Processing the Nazi period at the University of Tübingen

The Nazi era is the darkest chapter in the history of the University. Many professors welcomed the Nazi takeover in 1933. The vast majority were actively involved in the consolidation and stabilization of Nazi rule. The example of Tübingen also shows that National Socialism at German universities cannot be reduced to a small group of perpetrators.

The University sees it as its duty to deal with this chapter of its history. The University of Tübingen under National Socialism Working Group was founded in 2002 specifically for this purpose. A series of publications have emerged from this in cooperation with several University institutions.

In addition, in 2015 - 70 years after the end of the war - the University dedicated itself to the topic in the form of a Studium Generale series and two acclaimed exhibitions. These exhibitions focused on the history of research and teaching during the Nazi era, as well as Tübingen anthropologist Hans Fleischhacker's habilitation thesis on racial studies, which had been accepted by the University's in 1943.

• Urban Wiesing, Klaus-Rainer Brintzinger, Bernd Grün, Horst Junginger, Susanne Michl (eds.): „Die Universität Tübingen im Nationalsozialismus“, Stuttgart 2010 (Contubernium – Tübinger Beiträge zur Universitäts- und Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Band 73) 1136 S., ISBN: 978-3-515-09706-2.
• Ernst Seidl (ed.):„Forschung – Lehre – Unrecht. Die Universität Tübingen im Nationalsozialismus“, Tübingen 2015 (I. d. R. Schriften aus dem Museum der Universität Tübingen MUT, hrsg. von B. Engler und E. Seidl, Band 9), 292 S., durchgehend farbige Abbildungen, ISBN: 978-3-9816616-5-1.
• Jens Kolata, Richard Kühl, Henning Tümmers, Urban Wiesing (eds.): „In Fleischhackers Händen. Wissenschaft, Politik und das 20. Jahrhundert“, Tübingen 2015 (I. d. R. Schriften aus dem Museum der Universität Tübingen MUT, hrsg. von B. Engler und E. Seidl, Band 8), 270 S., durchgehend farbige Abbildungen; ISBN: 978-3-9816616-4-4.

Sources on the history of the Jews in the Tübingen University archive
Report on ‘Gypsy research,’ ‘Criminal biology’ and the forced sterilization of ‘Gypsies’
Report on forced labor at the University of Tübingen in the Second World War
Report on forced sterilizations at the University of Tübingen
Bibliography on the University during National Socialism
Report by Bastian Wade on the Nazi past of Max Schwarz, former director of the Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital