Lecture on Britain’s role in Germany after WWII

 

Professor Dieter Steinert, Professor of Modern European History and Migration Studies, will give the next talk in the University’s Public Lecture series on Wednesday, 30 January 2008.

 

The lecture will focus on the main objectives of British humanitarian assistance after WWII and its translation into practice. The first British relief teams landed in Normandy shortly after D-Day, and they followed the advancing allied troops through France, Belgium and the Netherland to Germany. In April and May 1945 British voluntary organisations played a crucial role in the rescue and emergency relief operation in Belsen concentration camp. They worked for Displaced Persons in Germany, and were finally engaged in the so-called German Welfare, which included the feeding of German children. Prof Steinert will look at how the British relief workers perceived the displaced persons and the German population with whom they had to work.

 

Prof Steinert said: “Humanitarian assistance was one of the most effective tools to ‘win the peace’ after German troops had surrendered in May 1945. To begin with, British help was directed to the survivors of the Holocaust and the German forced labour system only, but in late 1945 it was extended to German civilians. British humanitarian assistance was provided jointly by the government and by numerous voluntary organisations, whose relief teams followed in the wake of the troops.”

 

The free lecture will take place in the Millennium City Building at the Wolverhampton City Campus at 6pm on Wednesday, 30 January 2008. For further information, visit www.wlv.ac.uk/publiclecture or call 01902 323344.

For media inquiries, please contact Vickie Woodward in the Press Office on 01902 322736 or 07973 335112.

 

Professor Dieter Steinert worked at the Universities of Dusseldorf and Osnabrueck, where he is an honorary fellow, before joining the University of Wolverhampton in 1999.

 

Ref: 4112/25/1/08/VW

Date Issued: Friday, 25 January 2008