Das Engagement der Grazer Medizinischen Fakultät in der Universitätsausdehnungsbewegung. Grundfragen eines vernachlässigten Forschungsfeldes

Abstract

interwar period, the competitors included those strata of society that had not been convincingly integrated in the university extension; namely workers and farmers can be named in this context. Moreover, “bourgeois” concurrence showed more practical approaches. This character might also be stated regarding social services and their informal ways to popularise knowledge. Political traits surfaced right at the beginning of the educational movement. German-nationalist and liberal positions prevailed. Trends of radicalisation can be particularly observed in the field of racial hygiene. Starting at the end of World War One, these tendencies intensified in the 1930ies. Moderate efforts in the local university-extension movement during the war must be assessed against the background of war-related teaching and the increased commitment in (field) hospitals. The case of Oskar Zoth finally demonstrates how the Medical Faculty even joined political agitation. Furthermore it hints at means which were used to popularise knowledge.