EVERYDAY LIFE
IN GERMAN–OCCUPIED EUROPE
The next webinar of the European Holocaust Research Infastructure (EHRI) will be dedicated to a online portal “Societies under German Occupation A source edition”. It will start at 3 pm CET on Zoom.
EHRI
World War II occupation is a central part of Europe’s dark heritage. This online source edition documents the impact of this occupation on the everyday lives of millions of Europeans. Aimed both at academic researchers and students, it presents more than 600 sources from all the European countries occupied by Nazi Germany between 1939 and 1945.
These sources have been researched, transcribed and annotated by leading international experts from all of the European countries occupied during the war, as well as from the Federal Republic of Germany, and they have been taken from 92 archives, museums and other institutions, following carefully planned criteria.
Originally written in 21 different languages, they have been translated into English by professional translators. Each source is presented in three versions: in an English translation, which also provides comprehensive annotation; as a transcript in the original language, which allows for full-text access to the source in its original form; and as a high-resolution scan of the original document. Interactive modules such as an advanced document search, map, timeline and virtual workspace also open up
a wider range of research possibilities.
The portal also underscores the multi-layered persecution experienced by the Jewish population: not only did they face the challenges of living in occupied societies, but they also lived in fear of antisemitic persecution and murder shortly after the occupation began.
The portal is designed for a broad audience – for those generally interested in research, academics, pupils, and teachers. The sources are available with an English translation, in their original language transcription and as
a scan of the original document. The digital source edition builds on the print edition, Fighting Hunger. Dealing with Shortage , an international cooperation project published in 2022 and recently awarded by the American Library Association. The digital portal was created in cooperation between the Chair of Modern and Contemporary History at the University of Wuppertal and the Trier Center for Digital Humanities.
Hosts of the webinar:
Tatjana Tönsmeyer (Bergische University Wuppertal) is a Professor of Modern European History at the University of Wuppertal. She is the project leader of both the print edition and the online portal of “Societies under German Occupation – Experiences and Everyday Life in World War”. Her main areas of research are the European History of the twentieth and nineteenth centuries, especially the history of World War II, occupation, National Socialism, and the history of statehood. She is a member of several academic advisory boards, and member of the preparatory group of the NS-documentation centre on World War II and crimes of occupation, to be established in Berlin. Her forthcoming book “Everyday Life under Occupation in Europe, 1939-1945” will be released in 2024.
Laura Eckl (Bergische University Wuppertal) is a research assistant at the Chair of Modern European History at the University of Wuppertal. She has been the project coordinator of the online portal "Societies under German Occupation" since October 2022. In her dissertation project she focuses on the German occupation of the Kharkiv Oblast during the Second World War, in particular on the supply strategies of the occupied society. Her research interests are modern and contemporary European and transnational history of everyday life.
The webinar is free and no registration is required.