“The Reich Insurance Office during the Nazi Era”
For around two decades, many federal institutions have been working intensively to come to terms with their Nazi past. In addition to numerous federal ministries, this also applies to other institutions such as the Federal Intelligence Service, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, and, in the field of justice, the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office and the Federal Court of Justice, all of which have also appointed independent bodies to examine the history of the Nazi era.
The Federal Social Security Office (BAS) now also wishes to continue this important work with the aim of producing a scientific study in the form of a monograph on the actions of its predecessor authority, the Reich Insurance Office (RVA), within the institutional structure of the Nazi dictatorship. The interdisciplinary research project, led by Prof. Dr. Friedrich Kießling and Prof. Dr. Laura Münkler, will investigate the actions of the Reich Insurance Office in its role as a legal supervisory and participatory authority and as the court of last resort in legal disputes during the Nazi era. In particular, the focus will be on the institutional history, policy, personnel policy, and senior management of the Reich Insurance Office, as well as its case law.
Institutional history
In the context of institutional history, the structure of the authorities and its changes in 1933 and the following years are examined, with particular attention paid to the consequences of the law of July 1934, including the resulting increase in powers. Another turning point was the outbreak of war, which led to a reduction in the workload through the streamlining of internal processes, an expansion of responsibilities in the annexed and occupied territories, and the use of so-called foreign and forced laborers.
In addition, the study examines the integration of the Reich Insurance Office into the institutional structure of the Nazi dictatorship, in particular its relationship with the subordinate state insurance institutions and its institutional scope for action as an authority bound by the instructions of the Reich Ministry of Labor. Finally, the question must be addressed as to what extent the administrative culture of the Reich Insurance Office under National Socialism, which has not yet been examined, approached Nazi ideas of a dynamic and ideologized administration after 1933, or whether—as older research has suggested – the fundamental retention of the traditional social insurance system also meant continuity in administrative action. This aspect could be examined both in terms of internal processes and the behavior of the authority towards the outside world.
Practical Politics
The policy analysis focuses on the question of what role the Reich Insurance Office played in the politicization, “biologization,” and, not least, economization of the social insurance system under National Socialism, and what contribution it thus made to Nazi persecution policies. In particular, the analysis examines the scope for action available to the Office and its employees, how they used this scope, if at all, and to what extent the Office's actions can be described as reactive or active and proactive. Overall, the aim is to clarify the role of the Office in restructuring the social insurance system in line with Nazi policy and ideology.
Senior personnel/personnel policy
For the first time, a systematic investigation of senior personnel will be conducted, focusing on the higher civil service. In addition to career paths and formal membership in Nazi organizations, this also includes, as far as possible, ideological proximity to National Socialism and the active implementation of its goals. To this end, the effects and implementation of the Law of April 7, 1933, on the “Restoration of the Professional Civil Service” will be examined at the official and personal levels in order to identify processes of self-alignment, ideological (partial) identities, or actual career constraints, as well as resistant behavior.
Case law
The case law of the Reich Insurance Office has not yet been systematically examined by (legal) historical research. Using methods similar to those employed in comparable studies on courts, the judicial decisions of the Reich Insurance Office are examined to determine the extent to which they can be regarded as influenced by National Socialist ideology and, to the extent possible despite the destruction of some files, this finding is substantiated quantitatively and qualitatively in order to identify those areas that proved particularly susceptible to ideologization. At the same time, the decisions are examined for their law-creating character and assessed to determine the extent to which they were used to benefit the insured or – as is known from other branches of the judiciary – to further tighten social law in line with Nazi ideology. Within this framework, the Reich Insurance Office's case law is also analyzed with regard to various central concepts of social insurance law.
The research project is scheduled to run for three years. In addition to Prof. Kießling and Prof. Münkler as project leaders, Johannes Pötz and Max Schuckart are involved in the project as research assistants. A scientific advisory board will provide additional support for the research work.
Kontakt:
Prof. Dr. Friedrich Kießling Prof. Dr. Laura Münkler
Konviktstraße 11 Adenauerallee 22-24
D-53113 Bonn D-53113 Bonn