"Ich schwöre untertänig Treue und Gehorsam": Der politische Eid im Deutschland des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts

• Applicant: Dr. Vanessa Conze
• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History
• Term: from 2008 to 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 56112590

The project analyses - unchanged from the initial application - political oaths in Germany between 1815-1990/91. The goal is to make key statements about attempts to secure state authority and political loyalty as well as social responses to these claims under completely different political and social circumstances, and especially in periods of political change. By a political oath an Eidgeber swears fidelity and obedience and honest conduct in office to the Eidnehmer (i.e. the state). This includes a recognition of the existing political order. Every political system within the studied period used such oaths. The questions, which objectives the governements pursued by using oathes, what was hoped to achieve, and what reactions they provoked individually and socially, are the focus of the project. By this, the generation of political "loyalty" in the interplay between cultural and historical traditions, secularization and the transformation of political power and state power can be illustrated.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants