctive conception of set designs and an opposition to Naturalism. Expressionist film is also perceived through the lense of the fantastic, which shows both the legacy of German romanticism and the importance of the renewal of fantastic literature and film in Germany. The film analysis of the present work aims at showing how the tension between the two poles of the fantastic is a constituent characteristic of the aesthetics of borders that caracterises expressionist film: it accounts for its narrative structure, its configuration of space and the ontologic reflexion it offers. Finally, cinema itself appears to be one of the main topics of these films. This is both the result of the artistic ambition of expressionist filmmakers and the explanation for their predilection for the fantastic: in some respect, films are fantasies, in that they manipulate the spectator and produce illusions. This is why spectatorship plays a major role in expressionist cinema: thanks to the notion of secondary screen, borrowed from the field of filmic enunciation, our analysis identifies characteristic representations of looks and gazes as well as of cinematic experiences, and reveals their relation to human desires

Defence date: 25 October 1988
Examining board: Pr. Peter Hertner (IUE-Florence, supervisor) ; Raymond Poidevin (Strasbourg, co-supervisor) ; Jean-Jacques Becker (Paris-Nanterre) ; Pr. Kurt Koszyk (Dortmund) ; Pr. Alberto Monticone (Rome)
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digitised archive of EUI PhD theses completed between 2013 and 2017

Les relations franco-soviétiques font l'objet de nouvelles études depuis l'ouverture des archives russes après la chute du communisme au début des années 1990. La présente étude vise à cerner comment la presse française percevait l'URSS et ses relations avec la France entre 1932 et 1934. Cette période est cruciale, car elle correspond à l'arrivée du nazisme en Allemagne et à un certain rapprochement franco-soviétique. La prise du pouvoir par Hitler eut un impact majeur sur les relations entre les deux pays, mais ce ne fut pas toujours compris rapidement en entièrement. Les journaux analysaient la situation avec une perspective compromise par leurs opinions politiques ou leurs intérêts financiers. Néanmoins, nous observons une nette évolution de leurs points de vue sur les 21 mois étudiés ici. Cela est dû à l'aggravation de la menace allemande et à la politique menée par l'URSS et par une partie du corps politique français. Afin d'avoir un échantillon viable, nous nous intéresserons à quatre quotidiens majeurs : Le Figaro, Le Temps, Le Populaire et L'Humanité. Mis ensemble, ces journaux représentent l'essentiel du panorama politique français. Les journaux de droite se firent de moins en moins critiques vis-à-vis de l'URSS, sans pour autant abandonner leur méfiance. Ceux de gauche soutinrent le rapprochement, tout en restant incrédules quant à la situation réelle. Cette recherche en est une de la perspective de l'autre, du rôle des médias dans la société et de l'influence de l'idéologie politique.
Franco-soviet relations have been the object of new studies since the opening of Russian archives after the fall of communism in the early 1990's. This study aims to comprehend how the French press perceived the USSR and its relations with France between 1932 and 1934. This is a crucial period, as it corresponds to nazism's rise in Germany and to an improvement in franco-soviet relations. Hitler's seizure of power had a major impact on both countries relationship, but this wasn't always fully or rapidly understood. Newspapers analyzed the situation through lenses tinted with political prejudice or financial interests. However, we observe a real evolution of their points of view over the 21 months studied here. This is because of the aggravation of the German threat, the policy than the USSR followed and the one of some of the French political leaders. To provide a relevant sample, we will look at four major newspapers : Le Figaro, Le Temps, Le Populaire and L'Humanité. Put together, these newspapers represent most of the French political panorama. Right-wing newspapers became less and less wary of the USSR, but never totally gave up their apprehensions. The left-wing ones, though favorable to the improvement of the franco-soviet relationship, kept being skeptical about its outcome. This study is about perspective of the other being, medias role in a given society and the influence of political ideology.

À l'aube des années 1930, l'Alsace partage un passé trouble avec la France et l'Allemagne. Alors que la région est redevenue française après la Première Guerre mondiale en 1919, Paris éprouve de la difficulté à la réintégrer à la République, parce qu'il ne comprend pas que les quarante ans de l'Alsace au sein du Reich allemand ont bouleversé la vie régionale aux niveaux politique, culturel, religieux et linguistique. La France ne perçoit pas le particularisme des populations retrouvées et leur volonté de conserver les valeurs qui leur sont chères. L'autonomisme alsacien des années 1920 et la répression du mouvement par les autorités françaises mettent à mal les relations entre Paris et Strasbourg. Alors que le début des années 1930 se déroule sur ce fond de tensions, l'arrivée d'Adolf Hitler au pouvoir en 1933 en Allemagne modifie radicalement la donne. Le présent mémoire s'interroge sur la perception par la presse alsacienne francophone de la montée du nazisme en Allemagne, de 1933 à 1939. L'Alsace remet-elle en question son allégeance à une France qui démontre des signes de faiblesses et qui ne comprend pas la région ou préfère-t-elle une Allemagne forte et stable? En consultant des journaux de différentes orientations politiques et religieuses, soit Les dernières nouvelles de Strasbourg, Le nouvelliste d'Alsace, Le Lorrain et L'éclair de l'Est, nous avons analysé l'opinion de la presse alsacienne sur les événements allemands des années 1930. Il apparaît évident que la presse francophone n'est pas en faveur d'un retour avec le Reich. Néanmoins, l'allégeance à la France n'est pas aussi nette que le laisse croire l'historiographie à ce sujet. Jusqu'en mars 1938, la presse alsacienne francophone ne revendique pas de statut particulier, insatisfaite qu'elle est des options qui s'offrent à elle, autant du côté de la France que de l'Allemagne. Le point de vue de la région change régulièrement. Alors que Hitler attire tous les regards en 1933, la situation politique instable en France ainsi que les décisions du Front populaire sont le point de mire pour la presse alsacienne francophone à partir de 1936. Ce n'est que lorsque la guerre semble inévitable qu'elle se range derrière la République française.
At the dawn of 1930s, Alsace shares a troubled past with France and Germany. While the region came again under French rule after the First World War in 1919, Paris has difficulty integrating Alsace in the Republic, because it does not understand that forty years of German control upset the region's life at the political, cultural, religious and linguistic levels. France does not perceive the sense of identity of the population and its will to preserve its values. The Alsatian separatism of the 1920s and the repression of the movement by the French authorities damage the relations between Paris and Strasbourg. Along with the tension of the 1930s, Adolf Hitler's arrival to power in 1933 in Germany radically modified the situation. The thesis examines how the French-speaking Alsatian press perceived the rise of Nazism in Germany from 1933 to 1939. Did Alsace question its allegiance to France, a country that demonstrated signs of weaknesses, and did not clearly understand Alsace? Or did it prefer a strong and stable Germany? By consulting newspapers of various political and religious orientations, such as Les dernières nouvelles de Strasbourg, Le nouvelliste d'Alsace, Le Lorrain et L'éclair de l'Est, the thesis analyzes the opinion of the Alsatian press on the German events in the 1930s. The French-speaking press was not in favour returning to the Reich. Nevertheless, the allegiance to France was not as clear as the historiography leads us to believe on this matter. Until March 1938, the French-speaking Alsatian press did not claim particular status, even if it was dissatisfied with the options available, as much on the side of France as on the side of Germany. The region's point of view changed regularly. While Hitler caught everyone's attention in 1933, the unstable political situation in France as well as the choices of the Popular Front are the target for the French-speaking Alsatian press from 1936. It was only when the war seemed inevitable that it lined up behind the French Republic.

Defence date: 3 June 2004
Examining board: Prof. Peter Becker, European University Institute ; Prof. Richard J. Evans, Cambridge University ; Prof. Alf Lüdtke, Technische Universität Erfurt (2nd Supervisor) ; Prof. Regina Schulte, Ruhr-Universität Bochum (1st Supervisor)
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digitised archive of EUI PhD theses completed between 2013 and 2017

The goal of this MA thesis lies in mapping the history of the city Cheb after the second world war with the help of narratives and press of those times. Focus is on years 1945-1950 but the thesis also contains information about the city's history until 1945. Another aspect of this thesis is the variety of newspaper specific for this region and the way it changes through the years after war. The most important themes of this thesis include evicion of Germans, changing relationships whith the USA and the Soviet Union, ascent of kommunism and reastructuraion of Cheb - all of these in connection with the city itself and the memories of narrators. These themes are submited within the stories of individual narrators and spulemented by citations from newspaper.

Ce mémoire de maîtrise analyse les liens entre les premiers procès militaires alliés en Allemagne occupée et l’opinion publique allemande dans l’après-guerre immédiat. Notre mémoire de maîtrise, à travers la présentation de l’analyse du procès de Belsen, organisé par les forces d’occupation britanniques de septembre à novembre 1945, et du procès de Dachau, tenu par le gouvernement militaire américain entre novembre et décembre 1945, cherche à mettre en lumière l’importance que ces derniers revêtaient dans l’établissement de relations cordiales entre occupants et occupés. Ce mémoire démontre donc, par les exemples de Belsen et Dachau, que les procès se situaient à la croisée entre le besoin des Alliés d’établir des relations positives avec les Allemands et leurs programmes de dénazification et de rééducation. Nous remarquons ainsi que, des premières étapes dans l’organisation de ces tribunaux jusqu’à leur achèvement, les Alliés ont pris en considération les différentes réactions des Allemands face aux procédures judiciaires : d’abord, avec l’ancrage des accusations et des procédures judiciaires dans une législation internationale qui précédait le début de la guerre, puis avec l’autorisation d’une défense pour les accusés qui permettait aux Alliés de revendiquer une autorité morale sur leur zone d’occupation. Ce mémoire de maîtrise, en plus d’examiner les procès d’après-guerre et leurs objectifs, propose également une analyse de la couverture journalistique de ces tribunaux et des sondages d’opinion publique menés après les procédures judiciaires. Notre étude établit ainsi que la couverture journalistique des procès était, souvent, une des premières fois où les Allemands se trouvaient confrontés aux atrocités commises dans les camps de concentration nazis. Finalement, avec l’analyse des sondages d’opinion publique, nous argumentons que les procès, en tant qu’outil politique, ont eu un succès mitigé dans l’établissement de relations positives entre les forces d’occupation britanniques et américaines et les Allemands.
This masters’ thesis analyses the connections between the first allied military trials held in postwar Germany and German public opinion toward the British and American occupation forces. Focused on the Belsen trial, held in the British occupation zone from September to November 1945, and the Dachau trial, held by the American military government in the U.S. occupation zone between November and December 1945, this study seeks to highlight the importance both trials held for the British and the Americans in establishing positive relations with the Germans. Using Belsen and Dachau as case studies, it argues that, while they were essential to British and American denazification and re-education programs, they also had to be conducted in a manner that ensured the best possible relationship the German public and the occupation forces in both the American and British occupation zones. I demonstrate that, from the initial steps implemented to set up the trials through their conclusion, both powers took German concerns and reactions to the judiciary procedures into account: first by anchoring the charges and the trials themselves in international law preceding the Second World War; then by providing the right to a defense to the accused. Both factors, the Allies believed, allowed them to claim a moral authority over their occupation zone. The memoir’s examination of the trials and their purpose is complimented by an analysis of the press coverage of the trials and public opinion surveys taken after the trials. This study states that the press coverage was oftentimes one the first instances in which Germans were confronted to the atrocities committed in the concentration camps. Finally, this study argues that, as a part of larger programs, the trials had a limited success as a tool to implement positive relations between the British and American occupation forces and the German population.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)
In 1901, three German American candidates ran for the office of mayor in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The winner, Henry Berghoff, had emigrated from Germany as a teenager. This thesis examines the election discourse in the partisan press for signs of ethnic tension. The first chapter places Fort Wayne in historical context of German immigration and Indiana history. The second and third chapters investigate the editorial pages for evidence of ethnic tension. I also reference a few articles of an editorial nature outside of the editorial pages. The second chapter provides background information about the election and examines indications of the candidates’ ethnicity and references to the German language papers. The third chapter considers the editorial comment about Germany, the intertwining of ethnicity and the issues, and ethnic name-calling. In order to identify underlying bias for or against Germany and to better understand the context of the references to German ethnicity, the fourth chapter explores the portrayal of Germany in the Fort Wayne papers.

La France est souvent perçue comme la principale garante du traité de Versailles. Le révisionnisme français envers l’ordre établi par le traité, contrairement au même courant chez les responsables allemands, est un sujet peu étudié. Il a été abordé par quelques auteurs, tels George-Henri Soutou et Stanislas Jeannesson, mais la question mérite davantage d’élaboration. Grâce à l’analyse de la presse française, ce mémoire vérifie l’existence d’une volonté de rendre le traité de paix plus favorable à la France. Une Machtpolitik ainsi qu’un révisionnisme français sont apparents de 1919 à 1923 avec, comme zénith, l’occupation de la Ruhr. Les années suivantes virent la situation de la France se détériorer sur les plans politique, économique et diplomatique. La dégradation de sa posture inclina la France à se tourner vers une conciliation qui émanait de l’esprit du traité de Versailles. La couverture de l’actualité internationale de trois journaux français (Le Temps, L’Action française et L’Humanité) avant et après l’invasion de la Ruhr est analysée. On constate l’existence d’un révisionnisme français qui mène, après son échec en 1924, à un recentrage de la politique allemande de la France. En liant la perception des différents journaux à leur idéologie, nous avons aussi expliqué les variations dans leurs analyses des mêmes événements. L’étude de la presse, conjuguée aux sources secondaires, révèle un discours teinté d’une volonté révisionniste. Elle porte à croire, aussi, que le traité de Versailles ne fut réellement défendu en France qu’après l’échec de la politique de puissance et du révisionnisme français.
There is a common perception of France as being the guarantor of the Treaty of Versailles. French revisionism towards the established order by that treaty, unlike its German counterpart, is a subject which has yet to receive much attention. It was first addressed by authors such as George-Henri Soutou and Stanislas Jeannesson, but the issue requires further inquiry. Grounded in an analysis of the French press, this memoir confirms the existence of a will to make the peace treaty more favourable to France. Machtpolitik and French revisionism are noticeable traits from 1919 until 1923 with, at its pinnacle, the occupation of the Ruhr. The following years witnessed a worsening of the French situation at the political, economic and diplomatic levels. Its degrading position hauled France into a conciliation which stemmed from the spirit of the Treaty of Versailles. The international news coverage in three French newspapers (Le Temps, L’Action française and L’Humanité) before and after the Ruhr invasion is the object of analysis. The study confirms the existence of a French revisionism which, after its downfall in 1924, led to a refocusing of France’s German policy. By linking the different newspapers’ perception to their ideology, it explained variations that occurred in their analyses of the same events. The newspaper study coupled with the secondary sources reveals a discourse marked by a revisionist will. It also suggests that the Treaty of Versailles was not supported in France until after the demise of power politics as well as French revisionism.