The Allied occupation of Western Germany after the Second World War has long constituted a classic component in academic histories of post-war 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. This 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. It also aims to stimulate dialogue between historians of the different zones of occupation and so bring together hitherto almost entirely segregated historiographies. We are inviting papers from both emerging scholars and established specialists.

29–30 September 2016, German Historical Institute, London

Argument

The Allied occupation of Western Germany after the Second World War has long constituted a classic component in academic histories of post-war 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.

This 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. It also aims to stimulate dialogue between historians of the different zones of occupation and so bring together hitherto almost entirely segregated historiographies.

We 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.

Submission guidelines

Papers should be no more than 20 minutes in length. We 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.

An extended call for papers and additional information may be found on the PDF document attached to this announcement and at the conference website: https://alliedoccupation.wordpress.com/

Please send your proposal (title and abstract, max. 500 words) together with a short CV to Dr Camilo Erlichman (c.erlichman[at]sms.ed.ac.uk) and Dr Christopher Knowles (christopher.knowles[at]kcl.ac.uk).

The deadline for submissions is 12 January 2016.

Applicants will be notified of the outcome by the end of February 2016. Any enquiries should be directed to the conference organisers via e-mail.

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.

Organisers and Selection Committee

• Dr Camilo Erlichman

School of History, Classics and Archaeology

University of Edinburgh

• Dr Christopher Knowles

Institute of Contemporary British History

King’s College, University of London