Secret study reveals: On the trail of post-war racism!

Secret study reveals: On the trail of post-war racism!

Today is August 19, 2025 and the discussion about how to deal with Germany's past is receiving new impetus. This started at the beginning of the 1950s Institute for Social Research (IfS) a far-reaching empirical study on the survival of National Socialism. The aim of this study was to explore democratic attitudes, racism and anti-Semitism in society. However, the results of this study remained largely unpublished because they were considered explosive.

Now the long-term project "The post-Nazi society. The 'group experiment' of the Institute for Social Research" is intended to make the explosive content public for the first time and to further investigate it. The German Research Foundation (DFG) has provided 1.3 million euros for this purpose over the next three years. The data obtained from the “group experiment” represents unique material that has not previously been developed or published.

Project team and goals

Study leader Theodor W. Adorno expressed the fear that the publication of this content could have political repercussions. The project team is made up of various experts, including Stephan Lessenich, sociologist and director of the IfS, Patrick Sahle, Professor of Digital Humanities at the University of Wuppertal, and Dr. Thomas Risse, Head of IT Services at the Johann Christian Senckenberg University Library. Dirk Braunstein coordinates the project activities.

An international scientific advisory board accompanies the edition and the associated research. The goals of the project include full transcription and digital accessibility of the content, as well as the creation of an online portal that will enable interdisciplinary research. The scientists hope that this will provide significant new insights into understanding post-Nazi society in West Germany.

Advanced research approaches

This is complementary to these efforts Center for Anti-Semitism Research (ZfA) has been involved in investigating anti-Semitism and racism since its founding. Under the leadership of Stefanie Student-Springorum and Uffa Jensen, the ZfA has established numerous research projects and areas ranging from German history to gender and emotion research.

The ZfA focuses not only on Holocaust or anti-Semitism research, but also on other forms of discrimination and violence. New research directions focus on visual culture and media as well as anti-Semitism in online communication. These approaches are particularly relevant because they reflect current social developments and underline the need for a comprehensive examination of the past.

The combination of these projects and research approaches illustrates how important it is to pay attention to the topics of anti-Semitism and racism in today's society and to look at them from different perspectives. The research results could make a decisive contribution to deepening the understanding of post-Nazi society and promoting democratic perspectives.