Dealing with Guilt in the German Democratic Republic after 1989

After 1989, the churches in East Germany were initially hailed as having played a crucial role in the downfall of Communism, yet within a couple of years, accusations that they had collaborated with the Communist system returned, fanned by the publication of documents from the archive of the Ministry of State Security – the “Stasi”. In particular, the spotlight fell upon the Protestant church's self‐assigned role of being a “Church within Socialism”, which according to critics was at best an attempt to curry favour with the authorities, and at worst a denial of the church's confessional basis. This is an extract from a longer article¹ from 2002 in which Falcke places the issue of dealing with the past of the GDR in the context of the wider issue of the way in which the history of the Third Reich and the Holocaust was dealt with in East Germany. In this extract, Falcke reviews the debate of the 1990s, criticizing the fact that the issue of the integrity and guilt of the Protestant churches in the GDR was addressed too frequently in isolation, with little comparison with the wider ecumenical movement, and highlighting the lack of any critical debate about the process of German unification itself. Instead of a paradigm shift as demanded by the Conciliar Process for Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation, there was simply a change of system, from socialism through privatization to neo‐liberalism, thus raising new questions about guilt and integrity.     

Development of current problems regarding perinatal CNS lesions from a neuropathologic viewpoint]

Perinatal central-nervous-system lesions may be found in as many as one third of all subjects who died before, during, or after the time of birth. Today, hypoxia is considered to be an essential cause of such lesions; in contrast to views held previously, birth trauma, i.e., physical injury to an infant during its delivery, is of minor pathogenetic importance. Neurohistological studies showed that it is especially prolonged hypoxia - in addition to cerebral hemorrhage, damage to the cerebral parenchyma and medullary substance - which can cause lesion of the brain stem. A relatively frequent occurrence are isolated ischemic cerebrospinal nerve cell lesions. Their prognostic dignity in regard to the possible formation of synapses and the problem of damage to the neuroglia are as yet imperfectly understood.     

The Peace Work and Witness of the Churches in the German Democratic Republic and the World Disorder of the 21st Century

This article is an edited translation of an address given in Erfurt, Germany, on 12 May 2019, to celebrate the 90th birthday of Heino Falcke, dean (provost) of Erfurt from 1973 until his retirement in 1994. Falcke, who was also a member of the working group on Church and Society of the World Council of Churches, played a central role in developing the theological and ethical response of Protestant churches in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) to the threats to peace in a nuclear age. This was expressed in the “renunciation of the spirt, logic, and practice of deterrence.” This article seeks to set out the insights from the peace work and witness of the churches in the GDR against the background of the “world disorder of the 21st century.”     

The mind of a rationalist: German reactions to psychoanalysis in the Weimar Republic and beyond

In this article, the author seeks to trace the various attempts on the part of well-known German psychologists in the Weimar Republic to emphasize the rational side of psychoanalysis. In doing so, the author tries to demonstrate that the early reception in this period often resembled a critique of Freud's rationalism. It is possible to discern one particular form of criticism that emerged time and again, namely the association of psychoanalysis with the rationalist mind. If researchers wish to pinpoint further what lay beneath this purported connection, then it is possible to perceive a pronounced desire to prevent analysis of what many deemed to be sacred and beyond scientific scrutiny: the soul. It is precisely this discontent with Freud's thought that survived well into the Federal Republic, when other forms of critique had been discredited or no longer commanded serious attention.     

The genetics of dietary experience in a restricted natural population

The sources of individual differences in human and nonhuman animals remain controversial. We demonstrate that diet and genetics interact in determining the ontogenetic trajectory of chemosensory and prey preferences in the common garter snake, Thamnophis sirtalis , a dietary generalist. In litters of neonate snakes from a single small field in an earthworm-ingesting population, initial responses to chemical cues from fish and worm were similar, with zero heritabilities. After 12 meals on fish, however, the heritability of both fish and worm chemosensory responses increased markedly, the change in response to fish but not worm chemicals was heritable, the relative preference for fish versus worm was heritable, and the change in relative preference was heritable. In addition, growth rates on each diet were related to changes in chemoreceptive responses. Such genetic-environment variation that emerges only after equivalent ontogenetic experience may be a factor in responses to environmental change in many species.     

Results of electroencephalographic and familial studies in Wilson's disease]

The results of electroencephalographic and familial studies of 31 Wilson's disease patients coming from 26 kindreds are presented. Prior to treatment, 8 patients showed pathological conditions, while 9 and 11 patients showed borderline and normal conditions, respectively, it having not been possible to determine electroencephalographic conditions characteristic of Wilson's disease and find any relationships between the intensity of E.E.G. changes and the clinical picture and stage of development of the disease, respectively. Under penicillamine treatment, there was observed a tendency toward normalization of pathological conditions rather than deterioration of normal E.E.G. findings. So far as familial studies are concerned, the authors report the results obtained for 9 fathers, 19 mothers, and 24 siblings from a total of 21 kindreds; what is remarkable in this connection is the comparatively small percentage of normal E.E.G. findings for healthy siblings. It was only in one single kindred that it was possible to observe similarities between E.E.G. variations of individual family members.     

民国佛教刊物所见当代韩国佛教史料摭议

中日甲午战争后,日本全面占领了韩国,两国佛教界的来往渐次减少,但是两国人民和佛教徒面对日本侵略者,共同要求民族独立和国土解放的目的,于20世纪上半叶仍然不断地保持联系。本文根据现在所见民国出版的报刊,集中介绍了这方面的史料,并对这些史料做了初步的分析,指出可以分为学术性、消息报导性、政治论说性、观感、募捐五种情况。本文特别考察了沟通中韩两国佛教的重要人物如太虚、圆瑛、玉慧观等人的活动,并重点阐述了韩国佛教徒玉慧观在华反对日本帝国主义的活动,及其在中韩佛教界的影响。玉慧观遇害以后,中国的佛教刊物从此再也没有韩国佛教的重要消息,仅此一点,就足以说明他在沟通韩中两国佛教中所起的重要作用。     

The epidemiology of the epilepsies in children

The epilepsies are a heterogeneous collection of neurological conditions and syndromes characterized by recurrent, unprovoked, paroxysmal seizure activity. There are several types of epileptic seizures and syndromes that are unique to children, including infantile spasms, Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and absence seizures. Febrile seizures and neonatal seizures, while not epilepsy, are relatively common types of seizures in infants and children and are likely markers of risk of later epilepsy. Thus, it is important to consider the epidemiological features of the epilepsies as they occur specifically in infants and children. The purpose of this review is to summarize what is currently known about the epidemiology of the childhood epilepsies and to identify promising areas for further population-based studies. The epilepsies are an important cause of neurological morbidity in children. The average annual rate of new cases (incidence) of epilepsy is approximately 5-7 cases per 10,000 children from birth to age 15 years, and in any given year, about 5 of every 1,000 children will have epilepsy. There is evidence that the incidence of the epilepsies in some populations of children may be decreasing over time, and this possibility merits further investigation. Factors that are known to increase risk of the epilepsies in children include congenital malformations of the central nervous system (CNS), moderate or severe head trauma, CNS infections, certain inherited metabolic conditions, and genetic factors. However, these account for only 25% to 45% of cases, and thus, the etiology of most cases of the epilepsies remains obscure. The paucity of well-controlled etiological studies is due largely to formidable methodological problems in conducting epidemiological studies of the epilepsies. The prognosis for seizure control is generally good, although children with remote symptomatic seizures and those with additional neurological disabilities do less well.