Henry W. Ehrmann papers,
- Author:
- Ehrmann, Henry Walter, 1908-1994.
- Call Number:
- MSS GER-013 local
- Abstract:
- The Henry W. Ehrmann papers, 1932-1988, are focused on two important aspects of Ehrmann's life: his scholarly career as a political scientist and a professor of law at the University of Colorado in Boulder and Dartmouth College in Hannover, New Hampshire, as well as his participation in the program of re-education of German prisoners-of-war in the 1940s. The material also documents Ehrmann's association with other universities and institutions in the United States and Europe. The papers do not provide much information on Ehrmann's private life and on his professional career before 1940. Letters from over a hundred former prisoners-of-war whom Ehrmann taught during the reeducation program developed by the War Department form a particularly valuable part of his correspondence. They provide insight into life in Germany during the period of transition from dictatorship to democracy after the Second World War and into German soldiers' adaptation to new circumstances. Letters in the general correspondence subseries are, for the most part, related to Ehrmann's contacts with his fellow scholars and with academic or political institutions. The reeducation program series contains an extensive historical monograph on the program (including reports, memoranda and instructions, copies of confidential correspondence between the Department of State and the War Department, samples of POW magazines "Der Ruf" and "Auslese," and a supplement on the reeducation of Japanese prisoners-of-war), educational materials (e.g. Ehrmann's lectures on the history of Germany "Deutsche Geschichte im neuem Licht"), and questionnaires used in selecting candidates for the program.
- Historical Note:
- Henry (Heinrich) Walter Ehrmann, a political scientist and professor of law, was born in Berlin in 1908. He attended the French Lycě in Berlin before studying Law and Political Science at Berlin University, from which he graduated with a law degree (LL. B.) in 1929. In 1932, Ehrmann obtained a doctorate in jurisprudence at the University of Freiburg, Germany, and was appointed as a judge in Berlin. In 1933, he was arrested by the Gestapo and sent to the Oranienburg concentration camp for his contacts with the German Social Democratic Party. Ehrmann escaped to Czechoslovakia and eventually fled to France where he was a political refugee from 1934 to 1940 and worked as a journalist, a corresponding member of the Institute for Social Research, Columbia University, New York, and an associate of the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam. During his stay in France, Ehrmann became a member of the Neues Beginnen, a small underground anti-fascist group of German exiles. Having been interned as a German in 1940, he managed to escape with his wife, Claire Sachs, through Spain and Portugal to the United States. After coming to the United States, Ehrmann became a research associate on the graduate faculty of the "University in Exile," the New School for Social Research in New York City (1940). Between 1941 and 1943 he was also the editor of "In Re: Germany," published monthly in New York City. From 1943 to 1947 Ehrmann served as a consultant to the Office of War Information and the War Department in Washington, DC, and lectured at re-education courses for selected German prisoners-of-war.
- Physical Description:
- 4.0 cu. ft
- Access Terms:
- Access to the collection is unrestricted.
- Notes:
- Part of the German and Jewish Intellectual E´migre´ Collection. local
- Subjects:
- Anti-Nazi movement, Labor unions France, Socialism Germany, Political science Study and teaching, Comparative government Study and teaching, Political scientists United States, Political scientists France, Political scientists Germany, Germans United States, Germans France, National socialism, Prisoners' writings, German, World War, 1939-1945 Prisoners and prisons, Prisoners of war Germany, Anti-Nazi movement, Comparative government Study and teaching, Germans, Labor unions, National socialism, Political science Study and teaching, Political scientists, Politics and government, Prisoners of war, Prisoners' writings, German, and Socialism
- Genres/Forms:
- Autobiographies. ftamc, Correspondence. ftamc, and Manuscripts. ftamc
- Names:
- Ehrmann, Henry Walter, 1908-1994, Frank, Karl Boromäus, 1893-1969, Biddle, Francis, 1886-1968, Lattimore, Owen, 1900-1989, Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962, Rosenstock-Huessy, Eugen, 1888-1973, Biddle, Francis, 1886-1968, Ehrmann, Henry Walter, 1908-1994, Frank, Karl Boromäus, 1893-1969, Lattimore, Owen, 1900-1989, Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962, and Rosenstock-Huessy, Eugen, 1888-1973
- Corporate Names:
- University of Colorado Boulder. Department of Political Science, Dartmouth University. Department of Political Science, University of California, San Diego. Department of Political Science, Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy (Columbia University), New School for Social Research (New York, N.Y. : 1919-1997). Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science, Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, Gruppe Neu Beginnen, United States. War Department. Civil Affairs Division. Re-orientation Branch, Gruppe Neu Beginnen, New School for Social Research (New York, N.Y. : 1919-1997). Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science, and Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands
- Chronological Terms:
- 1939-1945 fast
- Geographic Terms:
- France Politics and government, Germany Politics and government, France, Germany, and United States
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