Professor Benjamin Ziemann
M.A. (Freie Univ., Berlin), Ph.D. (Bielefeld), Habilitation (Bochum)
School of History, Philosophy and Digital Humanities
Professor of Modern German History
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+44 114 222 2585
Full contact details
School of History, Philosophy and Digital Humanities
Jessop West
1 Upper Hanover Street
Sheffield
S3 7RA
- Profile
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I gained my PhD at the University of Bielefeld and joined the University of Sheffield in 2005. My research covers a broad range of topics in German history during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and in post-1945 Western European history.
I am one of the internationally leading experts on the history of the Weimar Republic and have edited, with Nadine Rossol, The Oxford Handbook of the Weimar Republic, a benchmark companion on the history of Germany’s first republic. A German edition was published with WBG). I am currently editing, jointly with Thomas Kühne, The Oxford Handbook of Nazi Germany (forthcoming in 2025).
My latest book is my biography of Martin Niemöller (1892-1984), published as Hitler’s Personal Prisoner. The Life of Martin Niemöller with OUP in 2024.
Niemöller was an officer in the Imperial Navy who became a Protestant pastor and figurehead of the Confessing Church during the Third Reich. The book offers the fully researched account of the turbulent life of Niemöller, including his eight years in Sachsenhausen and Dachau Concentration Camps as ‘Hitler’s Personal Prisoner’ from 1938 to 1945 and his tireless campaigning for peace and disarmament in the decades since 1945.
Through the prism of Niemöller’s life, the book offers a reflection on continuities in Germany’s twentieth century history and contested issues such as antisemitism, nationalism, religion, guilt and morality.
I have received numerous grants and fellowships, among others from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the British Academy, the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the Fritz Thyssen Foundation, the Heinrich Böll Foundation, the Gerda Henkel Stiftung, the Volkswagen Foundation and the Ministry for Schools, Science and Research in North Rhine-Westphalia.
I have been a Visiting Professor at the University of Tübingen and a Visiting Scholar at Humboldt-University Berlin, at the University of York, the University of Bielefeld, at Kyoritsu Women’s University in Tokyo, and at the Forum for Contemporary History at the University of Oslo.
My articles have appeared in leading peer-reviewed journals, including Journal of Contemporary History, Contemporary European History, Geschichte und Gesellschaft, German History, Central European History, Historische Zeitschrift and Archiv für Sozialgeschichte.
Parts of my research have been published in other languages than English or German, including French, Spanish, Japanese, Ukrainian, Russian and Serbian.
- Research interests
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I am currently writing a book on the social history of workers and of the labour movement in Germany during the First World War. for publication in a renowned handbook series on German labour history, published with J.H.W. Dietz publishers in Bonn.
A selection of my publications is available in the 'Publications' section below. For a full list please see my pdf List of Publications.
In these two podcasts, I talk about some of my recent research.
Watch: Violence and the German Solider in the Great War. Killing, Dying, Surviving (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2017)
Watch: Understanding the Imaginary War. Culture, thought and nuclear conflict, 1945-90. (Manchester: Manchester UP, 2016)
- Publications
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Show: Featured publications All publications
Featured publications
Books
- The Oxford Handbook of the Weimar Republic. Oxford University Press.
Edited books
- Reading primary sources: The interpretation of texts from nineteenth and twentieth century history..
Journal articles
- Introduction: Peace Movements in Southern Europe during the 1970s and 1980s. Journal of Contemporary History, 56(3), 563-578.
- View this article in WRRO
Chapters
All publications
Books
- The Oxford Handbook of the Weimar Republic. Oxford University Press.
- European Political History 1870–1913. Routledge.
Edited books
- Reading primary sources: The interpretation of texts from nineteenth and twentieth century history..
Journal articles
- Trauma, Religion and Spirituality in Germany during the First World War By Jason Crouthamel. London and New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2021. Pp. xiv + 258. Hardcover $115.00. ISBN: 978-1350083707.. Central European History, 57(1), 104-105.
- La storia della pace. Riflessioni storiografiche e prospettive future. Contemporanea, 25(1), 99-137.
- Sönke Neitzel, Deutsche Krieger. Vom Kaiserreich zur Berliner Republik – eine Militärgeschichte. Berlin, Propyläen 2020. Historische Zeitschrift, 313(2), 542-544.
- Introduction: Peace Movements in Southern Europe during the 1970s and 1980s. Journal of Contemporary History, 56(3), 563-578.
- Richard Walther Darré. Der “Reichsbauernführer”, die nationalsozialistische “Blut und Boden”-Ideologie und Hitlers Machteroberung. German History, 39(2), 319-321.
- Thomas Brodie. German Catholicism at War, 1939–1945; Jeffrey T. Zalar. Reading and Rebellion in Catholic Germany, 1770–1914; Michael E. O’Sullivan. Disruptive Power: Catholic Women, Miracles, and Politics in Modern Germany, 1918–1965.. The American Historical Review, 125(5), 2004-2006.
- View this article in WRRO
- View this article in WRRO
- View this article in WRRO
- Ignaz Miller, 1918 – der Weg zum Frieden. Europa und das Ende des Ersten Weltkriegs, Zürich: NZZ Libro 2019, 459 S., EUR 39,00 [ISBN 978‑3‑03810‑372‑1]. Militaergeschichtliche Zeitschrift, 78(2), 527-529.
- Martin Niemöller als völkisch-nationaler Studentenpolitiker in Münster 1919-1923. Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 67(2), 209-234. View this article in WRRO
- Then They Came for Me: Martin Niemöller, the Pastor Who Defied the Nazis. German History, 37(2), 257-259.
- Jens Oboth. Pax Christi Deutschland im Kalten Krieg 1945-1957. Gründung, Selbstverständnis und “Vergangenheitsbewältigung.” Paderborn: Ferdinand Schöningh, 2017.. Peace & Change, 44(1), 115-118.
- View this article in WRRO
- Ulrich Keller, Schuldfragen. Belgischer Untergrundkrieg und deutsche Vergeltung im August 1914. Mit einem Vorw. von Gerd Krumeich, Paderborn [u. a.]: Schöningh 2017, 435 S., EUR 44,90 [ISBN 978-506-78744-6]. Militaergeschichtliche Zeitschrift, 77(2), 581-584.
- Ambivalente Männlichkeit. Geschlechterbilder und -praktiken in der kaiserlichen Marine am Beispiel von Martin Niemöller. L'Homme. Europäische Zeitschrift für Feministische Geschichtswissenschaft, 29(2), 91-108.
- Larry Eugene Jones, Hitler versus Hindenburg: The 1932 Presidential Elections and the End of the Weimar Republic. Journal of Contemporary History, 53(4), 892-894.
- View this article in WRRO
- Regina Illemann, Katholische Frauenbewegung in Deutschland 1945–1962. Politik, Geschlecht und Religiosität im Katholischen Deutschen Frauenbund. Paderborn/München/Wien, Schöningh 2016. Historische Zeitschrift, 305(3).
- View this article in WRRO
- Max Weber and the Protestant Ethic: Twin Histories. German History, 35(2), 304-309.
- German Intellectuals and the Challenge of Democratic Renewal: Culture and Politics after 1945. By Sean A. Forner.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014. Pp. xii+384. $99.00 (cloth); $79.00 (Adobe e-Book).. The Journal of Modern History, 89(2), 484-485.
- Sacrifice and Rebirth: The Legacy of the Last Habsburg War. Edited by Mark Cornwall and John Paul Newman . Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2016. Pp. viii + 295. Cloth $120.00. ISBN 978-1782388487.. Central European History, 50(2), 279-280.
- Adam Tooze, The Deluge. The Great War and the Remaking of Global Order, 1916–1931, London: Allen Lane 2014, XXIII, 644 S., £ 30.00 [ISBN 978-1-846-14034-1]. Militaergeschichtliche Zeitschrift, 76(1), 317-320.
- View this article in WRRO
- View this article in WRRO
- View this article in WRRO
- The Practical Sociologist: Role and Performance of Pastoral Sociologists in the West German Catholic Church, 1945–1970. Journal of Religion in Europe, 9(2-3), 133-156. View this article in WRRO
- View this article in WRRO
- Peter Keller, »Die Wehrmacht der Deutschen Republik ist die Reichswehr«. Die deutsche Armee 1918–1921, Paderborn [u. a.]: Schöningh 2014, 310 S. (= Krieg in der Geschichte, 82), EUR 39,90 [ISBN 978-3-506-77969-4]. Militaergeschichtliche Zeitschrift, 74(1-2), 311-314.
- Progressive Participation and Transnational Activism in the Catholic Church after Vatican II: The Dutch and West German Examples. Journal of Contemporary History, 50(3), 465-485.
- Collar, P. (2013).The Propaganda War in the Rhineland: Weimar Germany, Race and Occupation after World War I.. Diplomacy & Statecraft, 26(1), 181-183.
- German Pacifism in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. Neue Politische Literatur, 2015(3), 415-437. View this article in WRRO
- Corrigendum. Cold War History, 14(3), 454-454.
- Christian religious practice in Germany and Western Europe, 1900-1960. Kolner Zeitschrift fur Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie, 65(1 SUPPL.), 99-122.
- The Holy Zeitgeist: Studies on the History of Ideas of Protestant Theology in the Weimar Republic. JOURNAL OF MODERN HISTORY, 85(4), 978-980.
- ‘Machtergreifung’. The Nazi Seizure of Power in 1933. Politics, Religion & Ideology, 14(3), 321-337.
- Hans Ansgar Reinhold, Schriften und Briefwechsel – eine Dokumentation. Hrsg. v. Gerhard Besier u. Peter Schmidt-Eppendorf unt. Mitarb. v. Melanie Klughardt u. Ronald Lambrecht. Münster, Aschendorff 2011. Historische Zeitschrift, 296(3), 853.
- 'Republic, which is not much': The Party and Youth in the Crisis of Weimar Socialism. GERMAN HISTORY, 30(4), 616-617.
- Youth in the fatherless land: war pedagogy, nationalism, and authority, 1914–1918. First World War Studies, 3(1), 114-115.
- Do all paths lead to Moscow? The NATO dual-track decision and the peace movement – a critique. Cold War History, 12(1), 1-24.
- Nachrichten aus der Forschung. Militärgeschichtliche Zeitschrift, 70(1), 85-115.
- View this article in WRRO
- Shell Shock Cinema: Weimar Culture and the Wounds of War. GER HIST, 29(2), 328-329.
- Do all roads lead to Moscow? The NATO double-track decision and the peace movement - A critique. Vierteljahrshefte fur Zeitgeschichte, 59(1), 81-100.
- Weimar was Weimar: Politics, Culture and the Emplotment of the German Republic. GER HIST, 28(4), 542-571. View this article in WRRO
- Historische Diskursanalysen: Genealogie, Theorie, Anwendungen * Anthrax: Bioterror as Fact and Fantasy. The English Historical Review, CXXIV(511), 1549-1552.
- View this article in WRRO
- Ludwig Quidde (1858-1941): Eine Biographie- by Karl Holl. Peace & Change, 33(4), 606-609.
- The Code of Protest: Images of Peace in the West German Peace Movements, 1945-1990. CONTEMP EUR HIST, 17(2), 237-261. View this article in WRRO
- End of Weimar Republic: civil war and politics, 1930-1933. ENGL HIST REV, 123(501), 512-514.
- The Theory of Functional Differentiation and the History of Modern Society. Reflections on the Reception of Systems Theory in Recent Historiography. Soziale Systeme, 13(1-2).
- The gospel of psychology: Therapeutic concepts and the scientification of pastoral care in the west German Catholic Church, 1950-1980. CENT EUR HIST, 39(1), 79-106. View this article in WRRO
- Opinion polls and the dynamics of the public sphere: The Catholic Church in the Federal Republic after 1968. German History, 24(4), 562-586.
- Pionier und Außenseiter: Gustav Mayer. Deutsch-jüdischer Historiker des Sozialismus. German History.
- Alltagssorgen und Gemeinschaftssehnsüchte. Tagebücher der Weimarer Republik (1913–1934)Zur Erinnerung: Das Aufschreibebuch des Krupparbeiters Paul Maik. German History.
- Political Violence and Democracy in Western Europe, 1918–1940. French History, crv080-crv080.
Chapters
- Agriculture and Rural Society In Rossol N & Ziemann B (Ed.) (pp. 497-520). Oxford University Press
- Introduction In Rossol N & Ziemann B (Ed.) (pp. xviii-24). Oxford University Press
- The Reichswehr and Armament Policies In Rossol N & Ziemann B (Ed.) (pp. 217-241). Oxford University Press
- Ambivalente Männlichkeit. Geschlechterbilder und -praktiken in der kaiserlichen Marine am Beispiel von Martin Niemöller, 1914/18 – revisited (pp. 91-108). V&R unipress
- Agrarian society, The Cambridge History of the First World War (pp. 382-407). Cambridge University Press
- Engineering Society In Brückweh K, Schumann D, Wetzell RF & Ziemann B (Ed.) Palgrave Macmillan UK
- Catholic Church Reform and Organizations Research in the Netherlands and Germany, 1945–1980, Engineering Society (pp. 293-312). Palgrave Macmillan UK
- View this article in WRRO
- The First World War and National Socialism, A Companion to Nazi Germany (pp. 47-61). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
- Catholic Church Reform and Organizations Research in the Netherlands and Germany, 1945â1980, Engineering Society Palgrave Macmillan
- Reading Primary Sources In Dobson M & Ziemann B (Ed.) Routledge
- Reading Primary Sources Routledge
Book reviews
- Gottfried Niedhart, Pionier und Außenseiter. Gustav Mayer. Deutsch-jüdischer Historiker des Sozialismus. Bonn: J.H.W. Dietz Nachf. 2023. German History, 42(3), 452-454.
- Normalität und Fragilität: Demokratie nach dem Ersten Weltkrieg. German History, 34(3), 494-496.
- Von Städten, Gütern und Dörfern: Kommunale Strukturen in Mecklenburg-Schwerin 1918–1945, by Martin Buchsteiner. The English Historical Review, 131(549), 494-496.
- Vertrauen und Politik im Alltag. Die Arbeiterbewegung in Leipzig und Lyon im Moment der Krise 1929-1933/38. French History, 29(1), 127-128.
- Der Sozialstaat hinter dem Haus. Wirtschaftliche Zukunftserwartungen, Selbstversorgung und regionale Vorbilder: Westfalen und Sudwestdeutschland 1920-1960. German History, 32(2), 326-327.
- Der Weltkrieg als Erzieher: Jugend zwischen Weimarer Republik und Nationalsozialismus. German History, 32(1), 147-149.
- Abschied vom Kalten Krieg? Die Sozialdemokraten und der Nachrüstungsstreit (1977–1987). German History, ghw099-ghw099.
Other
- Research group
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Research supervision
I have supervised Brendan Murphy, who completed his PhD on Killing in the German Army: Organising and Surviving Combat in the Great War and 'Meryn McLaren, who completed her PhD on 'Refugee Camps in the Federal Republic, 1945-1960. Community Building and Integration' in 2009. Benjamin has also acted as external supervisor for Daniel Gerster, who gained his PhD from the European University Institute in Florence in 2011 with a book on changing Catholic discourses on war and peace in the Federal Republic.
Completed Students
- Rory Hanna - Student Protest and Activism in West Germany, 1949-1965: Political Conflict, Academic Citizenship, and the Changing Campus.
- Maria Neumann - Religion in Berlin during the Cold War (external supervisor, Humboldt University Berlin)
- Andrea Schweizer -The Swiss Peace Movement during the 1970s and 1980s (external supervisor, University of Zurich)
- Teaching activities
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Undergraduate
- HST283 - Imperial Germany, 1871-1918
- HST3071/2 - The Weimar Republic: Laboratory of Modernity
Postgraduate
- HST6072 - Voices of the Great War: Gender, Experience and Violence in Great Britain and Germany 1914-1918
- HST6603 - Modernity and Power: Individuals & The State in the Modern World
- Professional activities and memberships
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From 2002 to 2012, I have served as a review editor for peace history and military history for H-Soz-u-Kult, a part of H-Net. From 2011 to 2017, I was one of the editors of the Archiv für Sozialgeschichte.
I am currently serving as one of the editors of the Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft and on the editorial boards of the journals First World War Studies, the Swiss Journal for Religious and Cultural History (Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Religions und Kulturgeschichte) and the Spanish journal Revista Universitaria de Historia Militar.
Administrative roles
Within the department, I have served in various administrative roles, including Exams Officer.
- Public engagement
Public engagement
I am a very experienced public speaker. Over the past 15 years, I have given numerous invited lectures and papers at universities in the UK, eleven other European countries, Japan and the USA.
I have also held many public lectures at various institutions in the UK, Germany and Norway. I am also giving talks to A-level and GSCE students at various schools.
In the media
My biography of Martin Niemöller, published in the autumn of 2019, has sparked extensive interest in the German media. Apart from various reviews in newspapers, I was interviewed for public broadcast radio, including a long interview with Deutschlandfunk, and a shorter one for rbb Kulturradio.
My book is also a crucial reference point in ongoing historical reflections on the course of German history during the Weimar Republic, for instance here.
I have intervened in the ensuing debates on Niemöller’s historical relevance myself, for instance in a widely debated article for the Protestant journal Zeitzeichen, and in a joint interview with the theologian Alf Christophersen, with whom I have edited a manuscript that Niemöller wrote while he was detained in the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp.
This interview was recorded for the science portal of the Gerda Henkel Foundation.