Oswald Menghin : : Science and Politics in the Age of Extremes / / Robert Obermair.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter DG Plus DeG Package 2024 Part 1
• VerfasserIn: Obermair, Robert,
• Place / Publishing House: München ;, Wien : : De Gruyter Oldenbourg, , [2023]; ©2024
• Year of Publication: 2023
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (VIII, 675 p.)

The fundamental idea of this book is to show – based on the example of Oswald Menghin, Minister of Education of the National Socialist Austrian “Anschluss”-government, and the networks surrounding him – how science and politics were interwoven in Austria in the first half of the 20th century and how the ideas and networks created in that milieu outlasted the alleged caesurae of this period and found continuation in post-war South America. As Menghin traversed an astonishing number of political upheavals and changes – time after time in exalted positions –, his biography may be considered as paradigmatic for the Age of Extremes. The following aspects form the core interest of this book: (1) Menghin’s position in the political and scientific field, as well as the interconnection between these spheres. (2) The transnational entanglement between the two central areas of Menghin’s geographic spheres of action. (3) Continuities and changes both in Menghin’s biography and in a broader political and scientific context in Austria and Argentina. (4) Menghin’s scope of action and the extent of his responsibility for crucial and often dire developments in all these facets.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Methodological and Theoretical Reflections -- 3 Early Years -- 4 Studying in Vienna -- 5 On the Way to an Academic Career -- 6 The Years of the First Austrian Republic -- 7 The Golden Age of the Catholic Nationals: the Austrofascist Years -- 8 The “Annexation” and Menghin’s Rise to Even Higher Merits -- 9 The National Socialist Years – a Compliant Scientist at the Peak of his Career -- 10 Denazification, Imprisonment and Flight -- 11 A Second Career -- 12 Coming to Terms with the Past? -- 13 Menghin’s Last Years and his Legacy -- 14 Résumé: An Adaptable Scientist with a Political Agenda -- 15 Annex -- 16 Sources and Literature -- 17 Index