In recent years, the process of coming to terms with the Nazi past of various institutions has encompassed many areas of society, including academic institutions. In 2017, the Göttingen Academy of Humanities and Sciences commissioned Désirée Schauz to examine the history of one of Germany’s oldest academies and its members. The study does not focus solely on the Nazi period; rather, it explores how the Academy and its members positioned themselves in the face of the various political upheavals of the 20th century.
The final results of the study are published in this book:
In addition, a number of shorter articles have been published on how the Göttingen Academy and its members have dealt with the Nazi past since 1945:
Désirée Schauz: Vergangenheitspolitische Positionierungen. Die Göttinger Akademie der Wissenschaften und ihre in der NS-Zeit ausgeschlossenen Mitglieder. In: Acta Historica Leopoldina 80 (2021), S. 39–62.
Désirée Schauz: Vergangenheitspolitische Kommunikation im Privaten. Aufzeichnungen und Korrespondenzen des Biochemikers Adolf Windaus (1945–1949). In: Petra Terhoeven und Dirk Schumann (Hg.): Strategien der Selbstbehauptung. Vergangenheitspolitische Kommunikation an der Universität Göttingen (1945–1965). Göttingen: Wallstein, S. 310–354.
Désirée Schauz is a member of the advisory board for the project ‘History of Dresden University of Technology under National Socialism’ at Dresden University of Technology. Prior to that, until spring 2026, she was a member of the President’s Commission on ‘The Culture of Remembrance at the Leopoldina’ at the National Academy of Sciences ‘Leopoldina’ (Halle), as well as the advisory board for the project ‘Biographical Studies on Leopoldina Members during the Nazi Era’, which was also based at the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. Both projects have now been completed.