Pleasure, Power and Everyday Life under National Socialism

Conference organized by the IHTP in collaboration with the DHI Paris, and with the support of the GHI London, GHI Washington and the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung

DHI Paris, 13-14 September 2007
8, rue du Parc-Royal, 75003 Paris

Programme

Thursday, 13 September  (arrival in the morning)

14.00: Welcome, Commencement
Werner Paravicini (DHI Paris), Fabrice d’Almeida, Corey Ross, Pamela Swett

1.) The NS Regime and the ‘Problem’ of Pleasure (14.30 – 16.00)

Thymian Bussemer (Frankfurt/Oder): ‘Nach einem dreifachen Sieg-Heil auf den Führer ging man zum gemütlichen Teil über’. Propaganda und Unterhaltung im Nationalsozialismus. Zu den historischen Wurzeln eines nur vermeintlich neuen Phänomens

Daniel Mühlenfeld (Jena): Zwischen Pflicht und Vergnügen. NS-Funktionäre und die Motive ihres Engagements

Discussion

16.00: Coffee

2.) Nazism and the Aesthetics of Pleasure (16.30 – 18.30)

David Pan (California, Irvine): The Structure of Aesthetic Pleasure in the Nazi Reception of Goethe’s Faust

Elizabeth Harvey (Nottingham): Seeing the World: Photography, Photojournalism and Visual Pleasure in the Third Reich

Discussion: Discussant for sections 1 and 2: Prof. Chris Lorenz (Amsterdam)

19.00: Dinner for the readers and discussants

Friday, 14 September

3.) Pleasure and Entertainment (9.30 – 12.00)

Patrick Merziger (FU-Berlin): ‘Deutscher Humor’ 1931-1950. Die Politik und die Öffentlichkeit populärer Unterhaltung

Corey Ross (Birmingham): Radio, Film and ‘gute Laune’: Wartime Entertainment between Mobilization and Distraction

10:45: Coffee

Patrick Major (Warwick): Bad Nazis and Good Germans: Hollywood and the Third Reich

Discussion

12.00: Lunch

4.) Intimate Pleasures: Sex under National Socialism  (13.00 – 15.15)

Dagmar Herzog (New York): Sexual Politics in the Third Reich

Pamela Swett (McMaster, Ontario): Selling Sex: Advertising Anti-Impotence Drugs in the Third Reich

Jean-Luc Leleu (Caen): Sexuality, Intimacy and Occupation: The Private Lives of SS Soldiers in Occupied Western Europe

Discussion: Discussant for sections 3 and 4: Dr. Richard Wetzell (GHI Washington

15.15: Coffee

5.) Private Pleasure versus Public Utility (15.45 – 17.00)

Jonathan Wiesen (Southern Illinois): Driving, Shopping, and Smoking: The Society for Consumer Research and the Politics of Pleasure in Nazi Germany

Fabrice d’Almeida (IHTP, Paris): Luxury and Fashion under National Socialism

Discussion: Discussant for section 5: Dr. Stefan Martens (DHI Paris)

17.00: Closing discussion: Prof. Martin Sabrow (ZZF, Potsdam)

18.00: End