New research project on the history of the university's development

The history of Clausthal University of Technology has been well documented, from its beginnings as a mining school to a mining academy to a technical university, but the confrontation with National Socialism and the immediate post-war period has been less prominent in previous reappraisals. Clausthal University of Technology is now facing up to its past once again. A broad-based research project is taking a critical look in particular at the transfer of knowledge, university research and its professional exchange as well as the networks of those involved in the Weimar period, National Socialism and the still young Federal Republic of Germany.

For decades, Clausthal University of Technology, like many other universities, was assumed to have made little or no concessions to the unjust regime of the Third Reich, but a differentiated examination of the sources revealed that both parts of the teaching staff and the student body were indeed under pressure. From the mid-1990s onwards, the former rector of Clausthal University of Technology, Georg Müller, took a more critical look at the Nazi era in his book "From the Steel Helmet to the Swastika". The new research approach goes beyond the Third Reich and will focus on a longer period of time.

By focusing on the content of a review of the events surrounding the topics of teaching, research and knowledge transfer, the opportunity arises to differentiate between various aspects of the involvement of Clausthal Mining Academy during the Third Reich, to trace the effects on the economy and society and to present the political influence.

The research work is supported by a scientific advisory board, which advises the researcher responsible for the project, Dr. Nadja Wischmeyer. The research process and the securing of results are monitored by the scientific advisory board. Outside of the regular meetings, the members of the advisory board are available as contact persons.

• Prof. Dr. Carl-Hans Hauptmeyer (Chair),
  Leibniz Universität Hannover, Department of History
• Dr. Hans-Georg Dettmer,
  World Heritage Site Rammelsberg Museum & Visitor Mine, Goslar
• Dr. Sabine Graf,
  President of the Lower Saxony State Archives, Hanover
• Prof. Dr. Michael Rothmann,
  Leibniz University of Hanover, Department of History
• Prof. Dr. Karl Heinz Schneider,
  Leibniz University of Hanover, Department of History
• Dr. Rita Seidel,
  Leibniz University of Hanover, Institute for Didactics and Democracy
• Prof. Dr. Gerd Steinwascher,
  Former Director of the Oldenburg State Archives
• Stefan Wittke,
  State Office for Mining, Energy and Geology, Hanover