The School of
Historical Studies

Dr Chris Szejnmann

Reader in Modern European History

Contact Details:

• Email: ccws1@le.ac.uk
• Tel: +44 (0)116 252 2817
• Semester 2 office hours: Tuesday 11.00-1.00pm
• Resources on Modern Germany: ccws1

Research Summary || Current Research Projects || Publications || Teaching and Research Supervision

Research Summary

The main thrust of my work has dealt with the background of Nazism, i.e., why did anyone from a comparatively modern society support such an extreme and violent movement? I have also been fascinated by the wider problems, tensions and contradictions the society was facing during the Weimar Republic. Nazism in Central Germany: The Brownshirts in 'Red' Saxony (Oxford, 1999) is the first detailed study of Nazism in the region and demonstrates the ways in which deep-rooted local traditions determined the success or failure of Nazism among the local population, including an exceptionally large industrial work force. Vom Traum zum Alptraum. Sachsen während der Weimarer Republik (Leipzig, 2000) is the first comprehensive study and interpretation of Saxon society during the crucial period between the end of the First World War and the Nazi seizure of power. It explores previously un-researched aspects, particularly in the cultural sphere and with regards to specific details about the social, economic and political developments during the so-called 'Golden 1920s' and the slump from 1929.

Current Research Projects

Nazism in Germany: A Comparative Regional History (to be published by Berghahn Books, 2011) aims to complete the first comprehensive comparative regional history of Nazism by synthesising existing knowledge with new research and methodological approaches. The project looks at the development of local and regional political culture to see how Nazism fitted into this particular environment and to explain regional variations in the public response to Nazism. In short, why did Nazism thrive in some settings, while not in others? During my Fellowship at the Institute of Regional and Contemporary History in Schleswig (University of Flensburg) between February and September 2005 I was able to complete most of the primary research for this project. Currently I am writing the textbook Contesting the Rise of the Nazis for Blackwell Publishers (2009). The book will focus on the most important new research, debates and conflicting interpretations on various aspects on the rise of Nazism, and suggesting future directions in the field. At the moment I am also editing (together with Olaf Jensen), Ordinary People as Mass Murderers: Perpetrators in Comparative Perspective (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008), and Rethinking History, Dictatorships and War. New Approaches and Interpretations. Finally, I am co-editor of the new book series 'The Holocaust in Contexts' with Palgrave Macmillan.

Professional Distinctions (selection)

• Editor (together with Olaf Jensen) of the book series 'The Holocaust in Contexts' with Palgrave Macmillan
• Committee Member of the German History Society, 2006–8
• Thyssen Stiftung, Research Grant for 'A Comparative Regional History of Nazism', 2005–2008
• Member of the Standing Group on Extremism and Democracy
• Fellow at the Institut für schleswig-holsteinische Zeit- und Regionalgeschichte (University of Flensburg), 2005
• Member of the British Academy funded network project 'Local Notables and the Rise of the Nazi Party, 1920–1933' (together with Prof Detlef Mülberger/Oxford [project leader] and Dr Oded Heilbronner/Jerusalem), 2003–
• 'Scouloudi' History Research Fellowship, The Institute of Historical Research, London, 1993–1994
• PhD Fellowship, British Academy, 1990–1993

Publications

Publications in Print

1. 'Antisemitismus [in Grossbritannien]', in Wolfgang Benz (ed.), Handbuch zur Antisemitismusforschung (Munich, 2008)

2. 'Perpetrators of the Holocaust: A Historiography', in Olaf Jensen and Claus-Christian W. Szejnmann (eds.), Ordinary People as Mass  Murderers: Perpetrators in Comparative Perspective (Basingstoke, 2008)

3. eds. (with Olaf Jensen), Ordinary People as Mass  Murderers: Perpetrators in Comparative Perspective (Basingstoke, 2008)

Books

1. Vom Traum zum Alptraum. Sachsen während der Weimarer Republik (Sächsische Landeszentrale für Politische Bildung: Dresden; Kiepenheuer Verlag: Leipzig, 2000); ISBN 3-378-01045-2; 178 pp. and 34 photos.

2. Nazism in Central Germany: The Brownshirts in 'Red' Saxony (Berghahn Publishers: Oxford and New York, 1999); ISBN 1-57181-942-8; xxiv + 312 pp.

Edited books

1. (with M.L. Davies), How the Holocaust Looks Now. International Perspectives (Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke, November 2006); ISBN 0230001475; 312 pp.

Articles and chapters

1. 'Die Bedeutung der Regionalgeschichte für die Erforschung des Nationalsozialismus und des Holocausts', in O. Hartung and K. Köhr (eds), Geschichte und Geschichtsvermittlung. Festschrift für Karl Heinrich Pohl (Verlag für Regionalgeschichte: Bielefeld, 2008); ISBN 978-3-89534-743-6, pp. 85-103

2. 'Introduction: How the Holocaust Looks Now' (with M.L. Davies), in M.L. Davies and Claus-Christian W. Szejnmann (eds), How the Holocaust Looks Now. International Perspectivese, (Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke, October, 2006); ISBN 0230001475, pp. xxii-xxxix

3. 'Arbeitermilieus in Südwestdeutschland in der Auseinandersetzung mit dem Nationalsozialismus' in Peter I. Trummer and Konrad Pflug (eds), Die Brüder Stauffenberg und der Deutsche Widerstand, (Landeszentrale für politische Bildung Baden-Württemberg: Stuttgart, 2006), pp. 51-64

4. 'German Unification and the Involuntary Marginalisation of Eastern Germans', German as a Foreign Language, 3 (2004), pp. 101-116 (available as a PDF file under the GFL website)

5. 'We can only understand the Nazis if we are aware of Germany's heterogeneity', New Perspectives on Modern History, 10 (1) (2004), pp. 23-27

6. 'Verwässerung oder Systemstabilisierung? Nationalsozialismus in Regionen des Deutschen Reichs', Neue Politische Literatur, 48 (2) (2003), pp. 208-250

7. 'Theoretisch-methodische Chancen und Probleme regionalgeschichtlicher Forschungen zur NS-Zeit', in M. Ruck and K.H. Pohl (eds), Regionen im Nationalsozialismus [IZRD-Schriftenreihe, Band 10] (Verlag für Regionalgeschichte: Bielefeld, 2003); ISBN 3-89534-490-7, pp. 43-57

8. '"An Helligkeit ragt in Europa vor allem mei' Sachsenland vor". Prime Minister Biedenkopf and the Myth of Saxon Identity', in Frank Finlay and Stuart Taberner (eds), Recasting German Identity (Camden House: London, November 2002); ISBN 1571132449; pp. 161-176.

9. 'Landesgeschichte versus Regionalgeschichte? Konflikte, Gefahren und Möglichkeiten am Beispiel Sachsens im 20. Jahrhundert', in Reimer Witt (ed.), Im Spannungsfeld zwischen Landes- und Regionalgeschichte: Sieben Vorträge eines Regionalsymposiums im Landesarchiv Schleswig-Holstein (Publikationen des Landesarchiv Schleswig, Vol. 74: Schleswig, 2001); ISBN 3-931292-64-9, pp. 13-26.

10. 'The Success of Nazism in Saxony and Germany: The Landscape of Left and Right', in J. Retallack (ed.), Saxony in German History. Culture, Society, and Politics, 1830-1933 (University of Michigan Press: Michigan, 2000); ISBN 0472111043, pp. 356-72.

11. 'Sächsische Unternehmer und die Weimarer Republik. Zur Rolle der sächsischen Unternehmer in der Zeit der Weltwirtschaftskrise und des Aufstiegs des Nationalsozialismus', in U. Heß and M. Schäfer (eds.), Unternehmer in Sachsen. Aufstieg - Krise - Untergang - Neubeginn (Leipziger Universitätsverlag: Leipzig, 1998), ISBN 3-933240-21-2, pp. 165-179.

12. 'The missing pieces are "coming home": Nazism in the new Bundesländer', German History, 15 (3) (1997), pp. 395-410.

13. 'The Rise of the Nazi Party in the Working Classes Milieu of Saxony', in Conan Fischer (ed.), The Rise of National Socialism and the Working Classes in Weimar Germany (Berghahn Publishers: Oxford and Providence, 1996; ISBN 1-57181-915-0), pp. 189-216.

14. 'Conference Report: Internationales Symposium: Nationalsozialismus und Region'. A Conference organized by the Institut für Bayerische Geschichte and the Institut für Zeitgeschichte from 26 to 28 October 1993 in the Institut für Zeitgeschichte in Munich', German History, 12 (3) (1994), pp. 395-398.

Teaching, Research Supervision and Administration

All courses I teach are linked with my own research interests.

At UNDERGRADUATE level I teach Who were the Nazis? (HS1000); Heimat: Representing an 'Authentic People's History of Germany'? (HS1100, People and Places); Europe Reshaped, 1815-1914 (HS1010); European Fascism and Neo-Fascism (HS3642); Modern Germany: From Racial Genocide to Re-Civilization; The Weimar Republic: Revolution, Democracy and the Triumph of Hitler (HS3711/3712). Occasionally I also teach a fourth year module for students studying German on National Socialism (in German).

At POSTGRADUATE level I am happy to supervise research on most aspects of Germany since 1870, and various aspect of Modern/Contemporary European History. More specifically, my own research interests lie in Nazism, the Holocaust, the GDR, unified Germany, identities in Germany, regionalism, biography, fascism and the extreme right (incl. Britain), and the perception of Germans/Germany abroad. Amongst these subjects I would be happy to advice on exciting topics that deserve further research.

I am currently supervising the PhD thesis 'Shaping the City: Urban Reconstruction in the British Zone of Germany 1945 -1949', and have been the external examiner of various PhD theses ('The Meaning of Community in National Socialist Ideology and Welfare Provision'; 'Problems, politics and personalities in the treatment of mental and nervous casualties in the British Army 1914-1918'). I have supervised numerous MA theses (e.g., 'Holocaust Photography'; 'Holocaust Denial'; 'Attitudes of the British Press towards the German Question and De-nazification 1944-1947; 'The paternalistic treatment of women by the Land Army leadership during the Second World War'), and have acted as advisor to a number of PhD theses (e.g., 'The British Regional Press and the Holocaust').

Supervision

Please click here to see my area of expertise for PhD/MPhil supervision.

Administration

• Third Year Senior Tutor and Chair of the Tutorial Board
• Member of the School Postgraduate Committee