Kriegsverbrechen – Verbrechen gegen die Menschlichkeit – Völkermord? Zeitgenössische Völkerrechtler und die Deportation der christlichen Minderheiten in Anatolien während des Ersten Weltkrieges

This presentation concentrates on the role that the deportation of Christian minorities in Anatolia during the First World War played in the context of the history of law. Terminologies and the use of legal notions by contemporaries will be a special focus, because this is still helpful in the context of present-day discussions. Therefore a contextualisation as precise as possible is important, when the topic of deportation and genocide is addressed. At the same time it is important not to confuse historical and legal appraisals. In this presentation the general discussion as to the prospects and potential of a judicial punishment of violations of international legal norms before as well as during the First World War will therefore be included as much as the attitude of jurists in regard to the position of the Ottoman Empire within the international community of law abiding states. Finally this presentation will also focus on discussions at the end of the war around the trials in Istanbul and the purpose of the Paris Peace Conference. In this context and following ideas of Mahmood Mamdani the discourse on law can be shown to have served not only as a way of giving victims a voice, but also as a language of power already at the beginning of the 20th century.

Gallipoli: Myths and Memories in a transnational perspective

The battle of Gallipoli as it is known in Europe and South Asia or the battle of Çannakkale as it is known in modern Turkey was a seminal battle for many nations, not because it was decisive for the course of the war, but because it played a central role in regard to memory of the First World War in many nations. Based on photographic evidence and research by colleagues from many countries this contribution will focus in a transnational perspective on the participation of British, Indian, Australian and New Zealand troops in the campaign and especially on myths and memories on the side of the Entente from 1916 onwards.

“Delendum est Imperium Ottomanorum“: War Crimes, Crimes against Humanity and the End of the Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire’s status as a full member of the international community of civilized states, which was bound by the rules of international law, had been challenged again and again during the formative period of the international law in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. When the First World War began, it was the first global military conflict, in which these rules of international law were put to the test. In the case of the Ottoman Empire quite a few questions were not yet settled, not least because the country was still bound by unequal treaties and because it had never ratified the renewed Hague Rules of Land Warfare of 1907, which it had only signed under reservations. Against this background the contribution will therefore focus on the debate amongst legal scholars on violations of the laws of war (and humanity) in regard to the Ottoman Empire during the First World War.

Early-Holocene afforestation processes in the lower subalpine belt of the Central Swiss Alps as inferred from macrofossil and pollen records

To reconstruct the vegetation history of the Upper Engadine, continuous sediment cores covering the past 11 800 years from Lej da Champfer and Lej da San Murezzan (Upper Engadine Valley, c. 1800 m a.s.l., southeastern Switzerland) have been analysed for pollen and plant macrofossils. The chronologies of the cores are based on 16 and 22 radiocarbon dates, respectively. The palaeobotanical records of both lakes are in agreement for the Holocene, but remarkable differences exist between the sites during the period 11 100 to 10 500 cal. BP, when Lej da Champfer was affected by re-sedimentation processes. Macrofossil data suggest that Holocene afforestation began at around 11400 cal. BP. A climatic deterioration, the Preboreal Oscillation, stopped and subsequently delayed the establishment of trees until c. 11000 cal. BP, when first Betula, then Pinus sylvestrislmugo, then Larix 300 years later, and finally Pinus cembra expanded within the lake catchment. Treeline was at c. 1500 m during the Younger Dryas (12 542- 11 550 cal. BP) in the Central Alps. Our results, along with other macrofossil studies from the Alps, suggest a nearly simultaneous afforestation (e.g., by Pinus sylvestris in the lower subalpine belt) between 1500 and 2340 m a.s.l. at around 11 400 to 11 300 cal. BP. We suggest that forest-limit species (e.g., Pinus cembra, Larix decidua) could expand faster at today's treeline (c. 2350 m a.s.l.), than 550 m lower. Earlier expansions at higher altitudes probably resulted from reduced competition with low-altitude trees (e.g. Pinus sylvestris) and herbaceous species. Comparison with other proxies such as oxygen isotopes, residual A14C, glacier fluctuations, and alpine climatic cooling phases suggests climatic sensitivity of vegetation during the early Holocene.

The Lord of Heaven in the Inner Chambers: Jesuits, Women, and Domestic Christianity (ca. 1580-1690)

The study focuses on gender norms and practices in Chinese Christian communities established by Jesuit missionary activity during the long seventeenth century. It analyzes how European and Chinese gender norms and practices affected each other in the context of the Sino-Western cultural contact initiated by the missionaries. The thesis consists of two parts. First, it analyzes the ways in which European Jesuits engaged with Chinese gender relations in the course of their mission in China. The study demonstrates that the Jesuits’ adoption of the Chinese scholar-gentry’s habitus entailed a partial adaptation to Confucian gender norms. The latter placed great emphasis on gender segregation and therefore discouraged direct communication between missionaries and Chinese women. This resulted in the emergence of organizational and devotional arrangements of Christian communities specific to China. Second, the study discusses Chinese Christian women's religious culture that emerged in the absence of a strong missionary presence among female devotees. It points out that Chinese Christian women created their own ritual culture and religious sociability in the domestic context, and that they actively took part in shaping Chinese Christianity as masters of domestic rituals.

Middle to Late Holocene vegetation history of the Upper Engadine (Swiss Alps): the role of man and fire

o reconstruct the vegetation and fire history of the Upper Engadine, two continuous sediment cores from Lej da Champfèr and Lej da San Murezzan (Upper Engadine Valley, southeastern Switzerland) were analysed for pollen, plant macrofossils, charcoal and kerogen. The chronologies of the cores are based on 38 radiocarbon dates. Pollen and macrofossil data suggest a rapid afforestation with Betula, Pinus sylvestris, Pinus cembra, and Larix decidua after the retreat of the glaciers from the lake catchments 11,000 cal years ago. This vegetation type persisted until ca. 7300 cal b.p. (5350 b.c.) when Picea replaced Pinus cembra. Pollen indicative of human impact suggests that in this high-mountain region of the central Alps strong anthropogenic activities began during the Early Bronze Age (3900 cal b.p., 1950 b.c.). Local human settlements led to vegetational changes, promoting the expansion of Larix decidua and Alnus viridis. In the case of Larix, continuing land use and especially grazing after fire led to the formation of Larix meadows. The expansion of Alnus viridis was directly induced by fire, as evidenced by time-series analysis. Subsequently, the process of forest conversion into open landscapes continued for millennia and reached its maximum at the end of the Middle Ages at around 500 cal b.p. (a.d. 1450).