Frames of Reference of Help

Funded by Volkswagen Stiftung

Frames of Reference of Help. An interdisciplinary research project on prosocial behaviour under restrictive conditions.

Earlier research on phenomena of collective violence such as mass murders during civil wars, genocides and especially the Holocaust typically focuses on the origins and the evolution of violence as well as the actions of perpetrators. In contrast, those who refused to execute violence and/or turned away from acts of perpetration to the rescue and support of potential victims have so far found surprisingly little attention.

Helpers and rescuers have distanced themselves from acts of collective violence and thus have acted in opposition to norms prevailing at the time. They have exposed themselves and their kin to considerable dangers during occupation and military dictatorship. Researching their actions therefore offers important insights into the personal, social and situational circumstances and ressources for prosocial behaviour under restrictive conditions.

Against this background the project examines helping behaviour from a historical and social psychological perspective by conducting quantitative and qualitative analyses on a large amount of archival sources. Earlier approaches that have focused on dispositional features of human personalities proved to have only limited explanatory value. Instead this project will apply concepts borrowed from the analyses of figurations and frames of reference. Its aim is to reconstruct the actions and situational perceptions, underlying assumptions and perceived social obligations of helpers.

This approach requires an interdisciplinary methodology that brings together historical, social psychological and sociological competences. In order to do so, the project uses a uniquely rich body of sources on “Jew Helpers” that was accumulated by the Zentrum für Antisemitismusforschung (Centre for Research on Anti-Semitism) and has in the meantime been archived by the Gedenkstätte deutscher Widerstand (German Resistance Memorial Center).