Kurt Baschwitz : a pioneer of communication studies and social psychology / Jaap van Ginneken.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ginneken, Jaap van, 1943- author.

Contributor:

Alumni and Friends Memorial Book Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Baschwitz, Kurt, 1886-1968.

Baschwitz, Kurt.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

354 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Amsterdam : Amsterdam University Press, [2018]

Summary:

In this study of a forgotten but noteworthy figure, the author tells the story of the life of Kurt Baschwitz (1886-1968), a scholar who fled from the Nazis. He wrote six books, never translated into English, on four related themes: the press, propaganda, politics, and persecution. Baschwitz independently developed concepts that are now seen as key to communication science and social psychology, and the author places Baschwitz's ideas in the wider context of his dramatic life and times.

Contents:

1 Introduction 17

Baschwitz's significance 17

A very European intellectual 19

Causes of neglect 20

Approach of this study 22

Outline 24

A note on documentation 25

2 1886-1914: Youth and First Journalism 27

Wider historical background: 'German exceptionalism'? 27

The liberal southwest 30

The Baschwitz family name and roots 31

A book-printer dynasty 33

Jewish assimilation and resurgent anti-Semitism 35

German education 37

The Baschwitz's family life 38

School and student years 39

The early German social sciences 41

Baschwitz's Ph.D. dissertation 42

Writing skills 44

Hamburg and the Fremdenblatt 47

Liberal journalist 49

The 'Balkan wars': prologue and trigger for WWI 51

The outbreak of The Great War 53

3 1914-1918: War and Propaganda 57

Wider historical context: The mobilization for war 57

The HF and German press's rendering of the war 59

Journalists' impressions about the opening skirmishes in the West 61

Land war atrocities: German rumours and Belgian realities 62

Baschwitz and the mutual accusations 65

Sea war atrocities: Blockades, U-boats, and the Lusitania 68

The neutral Netherlands 71

The arrest of Baschwitz's predecessor 73

Baschwitz urgently sent from Hamburg to Rotterdam 75

The situation in Rotterdam in 1916 76

Baschwitz's monitoring of the Dutch and foreign press 77

Baschwitz's black sheep: Louis Raemaekers 79

The German famine and a Dutch relief campaign 80

Spring 1917: the U.S. entry into the war 83

Baschwitz family events 85

Germanophobia 87

1919: Paris and Versailles 88

4 First Book: On Mass Propaganda and Enemy Images 93

One more example: The 'corpse factory' hoax 93

Mass delusions 96

The role of preconscious and unconscious processes 97

Publication of the first two editions 99

The logic of mass delusions and enemy images 100

Reception, at home and abroad 101

The belated and revised third edition 104

Revisionist views of war and peace 106

Explanatory framework 107

Reception of the revised edition 108

Fast forward, to later stereotype and conflict studies 109

Selected excerpts from Baschwitz' provisional summary of Der Massenwahn (mass delusions) 112

5 1919-1933: The Weimar Republic and the Mass Press 115

Wider historical context: The Weimar Republic 115

Hamburg at the time of Baschwitz's return 117

Hunger and food riots 118

Baschwitz's marriage and family 120

Fall-out from Versailles: The hyper-inflation of 1922-3 122

Leaving Hamburg, amidst early warnings from Munich 124

A Weimar press torn between ideology and finance 126

The D.A.Z.: a German Times? 128

Baschwitz's own political evolution 129

From D.A. Z. to D.N.N. 131

Editor-in-chief at the Zeitungs-Verlag 133

Contributions from other academic disciplines 135

Baschwitz's talks and lectures 137

The new audiovisual media 138

The unravelling of the Baschwitz couple 139

Return of the economic crisis and the surge of the Nazis 141

Hitler to power 143

Split-up and departure 145

Reunited abroad 147

6 Second Book: On the Mass Press and Newspaper Audiences 149

Press studies in Germany and the Netherlands 149

Tentative manuscript on 'The state and the press' 151

Baschwitz's lobby at the University of Amsterdam 153

The economic crisis, cutbacks, and delay 155

'Private lecturer' at last 157

De krant door alle tijden: The newspaper through the ages 159

Again: The question of censorship and propaganda 164

Excerpts from the book De krant door alle tijden (The newspaper through the ages) 165

7 1933-939: Exile and Mass Politics 169

Wider historical context: Nazi rule, terror, and refugees 169

The Jewish support networks in The Netherlands 171

Finding a neighbourhood and a house 174

Getting to know Anne Frank 176

The Wiener bureau 177

German-Dutch ties during the 1930s 179

A lively German and Jewish exile community 181

Employment at the new Social History Institute 182

The first seeds of a press department 184

The wider historical milieu in 1930s Amsterdam 186

Further family problems 188

Begging for money to avoid bankruptcy 189

Chasing after odd jobs 190

Darkening clouds on the horizon 192

8 Third Book: On Mass Politics and Parliamentary Democracy 195

International worries 195

Cultural pessimism about the revolt of the masses 197

Baschwitz's plea for a different approach 199

Baschwitz's 'empirical' mass psychology 200

Terror and the dangers of acquiescence 201

Publication, translation, and reception 203

Excerpt from You and the mass (Last paragraphs, with its overall conclusions) 205

9 1940-1945: Hiding From Mass Persecution 207

Wider historical context: The run-up to the war 207

Invasion of the Netherlands, flight to the coast 208

Return to Amsterdam, half in hiding 210

Baschwitz's belated registration as a Jew 212

The battle for exemptions 213

Lecturing at the Oosteinde refugee centre 215

Presser as foster father of Baschwitz's eldest daughter 216

Baschwitz's arrest and deportation to Westerbork 218

Isa Baschwitz's rescue operation 220

Through the meshes of the net 222

Going into hiding at his daughters' place 223

Isa as a courier for people in hiding 224

Isa gets involved with the armed resistance 227

Family repercussions 228

The final confrontation 230

Liberation of the press 231

Baschwitz and the first publication of Anne Frank's Diary 234

Kurt & Isa's reservations, and the further fate of the diary 235

10 Fourth and Later Books: On Mass Persecution and Extermination 237

The historiography of witch-hunts 237

Baschwitz's early interest in the subject 238

The role of the printing press 241

The connection with contemporary events 242

The Oudewater 'Witches' weighing house' 243

Baschwitz's 1941 monograph Van de heksenwaag 247

Further book, on De strijd met de duivel (The struggle with the devil) 248

Final major book, Hexen und Hexenprozesse (Witches and witch trials) 250

Failing health 251

International praise and critique 253

The scale and persistence of witch-hunts 255

Excerpt from Hexen und Hexenprozesse (Final part of the epilogue; almost identical to the conclusion of the previous De strijd met de duivel) 257

11 1946-1957: Founder of Institutions 259

The wider historical context: Peace, and the new Cold War 259

1946: 'The future of Dutch civilization' 261

German enemy subject? 263

1947: Moving out again, the fate of his family 265

The founding of a 'seventh' faculty in Amsterdam 267

How political must 'Political Science' be? 270

Delay through the Red Scare 271

Baschwitz, Presser, and War documentation 274

At last: Professor of press studies 276

The founding of a cluster of press-related institutions 277

Saturday courses for practicing journalists 280

University students of political and press science 282

Advanced students and later staff 284

Media effects and audiences: UFOs and charity campaigns 285

Links to social and mass psychology 286

The post-war emergence of public opinion research 289

Collaboration with the first polling agencies 290

The first links across borders 292

The Polls and Steinmetz research archives 294

12 International Role 297

Building European networks 297

From 'publicistics' to 'mass communication' 299

Amsterdam, The Gazette journal, and the worldwide IAMCR 302

Retiremen 303

13 1958-1968: Retirement Years 307

Ongoing activities 307

Late life romance 308

Eighty 310

The mass psychology of the unruly 1960s 312

Death 314

14 Conclusion 317

Epilogue: On the further fate of the cluster of institutions founded by him 323

Appendix 325

Baschwitz's Essay on 'The Power of Stupidity' [of Masses and Elites]

Some examples 327

Clouded judgment 328

Passivity 329

Summary 330.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Alumni and Friends Memorial Book Fund.

ISBN:

9462986045

9789462986046

OCLC:

1010982971