User:Silvia Iodice/sandbox

During his entire life, Max Clara has been an active policy member: his political involvement was connected to the troubled history of his homeland, the South Tyrol. This region which now corresponds to the northern Trentino Alto Adige has been a part of the Austro-Hungarian territory until its official unification with the Kingdom of Italy in 1919 thanks to the “Treaty of Saint Germain en Laye”. With the win of the WWI by the Triple Entente, these annexations to Italy were already decided with the “treaty of London” in 1915: nonetheless, King Vittorio Emanuele III supported and tolerated a certain autonomy of these regions especially for their language (most of Tyrol citizens spoke German). The same behavior was not adopted during the Italian fascism; with the strong nationalistic ideas diffused by Mussolini, an “Italianization” of those places occurred. It became illegal even to speak or teach German in schools and the process intensified during the 1930s. Most health officials came from other Italian regions so they did not speak fluent German. For instance, the general practitioner of Blumau was Calabrian and did not speak a word of German. Only with Clara’s intervention in a letter sent to Mussolini himself was reported that only a few Blumau citizens were able to speak fluent Italian.

Due to this terror regime, Max Clara tried to assert his German origins by becoming in 1919 a member of Corps Gothia and then of the German Tyrolean nationalism. The corps Gothia counted in its members also his brothers, Sepp and Oswald Clara. Sepp was a merchant and artist director in Munich who was killed as a member of the NS company during WWII whereas Oswald was a doctor, imprisoned during WWII as a field surgeon. Even if the family was taking part in the nationalist movement, Jurg Mathis, Clara’s dear friend never joined the Gothia or any other student’s association. Besides that, Clara actively participated in several initiatives taken by the corps: after an illegal referendum in 1921, the members of Corps Gothia removed the borders between Bavaria and Austria, demonstrating Tyrol’s belonging to Germany. Thanks to the corps Clara became closer to the National Socialist ideology and after the joining of the 74% of Gothia members to NSDAP, Clara met the so-called “Max” de Crinis, a professor at Charite Medical School, who was centrally involved in SS activities.

Probably to promote his career in Italy, Clara may have applied for membership in the ruling National Fascist Party (Partito Nazionale Fascista, PNF) in 1932 when admission was possible again after some years of suspended admittance. Among dozens of other Italians, including German-speaking South Tyroleans in public professions, Clara may have felt compelled or was even forced to apply. Whether he was accepted as a member is not known (Alpenzeitung, Issued October 18, 1932; Lechner, 2011). However, according to another newspaper article, Clara and others on the list have not been asked if they want to apply and the local political leaders simply assumed they would not dare to publicly disprove such an article (Südtiroler Heimat, 1932).

Some sources prove that his career reached its apex during the adhesion to the Nazi party, from 1935 to 1942; his friendship with de Crinis became closer, and started to support the Nazi establishment, including SA. While the content of Clara’s scientific publications was not political and did not contribute to a racist or anti-Semitic ‘‘pseudoscience’’, he actively participated in university politics, which included providing politically biased appraisals for scholarships, intimidating dissenting colleagues and influencing appointment procedures. Clara wrote an introduction to a national academic directory in 1942, in which he stated ‘‘with pride that science has contributed to the great plans of the Fu¨hrer’’ and called for scientists to submit to the reigning ideology and to be ready to secure the German claim to European leadership ‘‘intellectually as much as by the politics of force’’ In 1939, he and the outspoken National Socialist Eduard Pernkopf formed half of the four-member executive committee. The Viennese anatomist Pernkopf is well-known for his anatomical atlas, which has recently been proven to be based, at least in part, on specimens from executed Nazi victims. Although Clara’s career was so close to the NSDAP, he was ostracized in German post-war academia.

The controversial post-war denazification process classified Clara as a Mitla¨ufer (follower) in June 1947 but cleared him upon appeal the following year Clara had successfully argued that his quarrel with the Gauleiter had been an act of ‘‘active resistance’’ against party leaders, which had eventually led, against his wishes, to his posting to the Chair of Anatomy in Munich in late 1942. This version of the facts is, however, unlikely. First, his remuneration package in Munich was much more handsome than that in Leipzig. Secondly, archived letters from the Ministry of Education demonstrate that Clara actively strived for this post from at least 1941. Therefore, his posting could also be interpreted as an effective promotion and his alleged ‘‘active resistance’’ against the Gauleiter as a power struggle within NSDAP. But, the Denazification Tribunal did not refer to the mentioned sources and by that time, acquittals by such tribunals were already very common.