27.4373, Review: Germanic; History of Linguistics; Socioling: Maas (2016)

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Subject: 27.4373, Review: Germanic; History of Linguistics; Socioling: Maas (2016)

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Date: Fri, 28 Oct 2016 11:16:19
From: Franz Dotter [franz.dotter at uni-klu.ac.at]
Subject: Sprachforschung in der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus [Linguistic Research During the National Socialist Era]

 
Discuss this message:
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Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/27/27-1117.html

AUTHOR: Utz  Maas
TITLE: Sprachforschung in der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus [Linguistic Research During the National Socialist Era]
SUBTITLE: Verfolgung, Vertreibung, Politisierung und die inhaltliche Neuausrichtung der Sprachwissenschaft [Persecution, Expulsion, Politicization, and the Substantive Reorientation of Linguistics]
SERIES TITLE: Studia Linguistica Germanica
PUBLISHER: De Gruyter Mouton
YEAR: 2016

REVIEWER: Franz Dotter, Universitat Klagenfurt

Reviews Editor: Helen Aristar-Dry

SUMMARY

This book is a follow-up of the author's two volumes on the persecution and
emigration of ''language researchers'' (see below) in the time between 1933-45
(Maas 2010; not quoted in the references!). Because it cannot be understood
without the earlier volumes, I refer readers to the relevant reviews
(Naguschewski 2011 for the whole final edition of 2010, Haase 1997 and Pulgram
1998 for Maas 1996, the first printing of the first part of the latter 2010
volume 1). From the start at the congress ''Week of burned books'' (Osnabrueck
1983), Maas looks back at more than 30 years of work in the respective
research field. The reviews of Maas 1996 and 2010 underline the immense
efforts expended in acquiring the biographic and scientific data of about 300
victims of the NS-regime in the area of ''language researchers'' and their
value for further research. The results from 2010 had been available on the
internet (at the homepage of Osnabrueck University), because the idea of the
author was that readers could easily use the electronic database while going
through the 2016 book. Unfortunately, the database was destroyed by a hacker
attack and is not available today, but it will be restored.

As the personal scientific achievements of the single researchers as well as
their more or less tragical fates are documented in the two volumes of 2010,
they are not repeated as a whole in the actual 2016 book, except  for examples
of certain types of persecution. The book only contains the list of 339
researchers (of which 301 were victims) with short notices as an annex.
Instead, the historic context of the NS-regime and a broader context of
language research in German speaking countries are the main themes of the
book, i.e. murder, persecution and ''voluntary'' or enforced emigration are
mostly generally dealt with, illustrated by extracts from biographies. 

The author takes a very general perspective, documented in the first chapter
(''Vorueberlegungen'' i.e. 'Preliminary Considerations'), where he discusses
the constitution of the discipline of linguistics within a much broader
context of ''language science'', the process of professional differentiation
within the latter area and the different 'states of the art' or developmental
stages of the various disciplines at one point in time. The author points out
that linguistics emerged from the broad discipline of ''philology'' in the
last decennia of the 19th century and that its professionalization processes -
in the sense of the development of  'modern' linguistics as we understand it
now - lasted until the 1960s. Especially the time after World War II brought
essential turns in the construction of linguistics in German speaking
countries.

Concerning the goal of presenting the history of ''language research'', Maas
goes back to the 19th century and the dispute between more positivistic
positions (cf. the Neogrammarians) and researchers who adopted a more holistic
view of language (starting from e.g. Wilhelm Dilthey's conception of the
humanities), which also led to the consideration of research in neighbor
sciences like psychology, sociology, ethnology. Because he includes all
research having language as its object under the rubric of ''language
research'' (''Sprachforschung''), even research outside universities, Maas
offers a comprehensive view of the area. 

In Chapter 2 (''Verfolgte deutsche Sprachforscher'', i.e. 'Persecuted German
language researchers') the author first describes that he used three
categories for the respective researchers: alongside 267 persons suffering
from extensive persecution, he identified 35 cases of researchers who were
able to stay in Germany though they were discriminated against or suppressed
and 39 cases where he could not find proofs that persecution led to
emigration. He combines these three groups with 10 ''profiles'' which aim to
classify the work done by the researchers contained in the database; four of
these profiles describe linguistic research in a narrower sense: only profile
1 describes 'modern' linguistics (it includes 49 persons), profile 2
historical and comparative (indo european) linguistics (including
Neogrammarians; altogether 143 persons), profile 3 descriptive and empirical
linguistics (10 persons), and profile 4 applied linguistics (15 persons). 

The greater part of Chapter 2 is devoted to the development of ''language
research'' from the late 19th century until the 1970s. The chapter closes with
two research results: The first tells us that 127 persons included in the
database were members of the Linguistic Society of America. The second tells
us that an inquiry about the publicity of 210 members of the database under
the members of the German Society for Linguistics (DGfS) in 2007 showed that
most of the names were unknown. Within the known, there were famous linguists
like Sapir, Boas, Trubetzkoy, and Weinreich, as well as persons from neighbor
sciences like Buehler, Lenneberg and Stern. The author takes this as the proof
that after 1945 linguistics in German speaking countries did not continue  the
work that many of the persecuted and expelled language researchers had done
before. Rather, linguistics had been more or less new constituted concerning
theory and methodology after WW II.

Chapter 3 deals with persecution and its context. It calculates that about 80%
of persecution was based on racist laws, the basis of which, anti-Semitism,
represented a broad consensus: 13 persons were murdered in concentration camps
(KZ), 2 as political opponents, 14 committed suicide, 4 survived KZ or the
penitentiary. While 227 persons emigrated, others are examples of survival
like the average of persons persecuted under NS-rule: Some were 'saved' by
''Aryan'' consort, some lived on under discrimination (partially ''arranging''
with the system), some hid elsewhere, some escaped as children sent to exile
alone; and at least some died before their persecution came to its end. The
chapter deals in detail with all aspects of persecution, with the - legally =
racially grounded - measures of dismissal (87 cases are documented),
discrimination and murder. Besides racism there was also persecution of
homosexuals, politically ''not trustworthy'' persons and discrimination of
women. For 62 persons in the database the author could identify overt
political opposition.

Chapter 4 describes the conditions of emigration and exile in different
countries and the work of organisations helping the emigrants. An overview
presents the 37 states into which the single researchers emigrated and the
dates of exile. Most positive examples of scientists being able to establish
themselves in the country of exile can be found in the USA where some persons
could contribute essentially to the development of the discipline (cf. e.g.
Boas, Lenneberg, Reichenbach, Weinreich; Bar-Hillel for Israel). After 1945,
only 35 researchers re-emigrated to the Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Western
Germany), 9 to the German Democratic Republic (Sowjet Zone, Eastern Germany)
and 8 to Austria.

Chapter 5 goes back to the history of language research  (in the broad sense
already mentioned) and presents a detailed analysis of the development of
linguistics as a special discipline of its own from the 19th century until the
time after WW II. It may be noted that the persons later persecuted or exiled
have contributed to this development.

Chapter 6 describes the taking over of language research by the Nazi regime
(Maas: ''The politicization of the discipline''). This takeover partially
changed the scientific questions or the formulation of research results under
the leading perspective of service to racial (''voelkisch'') interests, be it
by threat or ''voluntarily'' . Some persons decided to work on
''unproblematic'' issues, but even there they had to add portions which
reflected the ideology of the regime. This caused a growing isolation of
linguistic research from the international development, though some linguists
tried to follow its trends.

The last subchapters (6.9 and 6.10) deal with the restoration of linguistics
after the end of WW II. As in other areas like politics, it is characterized
by the suppression of the Nazi time's crimes and oppression. One major factor
was that the scientists who had been working in Germany and Austria during the
Nazi regime faced or feared denazification (some were discharged for a few
years but most of these were reemployed later). There was a lot of resistance
against re-emigration because there was a widespread negative mood towards
persons who had ''a good life in exile'' while ''others suffered'' in Germany.
Almost no leading person fought this mood. This general psychic situation was
one of the causes of the ''clash of generations'' in the late 1960s. Only then
a more radical change towards international standards was possible also in
science. 

Chapter 7 continues this description by referring to the database. Maas
evaluates the developments of German-speaking language research from his
perspective: He denies that there should be a notion of ''Jewish language
research'' as well as the frequently used notion of an ''decapitation'' of
German science by the NS regime. He also argues against a simple
identification of ''persecuted science = good science''.

Chapter 8 gives a conclusion and prospects. Maas summarizes his view on the
history of language research in Germany and Austria. He emphasizes the
importance of the culture analytical approaches which had been questioned
since the Neogrammarian movement but had its adherents until 1945 in Germany,
as well as in exile. His argument is as follows: Culture analytical approaches
were discredited after 1945 because they had also been represented by at least
partially discredited scientists working under the NS-regime. As only few
exiled representatives of these approaches came back to Germany and Austria it
was not possible to continue these approaches after 1945. This was the reason
that the linguists who took the lead in Germany and Austria represented either
 traditional (e.g. 'soft' Neogrammarian), structuralist or more formal
approaches. To do justice to the broken tradition of culture analytical
language research - naturally in the light of modern standards of linguistics
- the works of the persecuted scientists should be made better accessible to
linguists.

EVALUATION

As was already said concerning the two documentary volumes (Maas 2010), the
author expended immense effort on the issue of language research in the NS
time, especially on a complete presentation of persecution and expulsion of
scientists: this collection of data, their  ordering and analysis covers more
than 1200 pages and includes a CD-ROM. The 2016 book under review now connects
to this issue with the first small part of Chapter 2, Chapters 3, 4, 6, the
last part of 7 and parts of Chapter 8. It is indispensable for anyone who
wants to work on this theme, though most people will realize that they would
need Maas 2010 or the hopefully soon restored website for parallel reading in
order to get comprehensive information on persons and their work.

Concerning the Nazi regime, its laws and everyday practice, the book lacks
respective original documents, either quoted as texts or as references. Just
to take one example: the regime tried to exploit all work done for its
interests. Therefore they created the notion of ''Kriegseinsatz der
Geisteswissenschaften'' ('War service of the humanities') to which scientists
had to officially relate in everyday presentations or in publications. In my
perspective, this lack of original texts in Maas’ book creates the wrong
impression that academic life was calm for scientists who did not adhere to
Nazi ideology. Maas fails to describe the almost complete everyday system of
surveillance, state spies (down to block leaders = ''Blockwart''), formal and
informal censorship built up by Gestapo and SS which opened the doors for
denunciation. This system also worked at universities.

Methodologically, Maas is very keen on keeping to proofs, and therefore often
states that there is no proof for some sort of persecution of a certain
person. While this is adequate, his numerous general conclusions from these
single cases (e.g. ''Principally, the NS regime persecuted persons, not
scientific positions'', p. 168; translation by the reviewer) are either wrong
(cf. the argumentation against the burned books, or psychoanalysis as a
persecuted science) or misleading, because they assist a discourse of the sort
''it was not as bad as you think'' (cf. also p. 174). A perspective combining
'not every denunciation had negative consequences' and 'there were also
scientific reasons for conflicts' (cf. p. 165) can have the same effect. That
Maas denominates some types of persecution as ''conflict constellations''
(title of subchapter 3.5), is equally inadequate. The same happens when he
writes that ''especially the public visibility of a politically nonconforming
attitude caused persecution and disciplining'' , he continues ''where such an
attitude remained informal and colleagues or students did not denounce, there
was considerable space for nonconformity'' (p. 165; translation by the
reviewer).

There is also a lack of any description of the recruitments performed by the
NS-regime to replace the dismissed or exiled scientists. A list of successors
would be of great value. Additionally, it seems that some authorities of
language research get a rather friendly interpretation of their activities in
the Third Reich along with a high evaluation of their work (e.g. Porzig and
Wuest; cf. subchapter 7.12; an earlier version of this was already criticized
by Simon 1990). Finally, there are a number of important references lacking
(see ''References not quoted'' below).

There are even a few weird claims, e.g.: ''Because the SS people saw
themselves as an elite, they expected that the persons working in the SS
science groups qualified under regular academic conditions.'' (p. 416;
translation by the reviewer). I do not want to describe what the SS understood
by ''regular academic conditions''. Or take ''One may not speak of resistance
where only human solidarity was the case, though this could cause
persecution.'' (p. 165; translation by the reviewer).

The second subject of the book, which aims at establishing a history of
language research in Germany and Austria from the second part of the 19th
century up to the 1960s, is partially questionable, however. It is distributed
over Chapters 1, the greater part of Chapter 2, Chapter 5, the first part of
Chapter 7 and parts of Chapter 8. This causes some fragmentation as well as
partial overlapping and repetitions, lacking an overt chronology. The text is
essay-like,  offering neither original texts as proofs for the classification
of single persons or groups nor systematic descriptions of their scientific
orientation. The notions used for characterizing different approaches are very
general and not based on examples; therefore they will be hard to (re)trace or
reconstruct for many readers. Readers may also develop the impression of a
somewhat idiosyncratic authorial view concerning historical, philosophical and
linguistic developments (e.g. p.23-26, 293-296, or 511-515). Perhaps it would
have been better to show the ''flow of linguistic ideas'' in its temporal and
argumentative complexity. For these reasons, the author does not reach one of
his main aims, namely to view the persecuted language researchers and those
who remained in Germany and Austria during the NS regime within an integrated
perspective, embedded in the development of the field from the second half of
the 19th century to the 1960s.

To sum up: The book is very valuable for research in the persecution of
language researchers under the NS-regime; its contribution to the broader
history of linguistics may be questioned. 

REFERENCES

Naguschewski, Dirk. 2011. Review of Maas 2010. H-Soz-Kult, 08.04.2011.
https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=33005 (1 July, 2016.)

Haase, Martin. 1997. Review of Maas 1996.
https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/tmr/article/view/14483/20601 (1
July, 2016.)

Pulgram, Ernst. 1998. Review of Maas 1996. Language 74. 365-366.

Simon, Gerd. 1990. Wider die Utzmaasereien in der
Sprachwissenschaftsgeschichtsschreibung. Zeitschrift für germanistische
Linguistik 18. 81-94.

REFERENCES NOT QUOTED by Maas:

Maas, Utz. 1996.Verfolgung und Auswanderung deutschsprachiger Sprachforscher
1933-1945. Vol. 1: Einleitung und biobibliographische Daten A-F. Osnabrück:
Secolo.

Maas, Utz. 2010. Verfolgung und Auswanderung deutschsprachiger Sprachforscher
1933-1945. 2 Vols. Tuebingen: Stauffenburg

Dainat, Holger & Danneberg, Lutz (eds.). 2003. Literaturwissenschaft und
Nationalsozialismus. Tuebingen: Niemeyer.

Eckart, Wolfgang U. & Sellin, Volker & Wolgast, Eike (eds.). 2006. Die
Universitaet Heidelberg im Nationalsozialismus. Heidelberg: Springer.

Haupts, Leo.  2007. Die Universitaet zu Koeln im Uebergang vom
Nationalsozialismus zur Bundesrepublik. Wien etc. Boehlau.

Kaemper-Jansen, Heidrun. 1993. Spracharbeit im Dienst des NS-Staats. Berlin:
de Gruyter.

Knobloch, Clemens. 2004. Die deutsche Sprachwissenschaft im
Nationalsozialismus. Kritische Ausgabe 2. 42-47.

Koonz, Claudia. 2003 The Nazi conscience. Cambridge, Mass & London: Belknap.

Ranzmaier, Irene. 2005. Germanistik an der Universitaet Wien zur Zeit des
Nationalsozialismus. Wien etc.: Boehlau.

Roemer, Ruth (ed.). 1989. Sprachwissenschaft und Rassenideologie. 2nd,
improved ed. Muenchen: Fink.

Schwabe, Klaus (ed.) 1988. Deutsche Hochschullehrer als Elite 1815-1945.
Berlin etc.: Oldenbourg

Seier, Hellmut. 1984. Universitaet und Hochschulpolitik im
nationalsozialistischen Staat. In: Malettke, Klaus (ed.). Der
Nationalsozialismus an der Macht. Goettingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. 143-165.

Wilking, Stefan. 2003. Der deutsche Sprachatlas im Nationalsozialismus:
Studien zu Dialektologie und Sprachwissenschaft 1933-45. Hildesheim: Olms.


ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Franz Dotter, Associate Professor for General Linguistics at the Alps-Adria
University of Klagenfurt, Austria; retired since 2013. dr. phil.1975,
habilitation on iconicity in syntax 1990. 1996-2013 head of the Centre for
Sign Language and Deaf Communication (http://www.uni-klu.ac.at/zgh). Main
interests: Typology and cognitive linguistics, sign languages,
sociolinguistics of politics and minorities, text/discourse analysis, deaf
education; email address: franz.dotter at uni-klu.ac.at.





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