1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910464865403321

Autore

Hentschel Klaus

Titolo

The mental aftermath [[electronic resource] ] : the mentality of German physicists 1945-1949 / / Klaus Hentschell

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York ; ; Oxford, : Oxford University Press, 2007

ISBN

9786611148874

0-19-152561-8

1-4356-2122-0

1-281-14887-3

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (212 p.)

Disciplina

530.092243

Soggetti

Physicists - Germany - History - 20th century

Science and state - Germany - History - 20th century

Electronic books.

Germany History 1945-1955

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [181]-197) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Contents; List of figures; 1 Introduction; About the sources used; 2 Scientists in Germany seen from the outside; 3 Tensions with the Allies; (a) Superficial admiration and opportunistic friendliness; (b) Covert reserve and distrust; (c) Stubborn resistance to Allied Control; 4 Russian phobia; 5 Sense of isolation and fragmentation; 6 Bitterness about the ""export of scientists""; 7 Scapegoating the Aryan physics movement; 8 Forgetting; (a) Amnesia and unconscious repression; (b) Concealment and dissimilation; 9 Shame, listlessness, and lethargy; 10 Self-justification and the guilt issue

11 Self-pity, sentimentality, and selfishness12 ""Propaganda-free day-to-day"" and political apathy; 13 New awareness of a scientist's responsibility; 14 Workaholism: ""If we want to live, we must rebuild""; 15 Side-lining of emigrés and critics; 16 Insensitivity in communicating with emigrés; 17 Distrust and obduracy among emigrés; 18 The mental aftermath; Acknowledgments; List of abbreviations; Archival collections; Bibliography; Name index; A; B; C; D; E; F; G; H; J; K; L; M; N; O; P; Q; R; S; T; V; W; Z


Sommario/riassunto

The perplexing behaviour of even morally acclaimed German physicists toward the Allied occupiers after WWII is examined. Their public and private statements are examined and may shed light on the prickly issue of the proper comportment of victor nations. - ;Few scientific communities have been more thoroughly studied than 20th-century German physicists. Yet their behaviour and patterns of thinking immediately after the war remains puzzling. During the first five post war years they suspended their internecine battles and a strange solidarity emerged. Former enemies were suddenly willing to exo