The Allied occupation of Western Germany after the Second World War has long constituted a classic component in academic histories of post-war Germany. Understood as an "interregnum" period, which initiated a process of democratisation and denazification and thus laid the ground for the "success story" of the Federal Republic in the subsequent decades, it has often been regarded as a crucial transitory period between the collapse of the Nazi state and the foundation of a democratic polity in Western Germany.

After having been the subject of sustained scholarly attention in the 1970s and 1980s, the subject has subsequently faced a decline in academic interest. The two-day conference is intended to showcase new research and provide a forum for the presentation of innovative approaches to the history of the three western zones of occupation. By stimulating dialogue between historians of the different zones of occupation, it will also seek to bring together hitherto almost entirely segregated historiographies. In doing so, the organisers hope to contribute towards the creation of a new integrated history of occupation.

While previous work often focused on the implementation of "high politics" and big reform projects in Germany (such as the Potsdam four "D"s), much less attention has been paid to the equally important quotidian policies and ruling practices of the occupiers on the ground in Germany. There has also been a significant lack of comparisons between the different zones of occupation. There is, in addition, a dearth of theoretical and methodological engagement with the period. Thus, the occupation of Germany has largely been explored in an intellectual vacuum and is seldom placed in a genuinely comparative context, such as the broader history of Western Europe in the immediate post-war era, or related to the history and theories of military occupations more generally.

There is therefore a need for a comprehensive re-assessment of the ideologies, the ruling strategies, the interactions between the occupiers and the occupied, and the long-term legacies of the occupation on post-war Germany. For this purpose, the organisers are inviting papers from both emerging scholars and established specialists who have completed or are currently working on the Allied occupation of Germany. Proposals may address (but are not limited to) the following themes:

-   Ideologies and strategies of rule:  analyses of ruling philosophies, wider sets of beliefs invested in the occupation, and quotidian power techniques deployed by the occupiers to enforce their interests in Germany and maintain their rule on the ground.

-   Interactions between the occupiers and the occupied:  examinations of personal relationships between the occupiers and the occupied, popular responses towards the occupation, and practical instances of "cooperation", "accommodation", "collaboration", "friction", and "conflict".

-   The legacies of the occupation period:  new interpretations on the social outcomes of the occupation, including work that examines the impact of the occupation period on different German social classes, elites, social and political associations, religious institutions, and on gender relations.

-   Inter-zonal comparisons:  work that approaches the aspects above by exploring similarities and differences between the practices of the occupiers in the different zones of occupation.

-   The occupation of Germany in context:  comparative and transnational approaches to the Allied occupation of Germany leading to a reconsideration of the place of the occupation in the history of western Germany and Europe more widely. This may include useful comparisons between the occupation of Germany and other occupations in Europe during the 1940s and wider global comparisons with instances of foreign rule past and present.

Papers should be no more than 20 minutes in length. The organisers are planning to publish a selection of the contributions, so applicants should be willing to submit a draft manuscript two months after the conference, drawing on the feedback they received during the group discussion of their paper.

Please send your proposal (title and abstract, max. 500 words) together with a short CV to Dr Camilo Erlichman (c.erlichman@sms.ed.ac.uk) and Dr Christopher Knowles (christopher.knowles@kcl.ac.uk). Applicants will be notified of the outcome by the end of February 2016.

Conference Venue:  German Historical Institute, 17 Bloomsbury Square, London WC1A 2NJ, UK

The conference is supported by the Institute of Contemporary British History at King’s College London, the German Historical Institute London, the German History Society, the Society for the Study of French History, and the Beyond Enemy Lines project at King’s College London, funded by the European Research Council.

-----------------------------

Contact:

Dr Camilo Erlichman

School of History, Classics and Archaeology

University of Edinburgh 

c.erlichman@sms.ed.ac.uk