Other Sections
Numerous sections of the German Alpine Club (DAV) have already dealt with their history. Some have made publications, including on the Nazi era, available online for everyone. In order to show what research work has already been done and how diverse it is presented, we are providing links to publications from some DAV sections as examples. We would be very happy to include further sections in this overview. We ask the sections that are interested to get in touch with us via the contact form.
Sektion Allgäu-Kempten
The Allgäu-Kempten section has reviewed its history in the Jahresbericht 2021 (annual report 2021) to mark its 150th anniversary. This also includes a section on the fate of Jewish section members under the title "Edelweiß und Davidstern" (Edelweiss and Star of David) (p. 27-49 of the historical section of the annual report or p. 197-219 of the full page count).
Sektion Bayerland
The Bayerland section has dealt intensively with its own history and published articles on the period up to the Ersten Weltkrieg (First World War), from 1914 to the end of the Weimarer Republik (Weimar Republic), on the section during the NS-Diktatur (Nazi dictatorship) and on the Nachkriegszeit (post-war period).
Sektion Berlin
To mark its 150th anniversary in 2019, the Berlin Section has published a zweiseitige Übersicht (two-page overview) of its history. Already in 2008, Teil 1 (Part 1) on Berlin mountaineers up to 1945 in the Berlin Section, the Academic Section Berlin and the Academic Alpine Association Berlin had been published. Teil 2 (Part 2) followed in 2009.
Sektion Donauwörth
On its website, the Donauwörth section presents a Übersicht (brief overview) of its own history and a short article on the "dunkelsten Jahren" (darkest years) of the Alpine club.
Sektion Freiburg-Breisgau
The Freiburg-Breisgau section of the Alpine Club presents a brief overview of its history since its foundation in 1881 in tabular form on its website under the heading Sektionsgeschichte (section history).
Sektion Karlsruhe
In 2012, the Karlsruhe Section published a Spurensuche (search for traces) of the Section's history since it was founded in 1870, with the sections "Antisemitismus im Alpenverein" (Anti-Semitism in the Alpine Club) and "Jüdische Mitglieder der Karlsruher Sektion" (Jewish members of the Karlsruhe Section) on pages 24-26, including Edgar von Gierke, an uncle of Dr. Else von Gierke, the wife of our Frankfurt member Eduard Hermann Strasburger, who was persecuted by the National Socialists as a "Mischling 2nd grade" because of his paternal Jewish grandmother.
Sektion Köln
Among other things, the Cologne section has put the Festschrift for the 125th anniversary and an article on Antisemitismus (anti-Semitism) in the Rhineland-Cologne section with numerous biographies of former Jewish members online. In addition, the life stories of former Jewish members for whom the Cologne section has had a Stolperstein (stumbling stone) placed can be accessed online.
Sektion Mainz
The Mainz section reviewed its history in 2008 and also dealt with the "dunklen Kapitel" (dark chapter) from 1933 onwards.
Sektion Regensburg
A Masterarbeit von Julia Kohl (master thesis by Julia Kohl) on the history of the Regensburg section focuses on the period from its foundation in 1870 to the early 1950s and also deals with National Socialist rule.
Sektion Schwaben
The Schwaben section (Stuttgart) has published an article on the Geschichte der Sektion in den Jahren 1933 bis 1945 (history of the section between 1933 and 1945) in the magazine Schwaben Alpin 4/2021 (p. 36-41). This supplements older publications by Dieter Angst on the Schicksal früherer jüdischer Mitglieder (fate of former Jewish members) of the section.
Further reading on the German Alpine Club (DAV)
If you would like to take a closer look at the past of the association as a whole between the end of the First World War in 1918 and the end of the Second World War in 1945, as well as anti-Semitism in the German and Austrian Alpine Club, please refer to the following articles:
- Martin Achrainer: "So, jetzt sind wir ganz unter uns!" Antisemitismus im Alpenverein ("So, now it's just us!" Anti-Semitism in the Alpine Club). In: Hanno Loewy, Gerhard Milchram (eds.): "Hast du meine Alpen gesehen?" Eine jüdische Beziehungsgeschichte ("Have you seen my Alps?" A Jewish relationship story). Bucher-Verlag Hohenems 2009, p. 288-317.
- Martin Achrainer, Nicholas Mailänder: Der Verein (The Club). In: Berg Heil! Alpenverein und Bergsteigen 1918-1945 (Berg Heil! Alpine Club and Mountaineering 1918-1945). Ed. by the German Alpine Club, the Austrian Alpine Club and the Alpine Club South Tyrol. Böhlau Verlag Köln, Weimar, Wien 2011, p. 193-318.
- Antisemitismus im Alpenverein (Anti-Semitism in the Alpine Club)
- The Alpine Museum has put an Übersicht (overview) of research on anti-Semitism in the German Alpine Club online. Here you will find literature references and information on numerous research projects by individual sections.