Marion E. P. de Ras - Body, Femininity and Nationalism: Girls in the German Youth Movement 1900-1934

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Girls in the German Youth
Movement 19001934

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International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-415-18255-3 (Hardcover)

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Ras, Marion E. P. de.

[Krper, Eros und weibliche Kultur. English]

Body, femininity and nationalism : girls in the German youth movement, 1900-1934 / Marion E.P. de Ras.

p. cm. -- (Routledge research in gender and society ; 6)

Translation and revision of author's thesis published under title: Krper, Eros und weibliche Kultur. 1988.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN-13: 978-0-415-18255-3 (hardback : alk. paper)

1. Young women--Germany--Societies and clubs--History.

2. Young women--Sexual behavior--Germany--History. 3. Youth movement--Germany--History. 4. National characteristics, German--History. I. Title.

HQ162313.R37 2007
306.4--dc22

2007004686

This book has taken a long time to complete for a number of reasons, such as the busy life of a scholar wandering all over the world from university to university, from the Netherlands to New Zealand, to Germany and back (indeed there is some truth in that theoretical feminist concept of the nomadic existence of female scholars), but also the fact that life and events cannot always be structured (probably never) and that planned projects, intended goals, and supposed availability of time sometimes slip through one's fingers.

As time goes by, the greater is my gratitude to a number of different people, friends, colleagues, scholars, who over the years have offered support and encouragement, and who have continued to believe that one day this manuscript would be published.

Scholarship is never a solitary project. Although, of course, the historian may venture into archives alone, searching for and finding sources and traces, and mostly writes alone, the analysis and the handling of data, however, is something which is done from a perspective, from theories, by virtue of questions, which in turn derive from sophisticated readings from and discussions with fellow scholars and colleagues. One of the places where those discussions do take place are academic conferences and seminars, and I am therefore extremely grateful for the opportunities I have had over the past years to discuss my findings and analyses with others at, to name but a few, the Berkshire conference in Rochester, New York of 1999, the Karl Wolfskehl conference in Auckland, New Zealand of 1999, and the Cornelia Goethe Centrum conferences of 2001 and 2002 in Frankfurt, Germany. Further contacts allowed for deepening of research and the creation of (intellectual) friendships. I want to mention those who were particularly important for me in sharpening my theses and analyses regarding the German girls project: Christina Benninghaus, Johanna Gehmacher, Victoria Grace, Carola Groppe, Anita Grossmann, Elizabeth Harvey, Patricia Herminghouse, Marianne Hirsch, Marion Kaplan, Claudia Koonz, George Mosse, Dagmar Reese, Rosemarie Schade, Gudrun Schwarz, Irene Stoehr, and Friedrich Voigt. Their scholarship increased my insights and gave me new perspectives and at times kept me from jumping to conclusions. Of course, interpretation and perspective, and any inaccuracy and errors I may have made in the final manuscript are entirely my own responsibility.