Founded in 1909, Der Volksverein deutsch-canadischer Katholiken (Association of German-Canadian Catholics, or VDCK) was one of the largest German-Canadian religious societies in Canada. The VDCK was involved in German immigration and cultural movements in Canada, with its most productive period from 1909 until the depression. Although the VDCK's work continued during the 1930s, immigration had ended, and many Canadians were suspicious of German cultural organizations due to the Nazi movement in Europe. Canadian society became increasingly secularized in the postwar era, and a decline in interest in rural settlement led to the VDCK's dissolution in 1952.
Louis Hamilton (1879–1948) was a British national that lectured at various institutions of higher learning in Berlin from 1904–1914, and 1919–1938. During the Third Reich (1933–1945) Hamilton was accused of being half-Jewish and his continued presence at institutions of higher learning was considered undesirable. Hamilton like other foreign born academics was coerced to leave Germany because the Nazi educational system viewed them as being politically unreliable. Hamilton’s experiences are an illustration of what foreign academics suffered during the Third Reich. The purpose of this article is to shed new light on the fate of foreign academics in Nazi Germany. Although the fate of Jewish professors and students has been researched non-Jewish and non-Aryan instructors has been a neglected topic within the history of Nazism.
This essay will focus on Wilhelm Dibelius and how he influenced Heinz Lehmann and Verein fur das Deutschtum im Ausland (Society for Germandom Abroad: VDA) through his observations and research in Canada. Dibelius was professor of English studies at the University of Berlin; he had already established an international reputation with his publication on Great Britain entitled England.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.