Our archives project
What we envision: An online, subscription-based archive, German and English, in database format. This would allow anyone researching to access materials and pinpoint information needed for their work.
Truth be told, when I saw Elisabeth Lukas-Götz’s name and topic on the schedule for the Willi Graf conference, I did not pay much attention. Yes, she’s with the Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv. That meant little in the moment.
Then this soft-spoken woman started talking. And I listened.
She has been entrusted with several of the private collections from White Rose families, including but not limited to Anneliese Knoop-Graf’s papers, which include the originals of Willi Graf’s letters and diaries. Elisabeth takes her duty seriously. She understands that preservation of these original documents supports a part of history that is priceless.
My mouth hung open as she quietly described which archives are located at the Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, and which can be found at other locations. If you’re like me and value primary sources above all others, you’ll understand why her “speech” (information!) opened a treasure trove of possibilities. At one point I’m sure I put head in hands: Moving our database from Microsoft Access to SQL (or better) is now imperative. It’s moved way up our list of priorities. So much to do, so little time!
Over the next two days, I had multiple opportunities to speak with Elisabeth. Before I left for Germany, Kathy Eaves and I had discussed our “archives project” – fancy name, I know. What we envision: An online, subscription-based archive, German and English (we would provide translation), in database format. This would allow anyone researching to access materials and pinpoint information needed for their work.
As one small example – we learn a little about Sophie Scholl’s character from Gerhard Feuerle’s diaries and letters. One of her letters also makes more sense when read in connection with Gerhard’s entries. Gerhard was madly in love with Sophie, she could not stand him, she hurt his feelings more than once with unkind words, and then she felt guilty. Anyone writing about Sophie without Gerhard’s “testimony” misses this very-human aspect of Sophie Scholl’s young adult personality.
And that is a small example!
Please note that the German-English aspect carries over to English-language documents. Additionally, Russian-, French-, Dutch-language materials would be translated into English and German.
When I broached this idea to Elisabeth Lukas-Götz, she was receptive. She added that she would insist that such a project adhere to intellectual property and privacy laws. I would expect no less. I would only add that we will also require a top-notch IP lawyer with international experience, since laws differ in Germany, the USA, France, Israel, the UK, Canada, Australia, etc. We will need to comply with laws in all countries where the “archives project” is available.
Yes, I realize that this is a huge project. It will require resources well beyond those of Center for White Rose Studies. It’s also not going to be down and dirty. Something this important requires double-checking, if not triple-checking, of translations to ensure accuracy.
Above all, we’ll need people like Elisabeth, who “gets it” and wants it to be done right. Michaela Ullmann (University of Southern California) has also joined me, brainstorming about such a project. She also “gets it” – USC’s Heinrich Mann archives represent one small corner of the larger body of Heinrich Mann documents. Michaela is working with other archives on a similar project, albeit without the translation angle.
I respect Michaela’s professional approach to USC’s archives (she’s head of Instruction and Assessment for USC’s archives, after a billion years leading the Lion Feuchtwanger archives). Especially her new task of helping professors and students use primary sources in research and instruction! Yes, more like this!
I want to hand off our “archives project” to people like Elisabeth and Michaela, people who care about an ethical approach to document preservation, who want the historical record to have a strong foundation. I am so tired of books based on secondary materials, I could scream.
In addition to good archivists, we need good data scientists. History is a collection of data points. We should not be afraid to use data science to analyze events or figure out the puzzles that arise when working with imperfect humans who misdate letters or transpose numbers. I learned this in the early 1980s from Dr. Joe Wilson at Rice University, who used ancient computers – keypunch cards! – to analyze Schiller’s works for a book he was writing. Other German department professors ridiculed him, saying, “Technology and the arts cannot mix!” Were they ever wrong. Joe Wilson was ahead of his time.
In 2012, Wharton Business School gave me personally, and Center for White Rose Studies in general, the Social Media Leadership award for media companies. Not for our brilliance in marketing – ha! – but for this notion that we should use databases, the Internet, whatever resources we have available, to study history. Collaboratively, if we can ever figure out the plagiarism issue. But collaboratively, sharing knowledge, asking questions, especially what-ifs. I’ll never forget the words of the presenters: This has the potential to change the way history is studied.
We started a rudimentary version of this (check it out), but frankly halted that project because of the plagiarism issue. I don’t understand why it’s hard to cite properly.
Nevertheless, I’m not giving up. Because yes, this crazy notion does have the potential to change the way history is studied.
And one of these days, if we can get AI under control, recognizing that it serves us, and that as Elisabeth states, intellectual property and privacy laws are observed and followed, we will have the potential to know even more. Can you imagine what would happen if everything in Bad Arolsen, the Bundesarchiv, our National Archives, Yad Va-Shem, and Shoah Foundation (testimonies) and so on and so on were uploaded to AI-under-control? Where we could search e.g. for Roland Freisler and see all verdicts plus personal correspondence? Plus every place Freisler is mentioned? Every hotel he stayed at, every dalliance, every suckup letter to his boss?
Our “archives project” is certainly an ambitious endeavor. But as technology improves… History books will be rewritten right and left.
Are you ready for this brave new world without national mythologies? I am!
© 2023 Denise Elaine Heap. Please contact us for permission to quote.
In the meantime, if you are interested in English-language translations of the White Rose Protokolle, check this out: https://www.exclamation-publishers.com/collections/primary-source-materials … Available in digital download and for the most part, print.