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Events of collective anti-Jewish violence in the German Empire in the second half of the nineteenth century have received substantial scholarly attention in recent years. These investigations focus primarily on the events themselves, providing a historical analysis at a local level of their causes, course, and processes. Yet, historians have tended to eschew examinations of the responses of the wider press to such events. Based on four newspapers, affiliated with the Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish milieu, the thesis offers a wide-ranging insight into responses to anti-Jewish violence occurring in Germany and Russia in 1881-1882. It evaluates how collective violence in the so-called "civilized" countries of Europe was assessed and may have been legitimized. In the German Empire it was not possible to openly call for violence, considering the strict notions of law and order. Yet, it was possible to display empathy with the perpetrators. Modern anti-Semitism had developed a particular rhetoric when attacking the Jews, which has been termed "civilization of Jew-hatred."1 It meant a contradictory line of argument, which distanced and identified with anti-Semitism, condemned and justified anti-Semitism. This study evaluates whether this strategy was also applied to anti-Jewish violence and if so, how this was done. The thesis discusses too the effect of political events and developments, such as elections and the Kidturkampf, on responses to anti-Jewish violence. It demonstrates how arguments changed in the dynamics of daily politics and highlights the complexity of responses towards anti-Jewish violence, which were to a significant degree contingent on political developments. The research thus provides a contribution to our understanding of the formation and changes of arguments held towards collective violence. The study challenges traditional views on anti-Jewish violence in the late nineteenth century.

This thesis is concerned with the science of geography in the German states during the ‘long’ eighteenth century, c.1690 – c.1815. It speaks to recent scholarly debates in historical geography, the history of science, book history, and Enlightenment studies. The thesis investigates the forms taken by eighteenth-century German geography, its meanings, and practices. This is of particular interest, since this topic is understudied. The thesis is based upon an analysis of geographical print (books and periodicals) and manuscript correspondence. The thesis proposes that geography’s definition was understood as ‘description of the earth’. The interpretative meaning of this definition, geography’s purpose in print, and its educational practice (content and methods) were, in contrast, debated. The thesis suggests that geographical print – in the form of books and periodicals – served two main purposes: progress in geography, guided by the aim of scientific ‘completeness,’ and progress of society, guided by the aim of human improvement. In chapter 1, I outline the main topics and the structure of the thesis. Chapter 2 reviews the background of the thesis, and offers a partial historiographic and conceptual overview of the relevant themes. In chapter 3, I show that the Holy Roman Empire was characterised by fragmented political, religious, urban, and scholarly landscapes. The German emphasis on ‘writing’ geography ‘completely’ was partly, I argue, a way to transcend this fragmentation in an imagined ‘geographical republic of letters’. The emphasis on writing geography systematically was a way to justify the German wish for greater scholarly recognition on part of their foreign ‘colleagues’ who more opportunities to participate in geographical expeditions overseas and in colonial politics. In chapter 4, I argue that the classification of geography and geography’s relation to other sciences were debated. In consequence, geographical practice and use – geography’s writing and teaching – affected its interpretative meaning. In chapter 5, I go on and suggest that geography was a sedentary science aimed at improvement in geography and of society. Geographical print production and its evolution reflect the iii urban and religious landscapes of the empire. Geographical print was produced across the German states and, particularly, in the Protestant – middle and central German – states. This leads in chapter 6 to an analysis of geographical education and the suggestion that wide-spread conservatism in geographical instruction reflects the education aim for social utility and personal ‘eudaimonia’, as well as and an adherence to given social and political structures. In conclusion (chapter 7), the main findings of this thesis shed light on the production and use of geography in the German states during the ‘long’ eighteenth century, and the history of geography more generally. In discussing the relationship between Enlightenment thought and geography, the thesis extends our knowledge on German intellectual history, and contributes to our understanding of the geographies of Enlightenment geographical knowledge and practice.

La Seconde Guerre mondiale a profondément perturbé les sociétés européennes. À son issue, le champ est laissé libre à des dynamiques de recomposition passant par des rapprochements ou, au contraire, par des clivages puissants. Les populations françaises et allemandes ont été affectées au premier chef par ces évolutions. Or, comme les organisations syndicales de travailleurs constituent les principales organisations de masses, elles offrent un angle d’approche particulièrement intéressant pour appréhender le dialogue développé dans un contexte marqué par la partition de l’Allemagne, par la Guerre Froide, et par la construction européenne dont l’interpénétration des économies est un des principaux aspects. Cette thèse considère, à la croisée de la question de la réconciliation et de celle d’une coopération à venir, la mise en place des échanges syndicaux entre la France et les deux Allemagnes, examine la pratique des échanges et éclaire les phénomènes de convergence et de crispation. / The Second World War profoundly disrupted European societies. When the war came to an end, a dynamic of recomposition, based either on reconciliation or on sharp divisions, took hold of the continent. The French and German populations were the first to bear the brunt of these evolutions. Because of their numerous adherents, trade unions constituted the most important mass organizations of their time, and consequently offer a particularly interesting perspective on the Franco-German dialogue, especially against the backdrop of the division of Germany into two states, the Cold War, and the construction of Europe, of which economic interpenetration was a main aspect. This thesis considers, at the crossroads of a process of reconciliation and of future cooperation, the establishment and structuring of trade unions exchanges between France and Germany, examines exchange practices, and highlights adjoining convergence and tension phenomena.

Le district de Königsberg est un territoire atypique au coeur de la Prusse. Bien que ses structures économiques et sociales soient encore largement traditionnelles, avec un pouvoir fort des grands propriétaires, nobles ou bourgeois, et du clergé, on voit néanmoins se mettre en place des innovations économiques, au niveau agricole notamment. Celles-ci restent cependant presque exclusivement aux mains de la grande propriété foncière, quand la petite et moyenne paysannerie restent dans un dénuement souvent marqué. Au niveau social, les paysans sont largement sous la coupe des seigneurs locaux. Mais au fil du temps, ils réussissent à devenir un pion important de la vie politique locale, devenant les alliés objectifs des grands propriétaires conservateurs en échange d’avantages minces mais bien réels qui leur permettent d’augmenter légèrement leur niveau de vie. Les minorités ethniques et les socialistes jouent aussi un rôle important en Prusse-Orientale. Enfin, le rôle joué par la capitale de la province, Königsberg, est des plus importants à tous les niveaux. / The district of Königsberg is an atypical territory in the heart of Prussia. Although its economic and social structures are still largely traditional, with a strong power held by the great noble or bourgeois landowners and the clergy, economic innovations can be seen, notably at agricultural level. These remain nonetheless almost exclusively in the hands of the large landed property, when the small and middle peasantry remain in often manifest destitution. At social level, peasants are largely under the control of local lords. Over time, however, they succeed in becoming an important pawn in the local political life, becoming the objective allies of the conservative great landowners in exchange for marginal but real benefits which allow them to slightly increase their living standards. The ethnic minorities and the socialists also play an important role in East Prussia. Finally, the role played by the province’s capital, Königsberg, is very important at all levels.

De 1871 à 1933, l’ambassade de France à Berlin fut à la fois ambassade chez l’ennemi et, du point de vue allemand, ambassade de l’ennemi. Rancœurs et méfiances, si ce n’est toujours adversité, dominent les contacts franco-allemands, et les hommes servant la République Française dans l’Allemagne wilhelmienne puis weimarienne doivent faire avec les difficultés, les contradictions et les frustrations d’une mission immergée dans un Berlin peu accueillant, et dont les objectifs diplomatiques paraissent mal définis. Comment exercer le métier de diplomate dans ces conditions ? La thèse s’attelle à répondre à cette question, observant, des cuisines aux bureaux en passant par les salons de réception, le quotidien du microcosme que constitue, six décennies durant, l’hôtel de France sur la Pariser Platz. Autour des enjeux de l’affrontement, du contournement et du rapprochement, elle interroge le sens, la finalité, les possibilités et les limites d’une diplomatie de résidence en terrain hostile. / Between 1871 and 1933, the French embassy in Berlin was, seen from France, an embassy sent to the main enemy, and, seen from Germany, the nest of the main enemy in Berlin. Mistrust was the ground principle of the relationship between Paris and Berlin, forcing those representing France in imperial and Weimar Germany to face the obstacles, contradictions and frustrations resulting from a diplomatic mission in an unwelcoming city, and whose goals were not clearly stated. How, in these circumstances, can diplomacy be practiced on a daily basis? Our work aims at answering the question, wandering through the kitchens, the offices as well as the ballroom of the embassy, trying to figure out what the daily life of the French microcosm on the Pariser Platz looked like. Emphasizing how the embassy was, at the same time, confronting French-German rivalry, working around and trying to overcome it, the study sheds light on the meaning, the purpose, the possibilities and the limits of residence diplomacy on hostile ground.

Cette thèse compare le traitement judiciaire de l’homosexualité masculine sous le national-socialisme dans un territoire du « vieux Reich » (Bade) et un territoire annexé de facto (Alsace), en examinant le rôle des acteurs du système judiciaire au sens large (législateurs, population, policiers, experts médico-légaux, procureurs, juges) et les réactions des inculpés. Cette étude de cas, qui porte sur les pratiques comme sur les discours et les représentations de chacun, est replacée dans ses contextes nationaux (Allemagne, France) et dans le temps long pour mettre en valeur les spécificités régionales et les ruptures temporelles. Elle démontre qu’en dépit de la radicalisation législative et de l’explosion des condamnations, l’application judiciaire du programme répressif national-socialiste a été en partie entravée par le relatif manque d’engagement de certains acteurs répressifs, ce qui a laissé des « espaces de liberté » homosexuels, et qu’elle a été variable selon les territoires. Ces variations dépendent toutefois plus des acteurs et de leur engagement répressif que des traditions répressives régionales ou des contextes politico-administratifs. / This thesis compares the judicial treatment of masculine homosexuality in national-socialist times in a territory of the “old” Reich (Baden) and in a territory annexed de facto (Alsace). The focus is set on the role of the different actors of the repression (law-makers, population, medical experts, policemen, persecutors, judges) and the reactions of the suspects. This case-study looks at the practice as well as the discourse and representation of each group over the long-term by taking into account the national contexts (France, Germany) to highlight the regional particularities and the moments of change. The thesis shows that despite the repressive turn of the legislation and the increasing number of condemnations, the repression could in practice be slowed down by the lack of engagement of certain parties, differing between territories. This attitude led to the creation of ‘homosexual spaces of freedom’. The degree of repression was highly dependent on the people involved and their willingness to follow a repressive line of action; the legislative and judicial traditions of each region and the political and administrative contexts had thus a limited impact.