Voluntary Participation in the Two German Dictatorships

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Christiane Kuller
• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History
• Term: since 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 413222647

This project focuses on how employees of the state administration voluntarily conformed to the system during each of the two German dictatorships in the 20th century, by separately studying voluntary participation under National Socialism and in the GDR. Although participation is usually equated to ideological conviction, this assumption obscures not only the broad spectrum of motivations but also the antinomies inherent to the rule and everyday reality of these dictatorships. In contrast, this subproject is based on the concept of "Eigen-Sinn" (Lüdtke) and uses a subject-oriented approach to illuminate individual interpretations. Following Michel Foucault's conception of governmentality, the subproject pays particular attention to the relationship between external rule and self-government in the context of the coercion and violence of these dictatorships. When the violent enforcement of compliance is deemed to be legitimate, the very concept of voluntary activity under such conditions comes into question.The subproject pursues four goals: First, it adds to standard approaches to research into the political and organizational history of administration by including the subjective analysis of the actors involved as a level of analysis, which has often been designated as a desideratum. Secondly, combined with the research to resistance activities, which already engages with the problem of individual motivation, the subproject will open up a broader and different view into the motives for behavior under dictatorial rule and thus add to the existing context of academic research in this field. Thirdly, the subproject adds to debates surrounding the concept of a “new statehood” in the two German dictatorships by making visible various—and in part long-standing—orders of knowledge and logics of power. Fourthly, the subproject is a touchstone for the applicability of this research group's approach to the study of dictatorships. Differences and similarities within the social organization of dictatorship and democracy can be discerned more clearly by using the approach of voluntariness.The subproject examines the relevance of voluntariness for the normative order of authoritarian rule, as a resource for self-efficacy in individual action, and as a form of strategic self-stylization. To this end, published and unpublished material from the historical discussion on administrative culture will be evaluated with regard to references to the normative power of voluntariness. The results will then be compared with regional and local case studies. The formalistic character of bureaucratic sources presents a methodological challenge. Therefore, the subproject will focus on conflicts and unusual constellations, which explicitly reflect processes of clarifying norms and practices. Additionally, sources with a post-dictatorial point of view regarding these cases will also be included.

• DFG Programme: Research Units
• Subproject of: FOR 2983: Freiwilligkeit