Interwar Period History

The Paris Peace Conference put the First World War in the past. Signatures of individual peace treaties with defeated countries Germany, Austria, Hungary and their allies Bulgaria and Turkey put an end to one of the cruelest conflicts of all time, which is rightfully often referred to as the Great War. With its multifaceted repercussions, the First World War certainly represented one of the most crucial breaking points in the development of modern Europe. For many countries and nations, it was the actual start of the 20th century. However, it also signaled the end of a fairly brief dominance and the beginning of the fall of the old continent, which was brought forth as a result of the second global conflict, the Cold War between the superpowers, as well as the dissolution of the global empires of the European superpowers. The end of the Great War and its impact, including the unequivocally democratizing and socially revolutionary waves, was an attempt at a new, fundamentally changed organization of international life and its current established order. The Parisian aftermath radically transformed the composition of the face of Europe: as a result of the dissolution of the monarchies – the Ottoman Empire, the German Empire, Tsarist Russia and Austria-Hungary – and laid the foundation for a new European continent, which basically exists to this day in spite of changes caused by the Second World War.
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The Paris Peace Conference put the First World War in the past. Signatures of individual peace treaties with defeated countries Germany, Austria, Hungary and their allies Bulgaria and Turkey put an end to one of the cruelest conflicts of all time, which is rightfully often referred to as the Great War. With its multifaceted repercussions, the First World War certainly represented one of the most crucial breaking points in the development of modern Europe. For many countries and nations, it was the actual start of the 20th century. However, it also signaled the end of a fairly brief dominance and the beginning of the fall of the old continent, which was brought forth as a result of the second global conflict, the Cold War between the superpowers, as well as the dissolution of the global empires of the European superpowers. The end of the Great War and its impact, including the unequivocally democratizing and socially revolutionary waves, was an attempt at a new, fundamentally changed organization of international life and its current established order. The Parisian aftermath radically transformed the composition of the face of Europe: as a result of the dissolution of the monarchies – the Ottoman Empire, the German Empire, Tsarist Russia and Austria-Hungary – and laid the foundation for a new European continent, which basically exists to this day in spite of changes caused by the Second World War.
… Read more
The Paris Peace Conference put the First World War in the past. Signatures of individual peace treaties with defeated countries Germany, Austria, Hungary and their allies Bulgaria and Turkey put an end to one of the cruelest conflicts of all time, which is rightfully often referred to as the Great War. With its multifaceted repercussions, the First World War certainly represented one of the most crucial breaking points in the development of modern Europe. For many countries and nations, it was the actual start of the 20th century. However, it also signaled the end of a fairly brief dominance and the beginning of the fall of the old continent, which was brought forth as a result of the second global conflict, the Cold War between the superpowers, as well as the dissolution of the global empires of the European superpowers. The end of the Great War and its impact, including the unequivocally democratizing and socially revolutionary waves, was an attempt at a new, fundamentally changed organization of international life and its current established order. The Parisian aftermath radically transformed the composition of the face of Europe: as a result of the dissolution of the monarchies – the Ottoman Empire, the German Empire, Tsarist Russia and Austria-Hungary – and laid the foundation for a new European continent, which basically exists to this day in spite of changes caused by the Second World War.
… Read more
The Paris Peace Conference put the First World War in the past. Signatures of individual peace treaties with defeated countries Germany, Austria, Hungary and their allies Bulgaria and Turkey put an end to one of the cruelest conflicts of all time, which is rightfully often referred to as the Great War. With its multifaceted repercussions, the First World War certainly represented one of the most crucial breaking points in the development of modern Europe. For many countries and nations, it was the actual start of the 20th century. However, it also signaled the end of a fairly brief dominance and the beginning of the fall of the old continent, which was brought forth as a result of the second global conflict, the Cold War between the superpowers, as well as the dissolution of the global empires of the European superpowers. The end of the Great War and its impact, including the unequivocally democratizing and socially revolutionary waves, was an attempt at a new, fundamentally changed organization of international life and its current established order. The Parisian aftermath radically transformed the composition of the face of Europe: as a result of the dissolution of the monarchies – the Ottoman Empire, the German Empire, Tsarist Russia and Austria-Hungary – and laid the foundation for a new European continent, which basically exists to this day in spite of changes caused by the Second World War.

In this essay, I examine the public discourse about Oswald Spengler's ideas in Britain in the 1920s and 1930s, particularly the »cultural morphology« he developed in his two-volume work Der Untergang des Abendlandes (translated into English in the second half of the 1920s as Decline of the West). Previous work has suggested that Spengler’s work was greeted in Britain, overall, with measured scepticism, although there were some individual enthusiasts. Beyond such  generalisations, however, there has so far been no systematic analysis of Spengler's British public reception in the two decades following the publication of Der Untergang des Abendlandes. As signalled in my title, I focus on press sources. These provide insight into three questions: how were Spengler's ideas described? With what other concepts or characteristics were they associated? How were patterns in their reception related to the cultural and political context of inter-war Britain? There was a focus across the period on what can be labelled Spengler's »organicism«, »relativism« and »determinism«. Moreover, Spengler's reception was also shaped by topics that were not specifically methodological: his erudition, pessimism, Germanness, advocacy of »Prussianism« and associations with Nazism.

Thèse de doctorat en histoire de l'art, soutenue le 13 novembre 2020 à l'université Paris Nanterre, sous la direction de Rémi Labrusse et Christian Joschke.

PhD dissertation "Graphic Propaganda : Photomontage in the Visual Culture of the French Left (1925-1939)". Université Paris Nanterre, 2020. Under the supervision of Rémi Labrusse and Christian Joschke.

Cette étude porte sur la place du photomontage dans le graphisme français de l’entre-deux-guerres, plus particulièrement dans la presse illustrée, l’affiche et la propagande politique. Fondé sur la combinaison d’éléments photographiques de façon à créer des images composites, généralement reproduites par impression photomécanique, le photomontage a été promu par les graphistes d’avant-garde mais aussi par les éditeurs de presse à grand tirage. Il devient à partir des années 1920 un élément caractéristique de la culture visuelle moderne, jusqu’à investir très largement les pavillons de l’Exposition internationale de 1937. Si les développements du photomontage en URSS et en Allemagne sont bien connus, la France a souvent été considérée comme réticente à l’usage de ce procédé, privilégiant un modernisme mesuré et un ancrage dans le dessin. En analysant le rôle des réseaux culturels communistes dans le développement du photomontage politique, nous identifions des phénomènes de transferts culturels étroitement liés à la sociabilité militante. L’étude de la production imprimée des organisations de gauche permet d’expliciter les fonctions attribuées à l’image comme moyen d’influence politique. Sur le plan iconographique, les photomontages se caractérisent par des procédés rhétoriques qui orientent la lecture du document photographique. Sur le plan du montage, s’opère une conjonction de temporalités hétérogènes. En prêtant une attention particulière à la fois aux conditions de production, aux réseaux d’acteurs et aux discours de légitimation, nous proposons un essai en iconologie politique qui en même temps se situe au plus près de la matérialité des images.

This study examines the place of photomontage in French graphic design between the two world wars, particularly in the illustrated press, posters and political propaganda. Based on the combination of photographic elements to create composite images, generally reproduced by photomechanical printing, photomontage was promoted by avant-garde graphic designers but also by editors of large-circulation magazines. From the 1920s onwards, it became a characteristic element of modern visual culture, until it was widely used in the pavilions of the 1937 Exposition internationale in Paris. While the developments of photomontage in the USSR and Germany are well known, France was often considered to be reluctant to this technique, favouring instead a measured modernism and drawn illustrations. By analysing the role of communist cultural networks in the development of political photomontage, we identify phenomena of cultural transfer closely related to militant sociability. The study of the printed production of left-wing organisations makes it possible to clarify the functions attributed to the image as a means of political influence. On the iconographic level, photomontages are characterised by rhetorical processes which guide the reading of the photographic document. On the level of montage, they allow for a conjunction of heterogeneous temporalities in a single image. By paying attention to the conditions of production, to the networks of actors and to the discourses of legitimation, this essay in political iconology remains as close as possible to the materiality of images.

is is the first study to show how the Royal Navy’s ideas about the meaning and application of seapower shaped its policies in the interwar period. Drawing on a wide range of unpublished sources, the author challenges the accepted view that the intellectual shortcomings of Britain’s naval leaders resulted in poor strategic planning and an inability to meet the challenges of the Second World War.

This book provides the first comprehensive survey of the navy’s strategies for dealing with possible wars with Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Imperial Japan, and even the United States. It argues that the “Singapore Strategy” has been widely misunderstood, that there was in fact more than one strategy developed for war with Japan, that the navy’s war plans placed greater emphasis on maritime economic pressure than decisive sea battles, and that the influence of Alfred Thayer Mahan on the interwar navy has been greatly exaggerated.

The author also reveals how the “One Power Standard” did not fundamentally affect the outcome of the navy’s ongoing struggle with the Treasury for funds, how the service’s interest in “showing the flag” abroad was linked to its concerns over the health of the naval armaments industry at home, and how the navy reluctantly employed propaganda between the wars to revive its popularity with the British public.

The book argues that naval leaders possessed a more sophisticated and flexible understanding of the strengths and limitations of sea power than previous studies have recognized, and that Britain’s strategic position during the 1930s would have been stronger if their advice had been followed. The author concludes that the navy’s efforts to shape British grand strategy were largely unsuccessful, however, because civilian decision-makers often had different views about the role of sea power in the modern world.

Türkiye, her iki dünya savaşı ertesi köklü dönüşümler geçirdi. İlki 600 yıllık Osmanlı hanedanına son verdi. İkincisi ise Tek Parti döneminin sonu oldu; Türkiye’de siyasi demokrasinin yolunu açtı. İkinci Dünya Savaşı’nda Türkiye tarafsız kaldı. Ancak, savaşın tüm olumsuzluklarını bilfiil yaşadı. Tek Parti döneminin toplumsal dengeleri büyük ölçüde hasar gördü. Milli Korunma Kanunu, Varlık Vergisi, Toprak Mahsulleri
Vergisi, İş Mükellefiyeti gibi uygulamalar toplumsal katmanları iktidara karşı tavır almaya sevk etti. Devletin savaş içinde kararlarını hayata geçirme konusundaki zaafları belirginleşirken; kitlelerin gündelik yaşamda tepki ve direnişleri de çığ gibi arttı. Gerek çok partili sisteme geçişte, gerekse 1940’ların ikinci yarısında gündeme gelen sosyal politika alanındaki reformlarda toplum tabanında gözlenen yılgınlık ve
tepkiler önemli bir rol oynadı.
Murat Metinsoy’un kitabı işte bu zor yılların toplumsal öyküsünü gündeme getiriyor. Olaylar dizinini tabandan irdeleyerek; kitlelerin yaşam deneyimlerini, serzenişlerini, gündelik yaşamdaki direnişlerini vurgulayarak… Otoriter dönemlerde bile toplumun
gündelik mücadelelerinin ve taleplerinin siyasete etki edebileceğini
ortaya koyarak…
Zafer Toprak, Boğaziçi Üniversitesi

This thesis will examine how British male cross-dressing performance remained commercially and critically popular from 1918-1970, despite increased cultural anxieties about the links between gender variance and transgressive acts, behaviours, and categories of identity. Through an analysis of popular male cross-dressing in this period, I will explain how artists and their performances navigated the theatrical and cultural terrain to establish and cultivate mainstream success. Far from being an ‘outsider art’, male cross-dressing endured as an essential part of the fabric of British entertainment from the interwar period through the so-called ‘permissive society’ of the 1950s and 1960s. Even as the variety theatre declined and new forms of entertainment such as radio, film, and television emerged, male cross-dressers were pioneers of the entertainment industry, readily adapting to the changing nature of leisure. Equally, male cross-dressing performance was at the centre of many key public discussions in this period, including those regarding the changing nature of normative masculinities, sexual morality, the decriminalisation of certain homosexual acts, the proliferation of live erotic entertainment, and the breakdown of the official theatre censorship system. However, the centrality of male cross-dressing in relation to these key public debates has been scantly acknowledged by historians of interwar and postwar Britain, in spite of the enduring popularity of the art form in the 1910s through the 1960s. The first three chapters of this thesis investigate the significant manifestations of male cross-dressing performance from 1918-1970: touring revues featuring cross-dressing ex-servicemen in the interwar and post-Second World War periods, the pantomime dame in the interwar years through the 1950s, and the emergence of the drag queen in the 1950s and 1960s. The final chapter highlights areas in which male cross-dressing performance was deemed controversial through an investigation of the Lord Chamberlain’s censorship system. This thesis will argue that contemporary views of male cross-dressing were complex. I will seek to unpack the various regimes of knowledge as they related to the meanings, or absence of meaning, perceivably associated with male cross-dressing. In doing so, my study will reveal that the practice held different and often contradictory meanings for performers and audiences alike. For instance, some newspaper reviews of theatrical productions featuring cross-dressing troupe Les Rouges et Noirs, which this thesis will explore in great detail, made vague allusions to the authors finding gender variance both troubling and alluring. Statements to this effect ranged from the cautiously complimentary: ‘How they have managed to eliminate all trace of that subtle unpleasantness so often associated with this type of thing I know not,’ to the unabashedly positive: ‘Reg Stone [of Les Rouges] in particular… achieves a wonderful sexual transition, complete in all its details down to the white powdered arms and polished manicured fingernails, the dainty gestures and positively pretty little affectations of femininity.’ Male cross-dressing performed before an audience could at once be a source of pleasure and anxiety in a time when British mass entertainment reached a greater and more diverse range of spectators than ever before. It is my hope that this thesis will reorientate interest in interwar and postwar male cross-dressing performance and will inspire a more critical historical approach to the study of gender variance in the twentieth century.

In 1935 the Venice Biennale organized an atypical exhibition commemorating its 40th anniversary. The “Mostra dei Quarant’anni” was mostly devoted to art from the Triveneto. Yet four rooms showed works by European artists who had exhibited in the Biennale, and were part of the collections of the Gallerie d’Arte Moderna in Rome and Venice. The show reflected on the evolution of modern art and of the Biennale between 1895 and 1935, exemplifying the aesthetic criteria of Italian public collections at the time. It included many artists that are still considered part of the modernist canon but most of them are now all but forgotten. It thus represents an optimal case study to analyze renegotiations of the artistic canon. Furthermore, the “Mostra” played a key role in re-defining the international role of Venice within fascist artistic organization. As the “Mostra” took place in the gap year between two Biennales and received little support from governmental institutions, it is generally overlooked in the literature on the period. Yet, on the basis of unpublished archival documentation and of the digital reconstruction of these rooms, this paper argues that the “Mostra dei Quarant’anni” is crucial for our understanding of the history of the Biennale and of the cultural policies of the fascist state.

This article questions whether there exists a 'revisionist' current that not only to undermine the 'consensus' on the Second Republic, but also to demonstrate the latter's 'illegitimacy'. Such is the position of a small group of historians who, having proclaimed themselves as the guardians of orthodoxy on the period, do not hesitate to stigmatize in ideological terms all those that diverge from their standpoint. This article maintains that the approach of these historians is more political than academic and that is the result of a retrospective reading of the Republic's first six years via the prism of the Civil War and the Franco dictatorship. Their interpretation is also the product of an obsessive desire not to give any credit to the dictatorship's profoundly negative account of the Republic. In so doing, these historians often distort the facts and ignore the sources and data that, in their judgement, might present "a tremendously negative vision" or "catastrophic" one of the Republic and its "defects".

Године 1933. иницирана је обнова родне куће Вука Караџића у Тршићу. Паралелно са том иницијативом је предложена изградња Дома културе Вук Караџић у Лозници који би служио као центар културних и еманципаторских активности овог места. Околности под којима је дом подизан представљају веома добру студију случаја културне политике у време Краљевине Југославије. С друге стране, архитектура Дома културе се истиче у амбијенту својим модернистичким декоратитивизмом, што захтева подробнију анализу. На основу веома специфичног пројектантског рукописа, Дом културе се до сада приписивао архитекти Фрањи Урбану. Међутим, како Дом културе у Лозници до сада није био предмет подробнијег истраживања, овај рад би имао за циљ да покуша да на основу доступне архивске грађе у Архиву Југославије и Архиву у Шапцу коначно потврди Урбаново ауторство, као и ближе околности под којим је овај значајан пример међуратне архитектуре Лознице подигнут.

SOCIOCULTURAL LITHUANIZATION
(BECOMING LITHUANIANS)
IN KAUNAS CITY PRIMARY
SCHOOLS IN 1918–1940

The article analyses the processes of sociocultural
Lithuanization (becoming Lithuanians). The dissemination of the Lithuanian
language and culture was a typical feature of these processes in Kaunas city primary
schools in 1918–1940.
The research has revealed that in 1918–1940 the composition of classes changed
in Kaunas primary schools according to the language of instruction. The number of
classes taught in Lithuanian increased drastically from 6 (13,98 %) in 1918 to 197
(62,54 %) in 1938. The number of classes where the language of instruction was Polish
decreased from 25 (58,14 %) in 1918 to 5 (1,59 %) in 1938. From the beginning of the
1930s, a part of Kaunas primary classes where the languages of instruction were Polish
and German were reformed to the classes where the language of instruction was Lithuanian,
and the Polish and the German languages were elective courses.
Most teachers of Kaunas city primary schools adapted to the new requirements
of the state education system, i.e. teaching in Lithuanian (the state language) and disseminating
the Lithuanian national culture. In 1925, “Law Amendment of Primary
Schools” was passed, which regulated an obligatory test of the Lithuanian language for
primary school teachers. Until 1940, the older generation of teachers in Kaunas city
primary schools learned Lithuanian, while the younger generation of teachers, who finished
the institutions of teacher preparation in Lithuania, knew Lithuanian sufficiently
well.
The dissemination of sociocultural Lithuanization (becoming Lithuanians) in
Kaunas city primary schools was especially typical of the subjects of the Lithuanian
language, history, geography, and environment and homeland cognition. During the
Lithuanian language lessons, pupils acquired the main skills of the state language, such
as reading, writing, or speaking (non-Lithuanian pupils), and were introduced to the
Lithuanian folklore, literature, etc. During the lessons of environment and homeland
cognition, the pupils acquired the main knowledge about the state institutions, state
symbols (the hymn, the coat of arms, or the flag), etc. During the lessons of history, the
pupils were introduced to a romanticized Lithuanian-centered historical narrative of
Lithuania. During the lessons of geography, they found out about the historical places
in Lithuania, homelands of famous people, etc.
Keywords: Kaunas, Primary Schools, Interwar Period, Sociocultural Lithuanization,
Education.

У овом раду разматраћемо процес конституисања левичарски оријентисаног сегмента у пољу музике и културе у Краљевини Југославији концентрисаног око чланова и симпатизера КПЈ и сродних организација, као и активности које су спроводиле његове присталице. Указујући на кључне актере и догађаје који су доприносили јавном опредмећивању такозваног левог музичког фронта у југословенској средини фокусираћемо се на анализу следећих појава: 1. дискурса о музици у новом, бескласном друштву, као и 2. његових актуелизација у пракси. Циљ нам је да представимо програмске оквире културне политике КПЈ у области музике развијене у дијалогу ширег круга присталица левичарских идеја, као и покушаје њене институционализације. Осим тога, намера нам је да истакнемо историјски значај међуратног левог музичког фронта као важног исходишта музичке праксе након Другог светског рата.

This thesis will examine how British male cross-dressing performance remained commercially and critically popular from 1918-1970, despite increased cultural anxieties about the links between gender variance and transgressive acts, behaviours, and categories of identity. Through an analysis of popular male cross-dressing in this period, I will explain how artists and their performances navigated the theatrical and cultural terrain to establish and cultivate mainstream success. Far from being an ‘outsider art’, male cross-dressing endured as an essential part of the fabric of British entertainment from the interwar period through the so-called ‘permissive society’ of the 1950s and 1960s. Even as the variety theatre declined and new forms of entertainment such as radio, film, and television emerged, male cross-dressers were pioneers of the entertainment industry, readily adapting to the changing nature of leisure. Equally, male cross-dressing performance was at the centre of many key public discussions in this period, including those regarding the changing nature of normative masculinities, sexual morality, the decriminalisation of certain homosexual acts, the proliferation of live erotic entertainment, and the breakdown of the official theatre censorship system. However, the centrality of male cross-dressing in relation to these key public debates has been scantly acknowledged by historians of interwar and postwar Britain, in spite of the enduring popularity of the art form in the 1910s through the 1960s.

The first three chapters of this thesis investigate the significant manifestations of male cross-dressing performance from 1918-1970: touring revues featuring cross-dressing ex-servicemen in the interwar and post-Second World War periods, the pantomime dame in the interwar years through the 1950s, and the emergence of the drag queen in the 1950s and 1960s. The final chapter highlights areas in which male cross-dressing performance was deemed controversial through an investigation of the Lord Chamberlain’s censorship system. This thesis will argue that contemporary views of male cross-dressing were complex. I will seek to unpack the various regimes of knowledge as they related to the meanings, or absence of meaning, perceivably associated with male cross-dressing. In doing so, my study will reveal that the practice held different and often contradictory meanings for performers and audiences alike. For instance, some newspaper reviews of theatrical productions featuring cross-dressing troupe Les Rouges et Noirs, which this thesis will explore in great detail, made vague allusions to the authors finding gender variance both troubling and alluring. Statements to this effect ranged from the cautiously complimentary: ‘How they have managed to eliminate all trace of that subtle unpleasantness so often associated with this type of thing I know not,’ to the unabashedly positive: ‘Reg Stone [of Les Rouges] in particular… achieves a wonderful sexual transition, complete in all its details down to the white powdered arms and polished manicured fingernails, the dainty gestures and positively pretty little affectations of femininity.’ Male cross-dressing performed before an audience could at once be a source of pleasure and anxiety in a time when British mass entertainment reached a greater and more diverse range of spectators than ever before. It is my hope that this thesis will reorientate interest in interwar and postwar male cross-dressing performance and will inspire a more critical historical approach to the study of gender variance in the twentieth century.

Mstislavas Dobužinskis (1875-1957) almost became the author of the official Lithuanian state coat of arms and the flag. Despite his considerable heraldic and vexillological legacy, today, undeservedly, he is forgotten. Dobužinskis is known now only to a small group of experts and those interested in the activities of the artist. The analysis of Dobužinskis’s heraldic and vexillological heritage, its scale and quality, demonstrates that he is one of the most prominent figures in the history of Lithuanian heraldry. Looking from today’s perspective, in many cases, the artist’s works (both state symbols and the works of applied heraldry) are not exemplary from the heraldic point of view. Nevertheless one can argue that in the context of the interwar period, they are probably the best attempts. One cannot overestimate Dobužinskis perfectionist striving to improve the designs, his relentless enthusiasm to dig deep into the history of the Lithuanian heraldry, to publish the results of the research, to seek additional knowledge, and to work diligently. His efforts appear even more significant given his multicultural origin and self-awareness. Today we can rejoice at the fact that we have a significant heraldic treasure of the interwar period, most of which is composed of Dobužinskis’s works, characterized by historical substantiation, originality, and interesting solutions.

U radu se na temelju arhivske građe i lokalnog tiska pokušava rekonstruirati proces formiranja režimske Jugoslavenske radikalno seljačke demokracije / Jugoslavenske nacionalne stranke na području Broda na Savi i brodskog kotara. Na promatranom je području vidljiva izrazita heterogenost pristaša nove stranke, što od samog početka vodi do formiranja frakcija koje se međusobno bore za prevlast.

The main purpose of this article is to discuss the achievements of biographical research at the Institute of Social Economy of the Warsaw School of Economics, with particular emphasis on the memoirs of the unemployed. The article has three parts: (1) a short introduction to memoir-related research in Poland, (2) a description of the memoir competitions organized by the Institute of Social Economy, and (3) a more detailed discussion of competitions involving the memoirs of the unemployed in the 1930s, at the turn of the century, and in 2017. One of the main conclusions the authors draw is that biographical materials, despite their great potential, are relatively rarely used by social researchers.

Posłuszny, Ł., Kubicki P. (2019). Pamiętniki bezrobotnych w zbiorach Instytutu Gospodarstwa Społecznego: Historia, charakterystyka i potencjał badawczy, „Kultura i Społeczeństwo” nr 1 (63), s. 95-104.

• A Sanitary Journal for Common People: Yaşamak Yolu, Health, Culture and the Human Body: Epidemiology, Ethics and History of Medicine, Perspectives from Turkey and Central Europe (der. İlhan İlkılıç, Hakan Ertin, Rainer Brömer, Hajo Zeeb), Betim Center Press, İstanbul, 2014: 299-311. ISBN 978-605-86957-1-9.

Wystąpienie stanowi ilościową analizę dyskursu politycznego na łamach "Monitora Polskiego" w 1918 roku. "Monitor Polski" - publikator wydawany przez rządy podległe Radzie Regencyjnej - od lutego do października 1918 roku pełnił dodatkową funkcję pisma publicystycznego, w którym pod niemiecką kontrolą cenzorską wydrukowano 788 artykułów, komentujących bieżące wydarzenia i kreślących wizje przyszłości. Charakter "Monitora" ewoluował od dziennika opinii do czasopisma codziennego, a głównym zagadnieniem omawianym w ostatnich miesiącach jego funkcjonowania w tym charakterze stał się koniec wojny. Wpływ cenzury malał z czasem, choć szeroka krytyka niemieckiej polityki ujawniła się dopiero w październiku. Przez cały okres kluczowym tematem, obok kwestii gospodarczych, pozostawały stosunki z państwami centralnym (prezentowane często poprzez przedruk bez komentarza z prasy niemieckiej) oraz z Ukrainą.

This book speaks about an unexplored question that had to do directly with the Greek minority living conditions in Albania and also with the way it was treated by the political world of that country. All the material for this treatise has been drawn exclusively from the Foreign Ministry archive. 
The book is separated into two parts: (a) the first one concerns the detailed analysis of the issue in question, following its chronological course of escalation, where the imaginativeness of Albanian authorities in inventing obstacles and applying pressure is revealed, a practice that gradually led to forfeiture of their property, marginalisation and finally to the expulsion of that specific, active group of the Greek minority in Albania, and (b) its critical presentation. 
Even if one could conceive the reason for the actions of the Albanian authorities at the expense of the Greek population, it would be difficult to understand the ineffective way in which the Greek foreign policy faced this question. And this was the case because, if the latter had taken good care to formulate a clear policy towards Albania, she could have promoted her interests in this country, despite the ‘aggressive’ Italian presence.  In contrast, the questions in focus were left to fester, a situation that finally had only harmful effects on Greek interests, since the only thing Greece could do was to intervene but always in the sense of firefighting, not being able to effectively protect the Greek population who lived there

In Hungary, following the World War I, the main basis of the rightist radical movements was the youth, especially the university students. This generation witnessed the defeat in the war, the collapse of the dual Austro-Hungarian Empire and the loss of Hungarian territories. Besides – under the critical social and economical circumstances of the country – they could not continue their studies, and they were unable to find employment. The moral collapse was followed by the Hungarian Soviet Republic between March and August 1919, which further strengthened the animosity of this generation towards the leftist movements and the communism. In 1919/1920, these political and social circumstances generated the right radical mentality and orientation of the university students. After the collapse of the Soviet Republic in August 1919, this youth established the Turul Association which became one of the most important and most considerable among the organizations in Hungary between the two World Wars. The related scientific literature has not examined in detail the history of the Turul yet, although this association had significantly affected the life of the Hungarian universities and the mentality of the succeeding young generations. The primary aim of this book is to present the life and function of the Turul, as well as to show how this association could develop into a country-wide organisation.  The main part of the ideology of this association was constituted by the anti-Semitism, the “Hungarian Imperial Idea”, the revisionism (irredentism), the hostile attitude against the communism, the leftist political movements and the legitimism. The latter arose from the significant and well-known contemporary opinion, that the “liberalism of the Habsburg-policy” had great responsibility for the territorial losses of Hungary. The second main section of this book discusses in detail this ideology and mentality. Beside these aims and questions, the monograph follows the career of some Turul-leaders, too. This is, similarly to those of foregoing, an interesting problem, because in the course of 1930s the Turul-members orientated both to the extreme right (Hungarian Arrow-Cross) movements and to the left political parties.

Med Albert Scherfig, Daniel Madsen og Nadia Zarling

En aften i august 1936 cykler tre brødre af sted fra København. Destina­tionen er Spanien, hvor et fascistisk oprør er brudt ud en måned tidligere. De frygter, at hvis det lykkes for fascisterne at knuse det spanske demokrati, er det kun et spørgsmål om tid, før Danmark står for tur.

I denne bog følger vi brødrene Harald, Kai og Aage Nielsen på deres rejse gennem Europa og det borgerkrigshærgede Spanien. Det er den enestående historie om de tre første danske spaniensfrivilliges møde med borgerkrigens rædsler, men også med kammeratskab og kærlighed.

Med afsæt i brødrenes brevkorrespondance med familien og deres unikke foto­grafier oplever vi rejsen på nært hold, hele vejen tilbage til Danmark, hvor brødrene fortsætter kampen under Besættelsen som medstiftere af modstands-organisationen BOPA.

The article deals with the issue of Jewish youth movements’ contribution to women's empowerment in interwar Poland using the example of the socialist movement Tsukunft. The article explores the movement's politics of memory in the interwar period and the selection of heroines whom the young women of Tsukunft were supposed to emulate, as well as real-life examples of Bundist women activists of the interwar period who served them as role models. In its examination of this alternative to the examples proposed by the mainstream state narrative, the article offers a view of Jewish social life in Poland, but also asks more specific questions, such as the true nature of relationships between Bundist women and men.

The role of neutrality during the War in the Pacific has been overlooked by World War II scholars and researchers of neutrality alike. The reason for that is somewhat understandable; to the European neutrals, Japan was far, far away. Why worry about a belligerent that did not matter militarily nor economically when the existential threat to life and liberty was right in front of their doorsteps? The dangers that European neutrals were exposed to and the question how their neutrality helped them to escape the carnage of the battlefields has crowded-out more subtle considerations for the systemic aspects of neutrality. This chapter rectifies the situation by outlining in what ways neutrality impacted Japan and its enemies. It argues that valuable insights in multilateral aspects of the war are gained by distinguishing different types of neutralities; namely Great Power Neutrals and Small Power Neutrals. Further distinctions such as permanent, differential, and even belligerent neutrality are important to understand the many facets through which neutrality impacted the international system of warfare in Asia-Pacific.