Research focus

Teaching-learning processes at NS memorials

Colonial history in history lessons

Historical culture / regional history including its mediation

Habilitation project

Teaching and learning processes at Nazi memorials

In 2019, 2.5 million people visited the seven largest German Nazi memorials. Until the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, almost all memorials in Germany recorded a steady increase in visitor numbers. It is estimated that around one to two thirds of the visitors counted were schoolchildren who explored the memorial site together with their class.[1] Nazi memorials have changed considerably in recent decades. One of the reasons for this development is that memories of the Holocaust are slowly shifting from communicative to cultural memory. As a result, the function as a place of remembrance is also partially receding, while historical and political education is being increasingly expanded. However, the foundation and core of memorials is still the connection to a (supposedly) authentic place and the advocacy for the victims.[2]

The debate as to whether a visit to a Nazi memorial site should be compulsory for all pupils flares up time and again. It is believed, or at least hoped, that visiting a former concentration camp will immunise pupils against anti-Semitic and right-wing extremist ideas. In all the discussions, however, the question of how this immunisation should take place remained unanswered. The question not only remained unanswered in the public debate, the discipline of history didactics also struggled to find convincing, empirically based answers as to how the historical teaching and learning process takes place at the extracurricular Nazi memorial site.[3]

As early as 2013, Matthias Heyl stated that "German memorial educational practice is largely unexplored in terms of empirically valid studies, [...] especially in the setting of school memorial visits"[4] could be considered. Little has changed in the situation described by Heyl to date.[5]

Research project

In my habilitation, I would like to combine two research perspectives:

1. The proposed study will take a closer look at the teaching-learning processes during a visit to a Nazi memorial site and how these dovetail with historical learning in schools. Most of the existing studies have identified a clear dichotomy between cognitive learning at school and affective learning at the memorial site. The question is often whether one is superior to the other.[6] However, I am primarily concerned with the interactions between the learning processes at school and at the Nazi memorial and the influences of the respective learning environments.
2. The focus of my study will be on heterogeneous learning groups, primarily from lower and intermediate secondary schools. The Sinus study from 2016 showed that it is primarily young people with an 'educational background' who can be reached by a visit to the memorial, but not those from 'educationally disadvantaged' households.[7] Holger Thünemann and Oliver von Wrochem recently referred to "patterns of interpretation, commemoration and remembrance routines, ways of speaking and communication rituals that have become canonical"[8]which are not suitable for pupils with heterogeneous educational biographies and different social and ethnic backgrounds. I would like to take a closer look at this lack of connectivity, which has been recognised but not yet researched in detail, and at the same time investigate the framework conditions that nevertheless enable teaching-learning processes.

The following central questions arise from these two research perspectives :

• How can teaching-learning processes of pupils with heterogeneous social backgrounds be characterised during a visit to a Nazi memorial site and in pre- and post-school lessons?
• What effects of the different learning environments can be identified on pupils? Under what conditions does the Nazi memorial site have a positive influence on learning success? (And what would be considered "learning success" in the first place?)
• How can a teaching-learning process be initiated at Nazi memorial sites in which heterogeneity is seen as an opportunity for the initiation of historical learning and not as an obstacle?

My research project ties in with several topics currently being discussed in history didactics, two of which are mentioned here as examples: 1) Diversity in history and in history lessons: memorials are per se places where exclusion is addressed. They are therefore particularly suitable for making categories of difference the subject of historical learning.[9] 2) Emotions and historical learning: The significance of emotions in the historical learning process has still only been researched to a limited extent. Existing research has highlighted the paradox that Nazi memorials are decidedly not places for moralising and emotions, while in many cases teachers hope that a visit to a Nazi memorial will have precisely these effects.[10] I am particularly interested in how the interplay of affective and cognitive learning processes can promote historical learning.

Methodology

The research questions are to be answered with the help of a bricolage of methods primarily from the field of qualitative social research. This includes a qualitative observation, supported by audio or video recordings, of the school lessons associated with the visit to the memorial site as well as the visit to the memorial site itself. In addition, individual and/or group interviews or group discussions with pupils should be carried out in the sense of a pre-post design before and after the memorial visit. In addition, the evaluation of student-related media, such as annotated photo documentation of the visit, should be considered.

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Dissertation (completed)

From maid to cleaning lady? Domestic workers in the 20th century

"I was allowed to sit at a table with my masters, but the good food was at the other end of the table, where the masters were sitting. At my end of the table there was cheap fat instead of butter and only rarely meat. I wouldn't have dared to simply serve myself at the other end of the table."[1] This is how the then 18-year-old housemaid Elfriede Meyer described a daily situation during her time working in a household in Dortmund from 1958 to 1959. She had previously worked in another household and had left there "overnight" when a dispute arose. She also only kept her job in Dortmund for just under two years, until her wedding. Even though maids in the 19th century were not usually allowed to eat at the table of "their masters", this example shows that a number of admissions of maids in the 19th century also applied to their counterparts in the 20th century: they were young and usually came from a poor, rural background. Working as a maid was a typical transitory stage on the way to running a household or another academic appointment, so marriage almost always marked the end of this stage of life. Maids were primarily responsible for the menial and particularly strenuous seminar papers, while their legal security was always more than precarious, even in the 20th century. The topic of "maids in the 19th century" has already been well researched[2], but there are virtually no studies available for the 20th century[3]. This is certainly also due to the fact that the number of maids, or as they were called after 1918 "domestic helpers" or "domestic servants", fell steadily, albeit from a very high level. According to the Statistical Yearbook of the Federal Republic of Germany, there were still over 500,000 domestic helpers working in 1960, with cleaning staff listed separately. With my dissertation project "Domestic workers in the 20th century", I can build on this research on the 19th century, show continuities, draw parallels and work out breaks. My research interest is primarily focussed on the structure of the relationship between employer and employee. In doing so, I take up the theme of the last Historikertag "Inequalities" and place these and how they are dealt with at the centre of my work. There is no other employment relationship where this can be analysed so well, as nowhere else did the "inequalities" meet so clearly and so directly, where people from two different social classes lived under one roof and had to get along with each other on a daily basis. Following on from this, the guiding questions of my project will be what these inequalities were, how they were demonstrated, reinforced or even broken down in everyday life.

Two developments that seem contradictory at first glance can be identified in advance. In the 1950s and 1960s, the number of domestic helpers fell by around 10,000 every year, while at the same time the financial situation improved. As early as 1938, earnings were already higher than industrial wages if one adds board and lodging to the cash wage, as well as the usual gifts. According to my first thesis, it was not the pay that attracted young women to other professions, but rather the daily experience of "inequalities", the lack of self-determination and the high degree of heteronomy inherent in the academic appointment that made the work of a domestic help increasingly unattractive and outmoded. As the introductory quote makes clear, nothing fundamental had changed in this area from the 19th to the 20th century.

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Monographs

Workplace private household. Urban domestic helpers in the 20th century, Göttingen 2023, 373 pp.

The SED and the APO. Reception of the student movement in the GDR press, Oldenburg 2008, 148 pp.

together with Gunilla Budde: Beethoven unterm Hakenkreuz. The Oldenburg State Orchestra during National Socialism, Oldenburg 2007, 117 pp.

Editorship

together with Christine Krüger/Franziska Meifort: Korrespondenzen aus der Vergangenheit. Letters as historical sources, Göttingen 2025, 272 pp.

together with Anna Mamzer/Eva Schöck-Quinteros: Bremen. A city of colonies?, Bremen 2016, 170 pp.

together with Eva Schöck-Quinteros/Harald Wixforth: Prunk & Pleite einer Unternehmerdynastie: der Konkurs der Nordwolle und die Bankenkrise 1931 (Aus den Akten auf die Bühne, Bd. 8.3), Bremen 2015, 86 p.

Oldenburg places of remembrance. From the Castle to the Hell of the North, from Count Anton Günther to Horst Janssen, Oldenburg 2012, 441 p.

Essays

The living and working environments of urban domestic servants in the 20th century, Zeischrift für Geschichtswissenschaft, 73rd volume, issue 10, 2025, pp. 859-870.

"Hell with distributed roles?" Violence in the private household workplace, in: Heying, Mareen/Jaeger, Alexandra/Kleinöder, Nina/Knoll-Jung, Sebastian/Voigt, Sebastian (eds.): Verschwiegener Alltag. Violence in the workplace since the 19th century, Bonn 2025, pp. 95-110.

Genuine co-determination or "democratic fig leaf"? Student representation since 1945, in: Geschichte lernen, 220/2024, pp. 40-47.

"That's not much." The payment of domestic helpers in the 20th century, in: Wiede, Wiebke/Wolf, Johanna/Fattmann, Rainer (eds.): Gender Pay Gap. Vom Wert und Unwert von Arbeit in Geschichte und Gegenwart, Bonn 2023, pp. 87-104.

Europe to go. Election posters in the first European election campaign in 1979, in: Geschichte lernen, 209/2022, pp. 22-27.

Die gewerkschaftliche Organisation der Hausgehilfinnen von 1918 bis in die 1960er Jahre, in: Artus, Ingrid/Bennewitz, Nadja/Henninger, Annette/Holland, Judith/Kerber-Clasen, Stefan (eds.): Arbeitskonflikte sind Geschlechterkämpfe. Social science and historical perspectives, Münster 2020, pp. 135-151.

Three years in prison for a joke: GDR court judgements of the 1950s and their reassessment by the Oldenburg Higher Regional Court, in: Freist, Dagmar (ed.): ArchivGeschichten (Festschrift für Gerd Steinwascher), Stuttgart 2018, pp. 98-113.

A relic of the 19th century? Domestic helpers from 1918 to the 1960s, in: Archiv für Sozialgeschichte, vol. 54, 2014, pp. 147-168.

The First World War. Von der Kriegsbegeisterung zur Kriegsmüdigkeit, in: Schneider, Gerhard/Gottschlich, Ralf/Ladleif, Christiane (eds.): Der Erste Weltkrieg im Spiegel expressiver Kunst. Battles, Passions, Dance of Death, Bönen 2014, pp. 25-32.

Oldenburg places of remembrance as examples of the interlocking of national and regional memory, in: Reznik, Milos/Rosenbaum, Katja/Stübner, Jos: Regionale Erinnerungsorte. Böhmische Länder und Mitteldeutschland im europäischen Kontext (Studien zur Europäischen Regionalgeschichte, Bd. 1), Leipzig/Berlin 2013, pp. 185-193.

Inequalities under one roof. Domestic helpers from 1918 to the 1960s, in: Ariadne. Forum for Women's and Gender History, Issue 63, May 2013, pp. 36-43.

Work without prestige or ideal female profession? Domestic helpers in Germany 1918-1960s, in: Österreichische Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaften, Vol. 24, Vol. 2013, pp. 59-79.

"Young people rebel against the system of truncheons and pistols." The West German student movement in the GDR press, in: Presse in der DDR. Beiträge und Materialien, pressegeschichte.docupedia.de/wiki/Westdeutsche_Studentenbewegung_Version_1.html, accessed: 26 June 2013.

In a subordinate position. Hausgehelfinnen im Nationalsozialismus, in: Kramer, Nicole/Nolzen, Armin (eds.): Ungleichheiten im "Dritten Reich", Göttingen 2012, pp. 155-175.

Vasa sacra, in: Vasa sacra. Where heaven and earth meet. Treasures from the Catholic churches of the Oldenburg region, Löningen 2010, pp. 150-151, 158-161, 224-225.

"1968" in Oldenburg, in: Oldenburger Jahrbuch, vol. 109, vol. 2009, pp. 147-165.

Artwork of the month April. Spielplan Landestheater Oldenburg (1929/1930), in: Jahrbuch des Landesmuseums Oldenburg 2008, Oldenburg 2009, pp. 43-46.

The food replaces the food. Programme booklet of the State Theatre as work of art of the month, in: Nordwest Zeitung from 19.04.2008.

"With enthusiastic cheers and hurrahs"? War Enthusiasm and Disillusionment, in: Küster, Bernd (ed.): Der Erste Weltkrieg und die Kunst, Oldenburg 2008, pp. 8-27.

Research, in: Budde, Gunilla/Freist, Dagmar/Günther-Arndt, Hilke (eds.): Geschichte. Studium - Wissenschaft - Beruf, Berlin 2008, pp. 198-215.

together with Gunilla Budde: Musik unterm Hakenkreuz. Das Oldenburgische Staatsorchester während des Nationalsozialismus, in: Das Orchester 11/2007, p. 34f.

Reinterpretations and blank spaces. Reporting on the West German student movement in the GDR press, in: Horch und Guck, Heft 2/2007, pp. 21-24.

Further publications

Robert Dannemann, www.wardenburg.de/dokumente/strassennamen/robert-dannemann.pdf

Reviews

Review: Knud Andresen/Peter Birke/Svea Gruber/Anna Horstmann/Nicole Mayer-Ahuja (eds.), Arbeiten um zu leben! Zur Geschichte und Aktualität des Kampfes um Arbeitszeiten, Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main/New York 2025, in: Archiv für Sozialgeschichte (online) 66, 2026, URL: <https://library.fes.de/pdf-files/afs/82139.pdf> [14.4.2026].

Review: Maike Mittelsteiner: Porcelain of the Church. Diakonische Identitäten in der Geschichte des Oldenburgischen Landesvereins für Innere Mission 1918-1945, Göttingen 2023, in: Oldenburger Jahrbuch 125, 2025, pp. 11-13.

Review: Jessica Richter: The production of special labour. Disputes over domestic service in Austria (1880- 1938), Berlin/Boston 2024, 515 p., in: Arbeit - Bewegung - Geschichte, Heft 1/2025, pp. 144-147.

Review: Manuela Rienks: Sold out. Arbeitswelten von Verkäuferinnen in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Berlin 2024, H-Soz-Kult from 31 January 2025.

Review: Albrecht Eckhardt: From socialist revolution to practical day-to-day politics and state administration. Das Direktorium des Freistaates Oldenburg in seinen Protokollen 1918/19, Oldenburg 2017, in: Oldenburger Jahrbuch 118, 2018, pp. 237-238.

Review: Joachim Tautz: Rüstringer Heimatbund and National Socialism. Die Heimatbewegung in der nördlichen Wesermarsch von 1933 bis 1945, Nordenham 2017, in: Oldenburger Jahrbuch 118, 2018, pp. 254-255.

Review: Andrea Althaus (ed.): Mit Kochlöffel und Staubwedel. Erzählungen aus dem Dienstmädchenalltag (Damit es nicht verlorengeht... Bd. 62), Vienna/Cologne/Weimar 2010, in: Werkstatt Geschichte 61, vol. 2, 2012, pp. 116-119.

Review: Astrid Mignon Kirchof: Das Dienstfräulein auf dem Bahnhof. Frauen im öffentlichen Raum im Blick der Berliner Bahnhofsmission 1894-1939, Stuttgart 2011, in: Newsletter des AKHFG vom 2. September 2011, p. 5.

Review: Maria Anna Zumholz (ed.): Starke Frauen, volume accompanying the exhibition of the same name in the Luzie Uptmoor Gallery in the Lohne Industrial Museum, Münster 2010, in: Oldenburger Jahrbuch 2010.

Other publications

"Never again war!", "Never again Auschwitz!" - Remembrance imperatives in today's world, 10/2022, https://doingph.hypotheses.org/1169

21.10.2025
Remembering together? Teaching and learning processes in heterogeneous learning groups at Nazi memorial sites, lecture as part of the network meeting of the association "Gegen Vergessen - Für Demokratie e.V.", Bad Zwischenahn

10.10.2025
Maloche am Arbeitsplatz Privathaushalt, lecture at the conference "(Un)verletzte Körper. Injury and integrity in the modern age", University of Augsburg

03.07.2025
Colonialism - A marginal Topic in History Lessons? Further Comments from Ongoing Textbook Research, lecture at the workshop "Education on German Colonialism for All: Collaborative Textbook Design", University of Bremen

16.06.2025
More than just street names, keynote speech as part of the #VerständigungsOrte campaign of the Protestant Church, Varel community centre

11.06.2025
Remembering for everyone? Teaching and learning processes at Nazi memorial sites in heterogeneous learning groups, lecture as part of the colloquium Public History and Remembrance Culture, University of Regensburg

05.02.2025
Erna Schlüter, lecture at the general meeting of the Erna Schlüter Opera Society Oldenburg

05.11.2024
Street names in Staatsforsten (Cloppenburg): Hanna Reitsch, Werner Baumbach, Werner Mölders and Ernst Udet, lecture as part of the study of Cloppenburg street names, Cloppenburg

20.09.2024
Teaching-learning processes at Nazi memorial sites, lecture at the KGD (Conference for History Didactics), Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz

17/09/2024
Edith Ruß, lecture at the Cultural Committee of the City of Oldenburg

14.03.2024
Book presentation: No work like any other. Domestic workers in Austria and Germany in the 20th century, together with Jessica Richter, Vienna Chamber of Labour

01.12.2023
Kolonialismus - Schattendasein im Geschichtsunterricht?!, lecture as part of the conference "Der Elefant im Raum: Zur Auseinandersetzung mit Bremens (post-)kolonialer Geschichte und Gegenwart", together with Max-Simon Gündert, Haus der Wissenschaft Bremen

23/11/2023
Gewalt am Arbeitsplatz Privathaushalt, lecture as part of the conference "Gewalt am Arbeitsplatz im 20. Jahrhundert", Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Bonn

29/09/2023
Private household workplace. Städtische Haushaltsgehelfininnen im 20. Jahrhundert, lecture as part of the conference "Arbeit - Alltag - Ausbeutung. Social History of Women Workers" organised by the Reichspräsident-Friedrich-Ebert-Gedenkstätte foundation in Heidelberg

29.06.2023
Workplace private household. On the social history of domestic helpers in the 20th century, lecture at the Lower Saxony State Archive in Oldenburg

04.05.2023
Remembrance of NSDAP members? Street names in the Oldenburg municipality of Wardenburg, lecture for the Democracy Protection Network of the Central Police Headquarters, together with Dr Joachim Tautz, Oldenburg

03.05.2023
Presentation of the study of street names in the municipality of Wardenburg, public lecture, together with Dr Joachim Tautz, Wardenburg

26.01.2023
Inequalities under one roof. Hausgehelfinnen in der NS-"Volksgemeinschaft", lecture as part of the research colloquium at the Chair of German History in the 20th Century with a focus on National Socialism, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

07.10.2022
"Von einem der darmutigsten und lebendigsten Provinzbühnen zum farblosen Hoftheaterbetrieb" - Das Landestheater Oldenburg in der Zeit der Weimarer Republik, lecture as part of the 7th conference on Oldenburg regional history "Freizeit in der Weimarer Republik im Freistaat Oldenburg", Landesarchiv Oldenburg

23.03.2021
Value and disvalue of a women's profession 'par excellence'. Die Bezahlung von Hausgehilfinnen im 20. Jahrhundert, lecture at the conference "Gender Pay Gap. The value and disvalue of labour", Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Bonn

25.10.2019
On opportunities and challenges. The Weimar Republic from 1918 to 1923 in research, lecture as part of the 6th conference on Oldenburg regional history, Landesarchiv Oldenburg

26.09.2019
Gender relations in the private household - domestic helpers and housewives from 1918 to the 1960s, lecture as part of the conference Ökonomien des Haushaltens, Geschlechterverhältnisse in Arbeits-, Bildungs- und Normierungsprozessen in historischer Perspektive, Philipps-Universität Marburg

22.03.2019
Die "organisierte Hausgehilfin" - (1918 to 1960s), lecture as part of the conference Arbeitskonflikte und Gender, University of Erlangen/Nuremberg

21.11.2018
GDR history with sources from Oldenburg? Lecture as part of the Historical Evenings at the Lower Saxony State Archive Oldenburg

22.10.2018
"Hausgehelfin Elektrizität" - the mechanisation of the household, as part of the special exhibition "Design in everyday life - the Peter Veckenstedt Collection", Aurich City Museum

15.06.2018
Die "geprüfte Hausgehilfin" - Debatten um die Professionalisierung von Hausangestellten (1918 bis 1960er Jahre), lecture as part of the XIII Workshop on Gender Studies in Historical Educational Research, University of Cologne

03.03.2018
Oldenburger Erinnerungsorte: Definitionen und Erfahrungen mit einem Projekt, lecture at the conference of the Arbeitskreis Mittelalterliche Geschichte der Historischen Kommission für Niedersachsen und Bremen, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen

27.10.2017
Tracing back the history of paid domestic labour in Germany, lecture at the DomEqual Local Workshop, Hamburg

16.06.2016
Precarious work. Domestic helpers in the 20th century, lecture at the Bremen Research Colloquium on Modern History, University of Bremen

22.01.2016
Hausgehilfinnen in der nationalsozialistischen "Volksgemeinschaft", lecture at the 4th colloquium "Geschichte der Arbeitswelten und der Gewerkschaften", Ruhr-Universität Bochum

25.10.2013
War enthusiasm everywhere? The beginning of the First World War in Oldenburg (read out by Dietmar von Reeken due to illness), Landesarchiv Oldenburg

12.09.2013
Inequalities under one Roof. Domestic Workers from 1918 to the 1960s, lecture at the 49th International Conference of Labour and Social History, "Towards a Global History of Domestic Workers and Caregivers", Linz

26 August 2013
(together with Markus Evers): Oldenburg Places of Memory and their National Facets (or The Metamorphoses of Count Anton Günther), lecture series at The Smart House Oldenburg

11.10.2012
"From Housemaids to Cleaning Ladies. Domestic Workers During the 20th Century", lecture as part of the workshop "Work-Employment-Vocation. The Production of Differences and Hierarchies of Livelihood in the 19th and 20th Centuries", University of Vienna

12.11.2011
"Oldenburger Erinnerungsorte", lecture at the Greiz Colloquium "Regionale Erinnerungsorte: West Bohemia and Central Germany in the European Context, together with Markus Evers, Greiz

12.11.2010
"Hausgehilfinnen von 1918 bis in die 1960er Jahre", lecture at the
1. interdisziplinären Niedersächsischen DoktorandInnentag, Leibniz Universität Hannover

08.10.2010
"Das Bremer Kränzchen - Treffen von Hausgehilfinnen im Wichernhaus von 1918 bis in die 1960er Jahre", lecture as part of the Mental Health Week in Bremen and Bremerhaven, Bremen

23 June 2010
"Hoping for the national community? Hausgehelfinnen im Nationalsozialismus", lecture as part of the Oldenburg series of lectures organised by the Institute of History, University of Oldenburg

20.11.2008
"1968 in Oldenburg", lecture as part of the lecture series "Oldenburg 1968. Eine Region im Spannungsfeld gesellschaftlicher Umbrüche", Landesarchiv Oldenburg

12.06.2008
"Kriegsbegeisterung im August 1914", lecture in the framework programme of the exhibition "Der Erste Weltkrieg und die Kunst", Augusteum Oldenburg

06.04.2006
"Die Grand Tour: Adeliges Reisen vom 16. bis zum 18. Jahrhundert", lecture as part of the annual conference with students of the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, University of Oldenburg

Supervised Master’s theses as first supervisor:

‘Certainly a peculiar moment for a German sailor’ – Self-portrayals and portrayals by others in travel accounts by sailors of the Imperial Navy (1888–1897) (2021)

‘The Other War’. Representations of the home front in exhibitions on the First World War, using the examples of the Historisches Museum Berlin and the Imperial War Museum, London (2020)

The second phase of the Emsland development (1963–1973). The debate over a change in development policy based on the minutes of the Emsland planning and supervisory board meetings (2018)

The Call of Freedom – Reports sent home by German emigrants to the USA, using the example of the Richard brothers from the Osnabrück region (1849–1867) (2018)

The Bodelschwingh Institutions’ petition for clemency on behalf of Karl Brandt in the Nuremberg Doctors’ Trial of 1946–1947 (2017)

‘The promise of Utopia.’ The ‘Wild West’ myth: symbolic language, development and interaction (2017)

‘We are the anvil, not the hammer.’ Von Galen’s stance on euthanasia under National Socialism (2017)

Postcolonial Perspectives in Regional Museums – Two East Frisian Tea Museums (2016)

Object presentations in museum and commercial exhibitions (2016)

The Coverage of the Cuban Missile Crisis in the GDR Press (2015)

The Middle Ages in exhibitions during the Nazi era (2015)

“You can’t display hand grenades as if they were Augsburg silverware.” The presentation of war artefacts in special exhibitions on the First World War in German historical museums (2015)

Exhibiting memories – The presentation of eyewitness videos at the Ahlem Memorial (2015)

The ‘July Crisis’ and the ‘August Experience’ of 1914 in the city and countryside of Oldenburg (2015)

Anti-Semitism in West Germany after the Second World War. An analysis based on incidents in north-west Germany between 1945 and 1967 (2015)

“We killed them all” – The mass killings in Indonesia in 1965/1966 in Joshua Oppenheimer’s documentary film *The Act of Killing* (2015)

Experiential Exhibitions. A study of educational concepts for experiential exhibitions, using the example of the Grüne Science Centre Botanika in Bremen (2015)

‘Can you feel the adrenaline?’ – Educational practices at German football club museums (2013)

The symbolic figure and ‘icon’ of the Oldenburg remembrance community – On the history of remembrance and the current presence of the memorial site dedicated to Count Anton Günther von Oldenburg (2010)

The transformation of the SED’s youth policy between the Second Youth Communiqué and the 11th Plenary Session of the SED Central Committee, using the Leipzig Beat Uprising as a case study (2010)

Supervised bachelor’s theses as first supervisor:

The methods of the Ministry for State Security (MfS) and their consequences, using the example of Jürgen Fuchs (2022)

The post-war period from a Jewish perspective in the transatlantic correspondence of the Neukamp family (1946–1951) (2019)

A desire for integration or an administrative act? Baltic displaced persons in Oldenburg in the post-war period (2017)

The final phase of the Weimar Republic. The Brüning government. Its reception in historical scholarship (2017)

German soldiers’ memories of D-Day 1944: the case of ‘Resistance Nest 62’ (2016)

Lebensborn e.V.: The Veiled Instrument of Nazi Racial Policy (2016)

The beginning of the end? The portrayal of the collapse of the Grand Coalition and the transition to the first presidential cabinet under Brüning in the contemporary press (2016)

The Landvolk Movement in Oldenburg 1928–1933. An account based on the example of the South Oldenburg Landvolk leader Dr Heinrich Große Beilag (2016)

The Portrayal of Judaism in *Neues Deutschland* (2016)

Welfare education for girls and young women in the post-war Federal Republic – stories and practices in the context of the Dietrichsfeld girls’ residential home (2015)

Field post as a means of family communication during the Second World War. A case study of the field post correspondence of Arnold and Johann Miller, 1942–1943 (2015)

The Emsland Plan and Emsland GmbH. A study of the initial phase (1950–c. 1965) (2015)

The Congo Conference 1884–1885. A comparative analysis of the German and British press (2015)

“A Moral, a Social and a Political Wrong.” The role of slaves, their development and emancipation during the American Civil War from 1861 to 1865 (2015)

“Military Strength through Education” – The Militarisation of Physical Education by the Central Committee for the Promotion of Folk and Youth Games in the Oldenburg Region between 1904 and 1914 (2015)

The Sinking of the Titanic in the Press – False Reports, Speculation and Propaganda (2015)

The “Kwami Affair” and its significance for conflicts within the Protestant Church in the National Socialist Free State of Oldenburg (2015)

Living History as a Form of Historical Presentation in Museums? Development of a Concept Based on an Analysis of a Scenographic Guided Tour at the North-West German Museum of Industrial Culture in Delmenhorst (2015)

The ‘Perpetrators’ Exhibition’ at the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp Memorial as a Contribution to Political Education (2015)

“It is the policy of the Military Government that refugees cease to be refugees as soon as they arrive at their reception area […].” The regulatory and moral actions of the British Military Government in dealing with displaced persons and refugees in 1945/46 in the State of Oldenburg (2015)

The eugenics discourse in the Weimar Republic, using the example of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society (2015)

The Cold War on television – overcoming the conflict of the nuclear arms race in the TV series “Star Trek” (2014)

The impact of the First World War on relations between Ireland and Great Britain (2014)

“I do!” – Marriage among the German middle classes in the 19th century. Male expectations of the (married) wife (2014)

Hitler in Oldenburg. On the special status of the Free State of Oldenburg until 1932 (2013)

From Modernism to National Socialism – The Oldenburg State Theatre in the years 1927–1932 (2013)

The Social and Pedagogical Transformation of the Concept of Childhood in 19th-Century Middle-Class Society. Using the Example of ‘Critique of the Relationship between Children and Domestic Servants’ (2012)

Esterwegen Concentration Camp 1933–1936. The Origins and Daily Life of the ‘Model Camp’ (2012)

Supervised Master’s theses as a second examiner:

On the Presentation of History in Schleswig-Holstein’s Nazi Memorial Sites (2024)

The right to individual support in upper secondary school history lessons too? Measures for internal differentiation in school history textbooks from selected Federal States (2024)

Exhibiting sensitive topics: Current debates, strategies and measures in a museum context (2023)

Between castles, churches and markets. Pupils’ perceptions of the medieval town and its significance for history teaching (2023)

German colonialism in history textbooks for grammar schools in Lower Saxony. Representation and potential interpretations (2023)

A voyage overseas or a ride to the East? Franz Xaver Ritter von Epp’s colonial ideas in the context of the ‘Third Reich’ (2023)

The didactic potential of local and regional history in history lessons: examined using the example of the persecution of Jews during the Nazi era in the town of Leer (2022)

One House, Many Expectations – The Quelle prefabricated house from Winsen (Luhe) arrives at the Kiekeberg Open-Air Museum (2022)

Constitutional diagrams in history lessons – An analysis of the didactic and methodological potential in school textbooks (2022)

German colonialism in postcolonial history lessons. An analysis of the implementation of the history-teaching principle of multi-perspectivity in Lower Saxony school textbooks for classes 7 and 8 (2022)

“… yet it must not become the prerogative of women”. On the changing social significance of women who smoked at the beginning of the 20th century (2022)

‘Aryanisation’ in Oldenburg. A regional perspective on the economic destruction of the livelihoods of Jewish Germans from 1933 to 1945 (2022)

“A generation that seems to have gone wild.” – Portrayals of the ‘Halbstarken’ youth movement in a cinematic comparison between West Germany and the German Democratic Republic (2021)

“Put on the line?” – The potential of escape rooms for promoting skills in history lessons (2021)

The application of the ‘Law for the Prevention of Hereditary Diseases in Offspring’ in the historic district of Leer (Gau Weser-Ems) between 1934 and 1944, as reflected in the records of the Aurich Hereditary Health Court (2021)

Middle-class conceptions of the family between the world wars. Based on the example of a bride’s correspondence from 1923–1925 (2021)

The Transformation of Midwifery – On the Development of Midwifery Training in the 19th and
20th Centuries (2021)

Between Event and Scholarship: Representations of Controversial Figures from the Nazi State in German Docudramas (2021)

‘Ulrike Meinhof – that was murder!’. On the posthumous reception of the RAF terrorist (2020)

From the life of a police officer in the German Reich during the years 1928–
: The diary of the Upper Silesian police officer Adolf R. Himmel (2020)

From Goethe to the ‘Volkssturm’ – the ‘Third Reich’ in written examinations sat by non-school pupils seeking to obtain their intermediate school-leaving certificate at the Oldenburg Boys’ School (2020)

The persecution of homosexual men in Oldenburg during the Nazi era in the light of the ‘Volksgemeinschaft’ (2020)

The Party’s Official View of Women under National Socialism: The Journal *NS-Frauen-Warte* (2019)

National Socialist Education Policy 1933–1945. The Indoctrination of Children and Young People under National Socialism, as Illustrated by Selected Subjects (2019)

The emergence of football around 1900 as a mass cultural phenomenon (2019)

‘[…] what are kingdoms other than the dens of highwaymen?’ The issue of spoils in Hugo Grotius’s ‘Three Books on the Law of War and Peace’ (2019)

From ‘flight’ and ‘expulsion’ through integration to German-Polish understanding. The links between Lower Saxony and Poland since the 1970s as an example of the history of European relations (2018)

Helgoland as a tourist destination – On the development of tourism on the island from 1952 to the turn of the century (2018)

On the Negotiation of Exhibition Practices in Memorial Sites. A Review of the Literature (2018)

Changes in the police force. The Free State of Oldenburg and the Weser-Ems Gau (2018)

When footballers become heroes. The mythologisation of the 1954 World Cup (2018)

The ‘Expansion Pack’ for history lessons. On addressing digital historical culture in history lessons for upper secondary school pupils (2018)

‘When shall we watch a film again?’ – The historical feature film as a teaching tool for Year 9 history lessons, using the example of ‘Ein Sack voll Murmeln’ (2018)

Stolpersteine as places of remembrance. A comparison of the cities of Gelsenkirchen and Oldenburg (2017)

Empress Elisabeth of Austria as Sisi. Aspects of the history of a multifaceted site of remembrance (2017)

Residential care in Lower Saxony in the post-war period – for the benefit of young people? (2017)

The ‘monster’ on our doorstep: Media coverage of Josef Mengele in his home town of Günzburg (2016)

“The Bookholzberg is a sandy hill.” The invention of the Bookholzberg as a place of worship, 1909–1939 (2015)

A homeland worth defending or a place of traitors? Patterns of interpretation regarding the relationship between the front and the homeland in German army newspapers during the First World War (2015)

“It looked as though the world were coming to an end.” Interpretations of the end of the war in 1945 in school essays (2015)

The Rise of the NSDAP in the Free State of Oldenburg as Reflected in the Regional Daily Press in 1931 and 1932 (2015)

“Genetically Inferior” – Continuity of eugenic thinking within the Oldenburg judiciary between the Nazi era and the early Federal Republic (2015)

Refugee Flight and Integration: The Case of Dalum (2015)

Happiness in marriage: “entirely a matter of chance”? Concepts of marriage and their portrayal in selected film adaptations, using the example of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” from 1940 and 2005 (2015)

The use of Wilhelmine-era youth literature in contemporary history lessons. An analysis of selected novels (2014)

Must they be exhibited? The status and significance of non-existent objects in exhibitions at memorial sites (2014)

Service provider or actor? The contribution of cultural-historical museums to Germany’s reappraisal of the Nazi era (2014)

Understanding – Comprehending – Getting to grips with. On the production of embodied knowledge in children’s museums (2013)

Stylised – Sterilised: Are sterilisation processes a reflection of the Nazi ideal of masculinity? (2013)

On the Invention of the Early Middle Ages. The Reception of the Early Middle Ages in 19th-Century Legal and Constitutional History (2013)

The Development and (De-)Construction of Masculine and Feminine Role Models in Heavy Metal (2013)

9 November in the history of remembrance in the Federal Republic of Germany (2013)

From the ‘Aktion Brandt’ Special Hospital Facility to the DP Hospital. Change and Continuity in a Hospital, 1944–1949 (2013)

Dingley Hall. ‘... typical and extraordinary at the same time!’ (2012)

Berlin cabaret during the Weimar Republic (2012)

The other part of the collection. The display storage facility as an interface between museum conservation and exhibition (2012)

Germany’s favourite child? The rise and fall of the West German automotive aura before and after the 1973–74 oil price crisis (2011)

Oldenburg 1848: Reform or Revolution? (2011)

A Journey Towards Freedom, Modernity and Independence? German Governesses in England as Reflected in Biographical Accounts (2011)

The Presentation of the Topic ‘Industrial Revolution’ in Two History Textbooks for Secondary School (Years 7/8) – A Critical Analysis (2011)

Anti-democratic agitation in the satirical and political press of the Weimar Republic. The smear campaign by the ‘Kladderadatsch’ against Matthias Erzberger (2010)

The involvement of Lower Saxony’s psychiatric services in the Nazi ‘euthanasia’ programme (2009)

Supervised bachelor’s theses as a second examiner:

The denazification and reorganisation of the school system in West Germany after the Second World War (2024)

‘And why all this carnage?’ Competence-based history teaching through field post letters? (2023)

Between ‘hypermorality’ and ‘incorrigible forefathers’ – a local historical-cultural conflict with potential for history teaching? (2023)

“TheTurks are coming, save yourselves!”An investigation into the memory of the 1961 German–Turkish labour recruitment agreement, using articles from *Der Spiegel* as examples (2023)

Bremen Cathedral and its treasures: altar silver and bishop’s vestments. A spatial analysis of the exhibition of sacred artefacts in a sacred space (2023)

Racism in schools. School textbooks under National Socialism, 1933–1945 (2023)

segu under scrutiny – A historical-didactic comparison with the ‘denkmal Geschichte und segu’ school textbook (2022)

Comparative analysis and reflection on descriptive texts in current Lower Saxony school history textbooks (2022)

27 January in upper secondary school history textbooks – an exemplary analysis (2022)

The bilingual history textbook – the epitome of intercultural learning in history lessons? An analysis of the history textbook ‘Geschichte und Geschehen Bilingual – 20th century’ (2022)

Telling history digitally – To what extent can digital storytelling in history lessons promote digital and subject-specific skills? (2022)

Forced labour at Krupp during the Nazi era – on the role of Alfried Krupp and Berthold Beitz (2022)

Perceptions of Bismarck in the Weimar Republic (2021)

To what extent can the educational approaches developed during the Weimar Republic be described as a fresh start for the German education system? (2021)

Life under repression. Homosexuals as victims of Nazism in Oldenburg (2021)

The Oldenburg Gambling Trials – The court cases of 1903 as reflected in local newspapers (2021)

In the Name of Science? ‘Euthanasia’ Crimes under the Guise of Research: The Case of Hans Heinze (2021)

Almuth Kögel-Willms and her contribution to resolving the housing shortage in Rastede within the historical context of the Second World War (2021)

“Now the West must act!” – Coverage of the construction of the Berlin Wall in Western print media (2021)

The use of images in school history textbooks: are methodology pages a useful aid? (2021)

Social identity through engagement with colonialism? Opportunities for identification in school history textbooks (2021)

“What the SA men achieved in the early years, through their own efforts and initiative and despite the greatest hardships, is almost impossible to put into words”: An analysis of the exhibition at the Esterwegen Memorial with regard to the portrayal of the perpetrators (2021)

The potential of museums’ online resources for historical learning. An exemplary analysis of a virtual museum tour (2020)

The portrayal of the Nazi ‘euthanasia’ murders in current school textbooks. An analysis with particular regard to the categories of multi-perspectivity and contemporary relevance (2020)

Oskar Brüsewitz’s self-immolation in 1976 and its reception in the media (2020)

Developing historical competences according to the FUER competence model using the historical feature film ‘Anne Frank: The Whole Story’ (2020)

Nazis as heroes of the present day? A history-didactic analysis of the graphic novel ‘20 July 1944: Biography of a Day’ (2020)

Doping in GDR sport. Structures, practice and key figures (2020)

Voluntary duty? Reserve Battalion 101: between duty, voluntarism and a sense of responsibility (2020)

Between fact and fiction – The potential of historical youth literature to promote historical awareness, based on the novel “Beyond the Blue Border” (2020)

Historical Narrative in Feature Films. Deconstructing the Narrative Structure in Christopher Nolan’s ‘Dunkirk’ with a View to History Education (2019)

From East to West. The German-German prisoner exchange, illustrated by the example of selected political prisoners in the 1970s (2019)

‘The granary is full, your lordships!’ Authentic narrative style in historical computer games, using ‘Stronghold’ as an example (2019)

The changing image of Erwin Rommel: from the post-war period to the present day (2019)

Nursing and ideology: A comparative study of the ‘Nursing Textbook’ between 1928 and 1946 (2019)

Learning from propaganda? A historical-didactic analysis of Nazi propaganda with particular regard to its relevance to the present and the future (2019)

The School Textbook as a Seismograph of Historical Reconciliation – The Depiction of the German Colonial Period from 1884 to 1914 in Namibian and Lower Saxony School Textbooks (2018)

The Limits of Nazi Ideology: Jewish Cattle Dealers and Hereditary Farmers in the Years 1933–1939 (2018)

‘The portrayal of the soldierly “hero” in Ernst Jünger’s diaries and his novel *In Stahlgewittern*’ (2018)

From Putten to Engerhafe. The system of satellite concentration camps in Aurich in 1944 (2018)

How did social reformers in the late 19th century portray the working class? A German–English comparison (2018)

‘We are just as guilty as they are.’ The post-war drama ‘Ehe im Schatten’ as an attempt at artistic and intellectual coming to terms with the past (2018)

Telling stories. ‘Naked Among Wolves’ as part of the GDR’s legitimisation (2018)

The letters of Inge Christina Petersen: On the construction of identity of a Föhr sailor’s wife in her everyday world (1831–1835) (2017)

Life under surveillance. The significance of the ‘Stasi’ for biographies in the GDR (2017)

Cato Bontjes van Beek – The Life and Rehabilitation of a German Resistance Fighter (2017)

From Sports Partner to Military Asset: On the Human–Horse Relationship in the First Quarter of the 20th Century (2017)

History and Future as Depicted in the *Weichsel-Warthe* Yearbooks 1955–2014 (2016)

‘Hanoverian vs. Trakehner’? A portrait of two breeds – differences in breeding developments in Hanover compared with East Prussia (2016)

‘The Funeral of German Art’?! The ‘Great German Art Exhibition’ and ‘
’ the ‘Degenerate Art’ Exhibition (2016)

Germany From Afar – American reporting on Germany between the World Wars, using the Chicago Tribune as an example (2015)

Friedrich Paffrath – A Figure of His Time. His Dismissal in 1933 and Reinstatement in 1945 to the City Administration (2015)

Activities of the KPD in the National Socialist Free State of Oldenburg. Between abstention, discontent and resistance (2015)

“He who betrays his people shall die.” An analysis of the legal reckoning with Nazi crimes, using the trial for the murder of Willi Rogge as an example (2014)

On the reception of the film *Die Brücke* – generational differences in perception in the late 1950s (2014)

Evolving ideas of resistance. 20 July 1944 in West German speeches (2014)

The cult of the body in Leni Riefenstahl’s Olympic films (2014)

Headline: “Anne Frank”. Reception of the play “The Diary of Anne Frank” in the GDR press (2014)

The GDR Revolution of 1989/1990. A revolution in the sense of Hannah Arendt? (2013)

The ‘Spanish Flu’ of 1918–19 in the Oldenburg region (2013)

“To heal the Germans, to restore them to health, only a German remedy can be found.” The treatment of Jewish doctors in Nazi propaganda in 1933 (2013)

Aspects of German-Israeli relations between 1948 and 1965. Politics, the press and the Eichmann trial (2013)

Reception of the feature film “Jud Süß: A Film Without a Conscience” (2013)

Liberation or Burden for Women? Media Debates on the Pill in the 1960s (2013)

‘Guarantor of the Future’. GDR youth policy under Walter Ulbricht and Erich Honecker (2013)

Racial hygiene within the context of German colonial medicine (2012)

The culture of remembrance surrounding von Galen in Dinklage (2012)

The image and reality of the family in the GDR (2012)

The Eastern Front of the First World War in German Nationalist Fiction of the 1920s and 1930s (2012)

The First World War – a driving force behind the women’s movement in the Oldenburg region? (2012)

Memories of the Hitler Youth in autobiographies: A retrospective examination of one’s individual past in the Hitler Youth from an autobiographical perspective: Subjective reasons, explanations and justifications for past and present behaviour (2012)

The ‘New Woman’ in the 1920s (2012)

Tolerance – Prohibition – Acceptance: On the History of Women’s Football (2012)

Lex Zwickau – Debates on forced sterilisation in Oldenburg (2012)

In the ‘Close Proximity’ of Adolf Hitler (2010)

‘Long Live Holy Germany’ – Resistance to the Nazi regime by the military on 20 July 1944 and at a civilian level, as exemplified by the ‘Kreisau Circle’ (2010)

The Oldenburg press and the “Night of Broken Glass” (2010)

Corporate social measures and old-age provision in the 19th century, using the example of the firm Fried. Krupp Essen-Ruhr (2010)

Field post letters during the First World War. A study of the mood amongst German soldiers in everyday life in the trenches (2009)

Bourgeois patronage in the 19th century: the case of James Simon (2009)

Rape of women by the Red Army after 1945 (2009)

Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach and Berthold Beitz in literature and the contemporary press (2009)

Images of fathers during the Second World War. Correspondence and memories from a child’s perspective (2009)

On the legal status of maids in the 19th century. A comparison of municipal regulations (2009)

‘Headquarters of Terror’ – Imprisoned in Berlin-Hohenschönhausen (2008)

Co-operation between the Ministry for State Security and the RAF. The case of Silke Maier-Witt (2008)

The female teacher as portrayed in the narrative literature of the GDR. On the depiction of female teacher characters, 1950–1968 (2008)

State Examinations examined:

Hitler and Big Business. Was Hitler a puppet of big business? (2017)

Leisure under Fascism. A comparison of Germany and Italy (2011)

Women and Freemasonry: Was there a consistent ban on women in Freemasonry? (2009)

Conference for History Didactics. Association of History Didactics in Germany (Verband der Geschichtsdidaktikerinnen und Geschichtsdidaktiker Deutschlands e.V.)

Working Group for Applied History/Public History in the Association of Historians in Germany

Working Group on Historical Women's and Gender Studies

ICOM

Juror in the history competition of the Federal President

Friends and Patrons of the Oldenburg City Museum (Chair)

Friends and Sponsors of the Horst Janssen Museum Oldenburg e.V. (Member of the Board)

Oldenburg Museum Society e.V.