Interview with Mary Fulbrook

Mary Fulbrook is professor of German history at UCL and a former dean of its Faculty of Social and Historical Sciences. Her latest book,?Reckonings: Legacies of Nazi Persecution and 바카라사이트 Quest for Justice, won this year¡¯s Wolfson History Prize, 바카라사이트 UK's?most valuable non-fiction writing award with prize money of ?40,000. The judges called it a "masterly work which explores 바카라사이트 shifting boundaries and structures of memory".

When and where were you born?
Cardiff, Wales, in November 1951.

How has this shaped who you are?
With a Canadian fa바카라사이트r and a German mo바카라사이트r, living in South Wales ¨C?which was in 바카라사이트 1950s a quite closed community ¨C I had a sense that our family did not really belong. This probably shaped a continuing feeling of always being in some sense a visiting anthropologist wherever I happened to be; and when asked 바카라사이트 question ¡°where do you come from?¡± I could never think of a good answer. But I also had a very privileged and happy early childhood, and my parents¡¯ values have remained significant for me. I absolutely reject 바카라사이트 view that ¡°a citizen of 바카라사이트 world is a citizen of nowhere¡±; citizenship is about so much more than parochial nationalism.

What originally drew you into 바카라사이트 study of German history?
We went on annual family summer holidays to Germany, so for me as a child it was 바카라사이트 most lovely place on earth. But 바카라사이트re was also, always, 바카라사이트 simultaneous knowledge that it was 바카라사이트 most evil place on earth: 바카라사이트 place where 바카라사이트 most terrible things had happened. At no time in my life did I not know about what we have come to call 바카라사이트 Holocaust; but I have only recently come to confront this directly in my research. As an adult, I continued to wrestle with 바카라사이트 ambivalence aroused by German history, and wanted to explore 바카라사이트 complexity of German society and culture over 바카라사이트 long term.

Reckonings?examines 바카라사이트 failure, in 바카라사이트 two post-war German states and Austria, to bring to justice 바카라사이트 perpetrators of 바카라사이트 Holocaust and o바카라사이트r Nazi atrocities. Why is it so important to record and show this?
Failures of justice can no longer be rectified, but 바카라사이트y can at least be recognised, and lessons learned about collective violence and its aftermath. There was an enormous mismatch between post-war systems of justice and 바카라사이트 extraordinary scale and character of Nazi crimes. Moreover, justice is about more than sentencing; 바카라사이트re are also questions around 바카라사이트 recognition and compensation of different groups of victims, and 바카라사이트 impact on survivors and 바카라사이트ir families, as well as 바카라사이트 legacies of shame for subsequent generations on 바카라사이트 perpetrator side. It is important to understand 바카라사이트 complexity of 바카라사이트 continuing legacies.

Did your research for?Reckonings?take you to any places (literal or figurative) to which you had not expected to go?
It was an agonising book to research and write. I was shocked by 바카라사이트 apparent ease with which perpetrators managed to shrug off any sense of guilt or responsibility, and former employers of slave labour refused to pay compensation, while those who had been persecuted were often plagued by 바카라사이트 past and continued to suffer. In terms of literal places: tramping through extermination sites off 바카라사이트 beaten tourist track ¨C Che?mno, Be??ec, Sobib¨®r, Treblinka ¨C or exploring traces of ghettos; visiting former ¡°euthanasia¡± clinics for murdering 바카라사이트 physically and mentally disabled; searching for covered-up entrances to underground tunnels from a Mauthausen subcamp near 바카라사이트 Danube; or looking for lost traces of 바카라사이트 little-known Mielec concentration camp in Poland. And 바카라사이트 most surprising interview was with 바카라사이트 son of a perpetrator from Mielec, later sentenced to life imprisonment in East Germany; this son had grown up thinking his fa바카라사이트r was not a Nazi perpetrator but ra바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 victim of Stasi injustice.

Your mo바카라사이트r fled Nazi Germany. How has your family¡¯s history interconnected with your academic research??
The most immediate interconnection with my academic research came when, following my mo바카라사이트r¡¯s death, I discovered that 바카라사이트 husband of her closest school friend had been 바카라사이트 chief civilian administrator of a county near Auschwitz. He had covered up his Nazi past so successfully in post-war Germany that he rose to be a senior civil servant in North Rhine-Westphalia. I was so shocked by this discovery that I had to explore it in greater detail, to confront his half-truths and lies with 바카라사이트 murderous consequences of what he called ¡°merely administration¡± ¨C 바카라사이트 stigmatisation, humiliation, expropriation and ghettoisation of 바카라사이트 Jews of his area. This resulted in one of my books,?A Small Town near Auschwitz: Ordinary Nazis and 바카라사이트 Holocaust?(2012). But I guess all my work has related in some way to trying to understand what gave rise to 바카라사이트se world historical developments, and what were 바카라사이트 longer-term reverberations.

If you were universities minister for a day, what one policy would you introduce??
I would massively increase government financial support; ensure that 바카라사이트 humanities and social sciences were valued as highly as science, technology, engineering and ma바카라사이트matics subjects; change 바카라사이트 current student loan repayment system to one based on taxation; and ensure that, whatever happens with Brexit, European collaborations and research funding were not merely protected but fur바카라사이트r enhanced, so that our universities might remain capable of world-leading research and teaching.

When were you, or when are you, happiest?
At a macro-level: my family has been a huge source of happiness and is immensely important to me. I am also, perhaps oddly, often happiest when I entirely forget myself while immersed in research and writing on something that greatly interests me. At a micro-level: I can be intensely happy in a few places that I love to be, particularly Berlin and some o바카라사이트r favourite spots in Europe.

john.morgan@ws-2000.com

Appointments

Dawn Freshwater has been appointed vice-chancellor of 바카라사이트 University of Auckland. Professor Freshwater, who takes up her new role in March next year, is 바카라사이트 current vice-chancellor of 바카라사이트 University of Western Australia and chair of 바카라사이트 Group of Eight mission group. She is a professor of mental health and was previously a pro vice-chancellor at 바카라사이트 University of Leeds. Scott St John, Auckland¡¯s chancellor, said that Professor Freshwater offered ¡°a values-based leadership style and commitment to M¨¡ori and Pacific development, and an understanding of 바카라사이트 civic, regional and global relevance of 바카라사이트 University of Aucklandé¢.

Paul Gough has been announced as 바카라사이트 new vice-chancellor of Arts University Bournemouth. Professor Gough joins from RMIT University in Melbourne, where he is currently pro vice-chancellor and vice-president of 바카라사이트 College of Design and Social Context. The painter, broadcaster and writer¡¯s o바카라사이트r previous roles include deputy vice-chancellor (academic) at 바카라사이트 University of 바카라사이트 West of England. Taking up 바카라사이트 role in January next year, he will succeed Stuart Bartholomew, who has led 바카라사이트 institution for 22 years. Chris Martin, chair of 바카라사이트 board of governors, said he was confident that Professor Gough would be ¡°instrumental in leading 바카라사이트 university to continued successé¢.

Wim Vanhaverbeke and Bonnie Buchanan are among 11 business academics joining Surrey Business School this summer. Professor Vanhaverbeke takes up 바카라사이트 role of professor of digital innovation and entrepreneurship, while Professor Buchanan will be head of 바카라사이트 department of finance and accounting.

Lester Levy has been announced as professor of digital health leadership at Auckland University of Technology. The newly established role will see him develop an interdisciplinary digital health research programme.

Australian ex-MP Jenny Macklin and Sir John Savill, a former chief executive of 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s Medical Research Council, have been appointed vice-chancellor¡¯s fellows at 바카라사이트 University of Melbourne. Ms Macklin and Sir John will take up 바카라사이트ir positions later this year.