1st Edition

Germans as Minorities during the First World War A Global Comparative Perspective

Edited By Panikos Panayi Copyright 2014
    348 Pages
    by Routledge

    348 Pages
    by Routledge

    Offering a global comparative perspective on the relationship between German minorities and the majority populations amongst which they found themselves during the First World War, this collection addresses how ’public opinion’ (the press, parliament and ordinary citizens) reacted towards Germans in their midst. The volume uses the experience of Germans to explore whether the War can be regarded as a turning point in the mistreatment of minorities, one that would lead to worse manifestations of racism, nationalism and xenophobia later in the twentieth century.

    Contents: Preface; Part I Overview: Germans as minorities during the First World War: global comparative perspectives, Panikos Panayi; Diaspora and Weltpolitik in Wilhelmine Germany, Stefan Manz; The German Empire’s response: from retaliation to the painful realities of defeat, Matthew Stibbe. Part II Case Studies: Gender and Germanophobia: the forgotten experiences of German women in Britain, 1914-1919, Zoë Denness; ’Barbed wire disease’ or a ’prison camp society’: the everyday lives of German internees on the Isle of Man, 1914-1919, Panikos Panayi; The national mobilization of German immigrants and their descendants in Belgium, 1870-1920, Frank Caestecker and Antoon Vrints; Germanophobia and economic nationalism: government policies against enemy aliens in Italy during the First World War, Daniela L. Caglioti; The Russian Germans: a heterogeneous minority during the First World War, Dittmar Dahlmann; Spies, victims, collaborators and humanitarian interventionists: the Germans on the Hellenic and Ottoman shore of the Aegean, Malte Fuhrmann; ’Patriotic enemies’: Germans in the Americas, 1914-1920, Tammy M. Proctor; ’Avenge the Lusitania’: the anti-German riots in South Africa in 1915, Tilman Dedering; Power majorities and local minorities: German and British colonials in East Africa during the First World War, Daniel Steinbach; From ’proven worthy settlers’ to ’lawless Hunnish brutes’: Germans in New Zealand during the Great War, Andrew Francis; Select bibliography of key works; Index.

    Biography

    Panikos Panayi is Professor of European History, subject leader in history and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He has worked at De Montfort University since 1990 and has held a personal Chair since 1999. He has published widely and his research fits into three areas in particular: the history of immigration and interethnic relations; the history of food; and the First World War.