Doctoral Student Kai Steinhage

• Everyday history during the First World War and the interwar period
• British-German antagonism between 1871 and 1933
• Historical generation concepts
• Politics of history and remembrance in Europe

Fraternizing with the aggressor? Interaction and mutual perception of British soldiers and German civilians during the occupation of the Rhineland 1918-1926

Supervisor: Prof Dr Stefan Berger (Ruhr University Bochum)

The reception of the Allied occupation of the Rhineland is still largely based on historiographical studies on the social, economic and cultural effects of the French occupation and the occupation of the Ruhr between 1923 and 1925. However, studies on the living conditions within the British zone, which was formed in the greater Cologne area after the armistice in November 1918, continue to be a desideratum.¹ The dissertation project is intended to partially close this research gap and, under the supervision of Prof Dr Stefan Berger, deals with everyday life under occupation on both sides and the mutual perception of British occupiers and German civilians in the Rhineland.

The overarching question is to what extent the mutual perception as well as any images of nations have changed through personal contact between those Tommies who served in the first British Army of the Rhine and the local population. The study is based on the assumption that actors on both sides, influenced by many years of war propaganda, were characterized by adverse stereotypes, prejudices that aroused mistrust and generalizing images of the enemy: Both a certain Germanophobia, fueled by the omnipresent portrayal of "the Germans" as bloodthirsty "Huns" by Allied war propaganda, and fears of potential revenge by the British occupying troops were probably widespread in 1918/19. 

Diaries, postcards and letters written by British soldiers or German civilians within the occupation zone will be analyzed in a criteria-oriented manner in order to reconstruct the general everyday life under the occupation, mutual perceptions, and changes in the respective images of nations and prejudices. In addition, German local, parish and school chronicles, two-sided reports of experiences as well as contemporary British columns about the Rhineland, which appeared for example in the occupation newspaper The Cologne Post or in the tabloid The Bystander, form an integral part of the study. On the one hand, their analysis is intended to further advance research about the British occupation of the Rhineland and create a basis for comparative studies in relation to the Allied occupation. On the other hand, by answering the question of what significance narratives surrounding "collective aggressors" had in social discourses during the immediate post-war period, a contribution shall be made to the overall research project.

¹ Fortunately, Benedikt Neuwöhner recently published a comprehensive study on British governance practices: Neuwöhner, Benedikt: Britannia rules the Rhine. Die britische Rheinlandbesatzung 1918-1926. Paderborn 2023.