Centre for Historical Research

German History Group

Constituted in 1999, the German History Group enjoys national and international recognition for its research into the social, political and cultural history of Germany since the late 19th century.
 

Research Group Coordinator

Professor Johannes-Dieter Steinert (J.D.Steinert@wlv.ac.uk) leads the German History Group. He is an Honorary Fellow at the Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies (IMIS) at the University of Osnabrück, Germany and member of the Peer Review College for the Arts & Humanities Research Council. His research interests focus on German, British and European social and political history, with special emphasis on international migration and minorities, forced migration, survivors of Nazi persecution, international humanitarian assistance and child forced labour in Nazi Germany and German occupied Eastern Europe.

 

Group members

Honorary Research Fellows

  • Professor Dietrich Thraenhardt (University of Münster)
  • Professor Karin Weiss (Head of Integration Commission in Brandenburg)

Research areas

  • Forced migration in Europe during the 20th century
  • Survivors of Nazi persecution and the new beginnings after 1945
  • Migration and minority cultures in East and West Germany
  • Contract workers in the GDR
  • The History of the GDR and the control function of the Stasi
  • Sport in the GDR
  • The social transformation of East Germany since unification
  • Child Forced labourers in National Socialist Germany and German Occupied Eastern Europe
  • British prisoners of war in Germany during the First World War
  • Labour migration and social policy in Imperial Germany

 Current research projects

  • Contract workers in the GDR (Professor Mike Dennis and the late Professor Eva Kolinsky), supported by the AHRC.
  • Child Forced Labourers in National Socialist Germany and German Occupied Eastern Europe, 1939-1945 (Professor Johannes-Dieter Steinert), supported by the Gerda Henkel Stiftung (Duesseldorf), the British Academy, and the Stiftung Erinnerung, Verantwortung und Zukunft, Berlin.
  • Sport in the GDR

Research grants

  • AHRC
  • British Academy
  • British Council
  • ESRC
  • Gerda Henkel Stiftung, Düsseldorf
  • German Academic Exchange Service
  • Körber-Stiftung, Hamburg
  • Nuffield Foundation
  • Stiftung Erinnerung, Verantwortung und Zukunft, Berlin

Workshops and Conferences

  • European migrants in Britain, 1933-1950 (German Historical Institute, London, 2000)
  • Migrant workers in the GDR (Fachhochschule Potsdam 2003 and 2004, University of Muenster 2005, University of Wolverhampton 2006)
  • Jehovah's Witnesses in Nazi Germany and in the GDR (Staffordshire University 2004)
  • Beyond camps and forced labour. Current international research on survivors of Nazi persecution (Imperial War Museum, London, 2003, 2006, 2009, 2012).
  • Children and war: Past and Present (University of Salzburg, 2010)
  • Since January 2003 the German History Group has arranged the Annual Holocaust Memorial Day Lecture

Research degrees

Interested in studying for a research degree in aspects of German history since the late nineteenth century? Please Contact Professor Johannes-Dieter Steinert at J.D.Steinert@wlv.ac.uk.

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