Hey there,
I was looking for interesting content that I could add to the German library on LingQ and it seems that there´s almost no content about the “Third Reich”.
I´m well aware that it´s a controversial topic, so I´d like to know if it´s permitted to add articles from Wikipedia to the library.
Greetings, Paul
PS: I don´t want to glorify fascism. I think the best way to fight fascism is to provide information about it.
Some Nazi history would be great. I’m not a Nazi – I just enjoy learning history from this time period
I don’t think adding articles about the Nazis is controversial and I don’t think it will glorify fascism. If you add them to the German library, I will study the lessons. If you want, I can add some equivalent articles to the English library.
We have obtained permission to record and share articles from Wikipedia.
As to the suitability of this material, there is no issue. We don’t want to censor learning content unless it contains vulgarity, hate or ridicule directed at specific groups of people, or other types of content that common sense would tell us would not be welcome here.
For your information, as someone of Jewish origin, I consider that the approach taken towards the Nazi past in Germany, is exemplary in many ways. I remember walking in Hamburg and seeing the tiles which had the names of the families who used to live in those houses and who were persecuted by the Nazis. I definitely agree with you that freedom of information and freedom of expression is the best guarantee that we will not relive some of the horrors of the 20th century.
That´s good news 
One last question…
Is it permitted to show the Swastika? In Germany, it´s not possible to find model aircraft with the original swastika, some video games seem to replace the Swastika with an alternative German flag et cetera…
However, it is depicted on the German wikipedia.
I´m asking because it´s hard to find pictures from the Third Reich that do not contain Swastikas somewhere.
@Colin
It seems that there´s not much about the Third Reich in the English library either, so I think that´s a good idea.
Steve, can we add audio from the Wikipedia articles that have already been recorded too?
We do not censor the swastika here.
Yes, Colin, it is my understanding that we can use articles from Wikipedia, period. Make sure the audio is not text-to-speech.
Oh yes of course.
Is there a place anywhere on the website that lists websites that permission has been obtained to post lessons in the library? If not, something similar to the list of ‘suggested resources’ on the import page might be useful for content creators. I was aware that Wikipedia articles could be added but only because I’ve seen it mentioned on the forum before. A lot of people are probably unaware that Wikipedia articles can be added to the library.
If you use articles from the Wikipedia you should read carefully what you have to add according to the licenze. You find that on Wikipedia.
@Paule: Bei Fotos poste nur die, an denen Du selber Rechte hast oder die unter einer entsprechenden Lizenz stehen. Die Lizenz solltest Du nennen. Verwende nur Fotos und Symbole, die auch in Deutschland zulässig sind. Lies Dir genau die Bedingungen von Wikipedia für die Weiterverwendung der Artikel durch, insbesondere, welche Angabe zur Lizenz Du machen musst. Es gibt für die deutsche Wikipedia keine spezielle Erlaubnis für LingQ, wie man vielleicht den Eindruck durch Steves Beitrag gewinnen könnte.
@cgreen: Wikipedia is under a special licenze so that everyone can use it under special rules. Read about the licenze on Wikipedia. If users get permission from a website provider to use the content they are interested to publish the lessons on LingQ on their own to get the points. In general they have no interest to ask for other persons. That is why such a list doesn’t exist. Another “LingQ rule” is that the first who started to import from a website that he got permission for has the priority to add more lessons. When I’ve asked for sharing lessons on LingQ, I usually got the permission that I can import and not anybody on LingQ. You need to have the written permission of the webside provider, and if I’ve asked (for example) you don’t have that.
Vera,
We have obtained permission from Wikipedia and have lots of articles from Wikipedia in different languages. I don’t think we need to contact them individually. We can just use this as a source as long as we acknowledge the source.
I can’t see how anyone can have copyrights for a swastika, or a national flag or similar symbols.
Wikipedia is a massive source of content, and therefore quite unique. As Vera says, usually our members find excellent sources, like podcasts, or even radio stations, and obtain permission to use this material on LingQ. Getting permission is often a lot of work, since many podcasters or radio stations don’t reply at first. In some cases Vera even has had to transcribe the podcasts. Therefore it is only fair that the person who initiated the contact with a particular source should “own” the content on link in so far as earning points is concerned. This would not apply to articles from Wikipedia.
I would also like to read this material. It would be a good supplement to my Netflix moving watching. I just gone done watching Sophie Scholl. There is a ton of excellent German cinema dealing with the Nazi time period.
@Steve: As I said you can use Wikipedia articles but you have to mention the licence even if someone from Wikipedia told you that you have permission to use the articles. You don’t have to contact someone individually that is correct because all articles are under a licence that gives permission. But you have to add a special not about the licence. Everything about this is explained on Wikipedia.
The problems with symbols is not a matter of copyright. Some symbols are illegal. Especially the use of the Swastika is forbidden in German, Austria and many other countries. You can read about this in the Wikipedia.
@Veral
From what I understand it’s perfectly legal (in Germany) once it serves to illustrate an article on history.
§ 86 III StGB
[Das Verbot] gilt nicht, wenn das Propagandamittel oder die Handlung […] der Kunst oder der Wissenschaft, der Forschung oder der Lehre, der Berichterstattung über Vorgänge des Zeitgeschehens oder der Geschichte oder ähnlichen Zwecken dient.
Thanks Eugrus!
I´m not sure if the law in Germany is even relevant, since LingQ is a canadian website, but that´s good to know.
@Paule89 It’s relevant for those within German criminal jurisdiction 
@Paule: Ich schreibe mal der Einfachheithalber auch Deutsch. Ich bin keine Juristin, aber ich habe mich speziell mit dem Thema was man schreiben und posten “darf” ein wenig beschäftigt, wegen meiner Blogs. Deutsches Recht gilt auch, wenn Du als Deutscher etwas schreibst, was in Deutschland veröffentlicht wird und zwar unabhängig davon, wo die Webseite gehostet wird. Ansonsten könnten die ganzen Neonazis z.B. alles einfach auf Webseiten veröffentlichen, die irgendwo im Ausland gehostet werden.
Die Grenze zu dem, was Forschung, Lehre, Berichterstattung etc. dient ist immer ein wenig Auslegungssache. Ich wäre vorsichtig, bei dem was ich verwenden würde und würde da eher kein Risiko eingehen. Wegen eines Artikels auf LingQ würde ich auf jeden Falls nichts riskieren.
Being new, I don’t know if this is pertinent, I have a Third Reich website http://germany3rdreich.info. It is bibliographies containing citations for every kind of source imaginable. The scholarly articles I added last night were in English and German. Many of the dissertation citations would lead to German dissertations. sj