This project seeks create opportunities for engagement with everyday life under the Nazis among diverse social groups. Focusing on this large correspondence, we hope to enable social groups to enter into conversations with one another about the Nazi past who do not usually do so, such as members of different generations, nationalities, or academics and laypeople.
Feel free to comment on individual letters using the comment function and engage in broader discussion in the forums. Register here and submit your thoughts to the moderators.
Users may want to use the letters in a wide variety of other ways, bringing different expectations to bear, using various methods, and for perhaps divergent purposes. This diversity is addressed below in more detail.
Image: “How it all began …”
Do you want to publish your response to one or more of the letters? You can comment on any published letter, so long as you are a registered user. Just write your thoughts (though keep in mind the terms and conditions for our blogs). You may also respond to an existing comment like in all social media.
Would you like to write a short essay about a particular theme in the letters? Send your contribution to Prof. Dr. Andrew Stuart Bergerson (bergersona [at] umkc.edu) including your name, the title of the piece, a summary (max 300 words), and the file itself (preferably in .html with formatting or as a .doc or .docx). You must adhere to the T&S reference system and our terms and conditions.
By submitting your contribution, you confirm that you are the author of this work and that you hold copyright to all of the elements of the text including images or embedded files, that they are copyright free, or that you have permission to publish them on our website www.trugundschein.org.
All blogs and comments are moderated before publication to check for content, citations, and user terms and conditions. The final decision about publication remains in the hands of the editors of the blog.
The T&S Project can be used for research purposes. to that end, scholars can find more information on the following topics here:
a longer project description
a review of the interdisciplinary context for the project
a systematic description of the correspondence
A detailed description of editorial methods used to prepare the letters for publication in this project
instructions for how to properly reference materials from T&S
the Terms and Conditions of Use for using T&S materials
a list of scholarly publications about T&S where we shared our intermediate results
a selected bibliography on the themes of this project
The T&S research team is open to new participants and impulses. Students can learn more about internships with T&S here. For all other inquiries contact the Project Leadership.
The T&S Projekt can be used as teaching units.
Introduction for Instructors
Additional literature can be found here.
The T&S Project is being used here as teaching units. As general learning goals, the student should be able to do the following after completing the unit:
Take a position on how the study of world events from the perspective of ordinary people alters the established way of telling the story of the past.
Take a position on the qualities of cultural artifacts and the culture of everyday life in Germany during the 1930s and ’40s.
Take a position on the meaning of the past for their present personally or generally.
And for DaF students, to be able to communicate these positions confidently in German.
Instructors will adjust these goals to their specific course.
The teaching units can be found here, including advanced teaching units as well.
Additional literature can be found here.
Should you be interested in joining our research team, you can find out more information about internships here. Otherwise, if you just wish to participate as a volunteer, contact Prof. Dr. Andrew Stuart Bergerson (bergerson [at] umkc.edu).
The T&S research team consists of a very diverse group of people including interns and volunteers of all ages. We can do our work both in person and through virtual communication, which means we are open to participants from all countries so long as you have a computer and an internet connection.
Should you be interested in joining our research team, you can find out more information about internships here. Otherwise, if you just wish to participate as a volunteer, contact Prof. Dr. Andrew Stuart Bergerson (bergerson [at] umkc.edu).
The T&S research team can find several useful links here. As of 2019, we will only be using Zotero for “old” letters. From now on, we will be using TranskribusWeb instead for transcribing. The instructions can be found here: the Transkribus Handbook and a Annotation Chart for quick reference.