缅北禁地

I am a historian of modern (Central) Europe and its global entanglements, with a particular interest in the history of mass media and journalism, the interwar years, Nazism and its aftermath, the cultural history of politics, legal history, historiography, criminal history, German-Jewish history and the history of the GDR.

After having studied history, literature and law in Potsdam, Montpellier and Berlin, I received my doctorate in modern history from Humboldt University Berlin 2006, where I have also started to teach as a teaching assistant. I was appointed lecturer in Modern History at Bielefeld University in the fall of 2006. From 2011-14 I served as the DAAD Francis L. Carsten Lecturer in Modern German History at University College London, School of Slavonic and East European History (UCL-SSEES). Subsequently, I returned to Bielefeld University, where I submitted my habilitation thesis in 2016. I received the venia legendi in early 2017 and was promoted to the position of senior lecturer. In October 2017 I joined 缅北禁地 as professor of European history.

So far, I have published four research monographs, 23 peer-reviewed research articles in leading scientific journals and 28 book chapters on various aspects of modern European history, covering the period from the 19^th to the 21^st century. My academic work has won several prizes and is translated into four languages, among them Polish and Mandarin. I have also edited or co-edited eight collective volumes and special issues, and I am – together with Jennifer V. Evans and Matt Fitzpatrick – a series editor of the Modern German History Series with Bloomsbury Academic Publishing, London. Since 2020, I furthermore serve as an editor of the journal Central European History (CEH).

Roles and Responsibilities at 缅北禁地

Faculty Promotions Committee (2024-2027)

NCL Steering Group Europe (2021-)

Founder and Co-Convenor of the Modern European History Seminar (2018-2025)

External Responsibilities

Peer Review College (since 2020)

Member of the Review Panel of the (NIAS) Member of the Review Panel of the (SNF)

External examiner for PhD students and Habilitation candidates at the University of Edinburgh, Flinder University (Australia) and LMU Munich (Germany)

Peer-Reviewer for Horizon 2020 - MSCA-IF

Previous Roles and Responsibilities

Head of History (2022-2023)

Member of Council at 缅北禁地 (2020-2023)

Postgraduate research selector for history (PGR selector, 2018-2020 and 2021-2022)

Member of Senate at 缅北禁地 (2018-2021)

External examiner for history (UG) at Durham University, 2018-2021

NUCoRe Heritage, Steering Group (2019-2022)

Co-Convenor of the North East Transnational and World History Seminar (NETWORC)

Honours and Awards

Academia Europaea/The Academy of Europe (Member, elected 2024)

Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (2024)

Research Fellowship of the at the (2023-2024)

Nomination for the Teaching Excellence Award from the , Category ‘Outstanding Contribution to Personal Support’ (2021)

Honorary Fellow at Munich (2020)

Senior Visiting Fellow at the , Munich (2020)

Visiting Fellow at the (ZZF), Potsdam (summer 2019)

(shortlisted)

Stavenhagen Guest-Professorship at the , Hebrew University Jerusalem (2018)

DAAD Visiting professorship at the (2016)

Visiting Fellow at the (2015)

BBC History Magazine "Book of the Year" for (2013)

Prize 'Geisteswissenschaften International' for (2010)

Member of the , a research network for excellent young researchers and scholars based at the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts, Duesseldorf (2009-2012)

(2006)

Erhard-Hoepfner-Prize by the Berliner Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft (2003)

Research Grants

from German Ministry of Finance, Fritz Thyssen Stiftung, Stiftung Mercator, German Historical Institute Washington DC, 缅北禁地, UCL, Bielefeld University, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and others

Languages

German, English, French (active)

Spanish, Latin (passive)

Current research project

My current research project ‘Advocates of the Victims’ (NU-018636) is an organisational, political and practice history of the United Restitution Organisation (URO), a Jewish legal aid organization that was founded by German émigré lawyers in London in 1948. It was in many ways a global pioneer in the field of individual reparation and redress, representing over 400.00 clients in many parts of the world until it ceased operations in 2009. This project is funded for three years (9/2024-8/2027) by the German Ministry of Finance and undertaken in cooperation with Sussex University and the Central Archives of the History of the Jewish People (CAHJP).

Latest monograph

My most recent book deals with the Weltbühne journal, one of the leading periodicals of Germany’s political left in the 20^th century, and its long-time editor Hermann Budzislawski. He went into exile in 1933 and emigrated to the United States in 1940. After the war, he returned to occupied Germany and from 1948 acted as the doyen of East German journalism in the GDR, as professor, editor, and politician. is an exemplary case study of key currents in German and transatlantic intellectual history, transcending established political and geographical boundaries. An American edition was published in January 2025 in the with Wisconsin University Press.

Postgraduate and postdoctoral supervision

I welcome proposals from postgraduate students who are interested in topics related to my research and beyond, in particular in the history of modern Europe, media history, the history of crime, historiography and transnational history. Potential applicants for British Academy, Leverhulme, or Marie Curie funding schemes are welcome to approach me to discuss their research plans. I am also very much interested to hear from fellow academics to pursue joint-research projects. Please do not hesitate to get in touch!

Current PhD studens (as lead supervisory or member of supervisory team):

- Chris Law: Defending the Nation or Violating Human Rights? The Autobiographical Memory of Former Border Soldirs of the GDR after 1990 (funded by the , in cooperation with the )

- Rob Granger: Manufacturing Consent: Life Under the Later Franco Regime, 1964-1975 (funded by )

- Michael Walker: The Educational Highway: The Education in the Workers' Educational Association, 1909-1949

- Omar Hamid, The UK and the United Nations Agencies (1979-1997)

- Rebeka Erdelyiova: The Changing Role of Theories of Consciousness in Occult Spaces and Secret Societies in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Britain

- Christian Schemmert: Bis an die Grenzen der Beobachtbarkeit. Ulbrichts Presseforscher, die Entstehung der „sozialistischen Journalistik“ und das Rote Kloster von den Anfängen bis in die 1970er Jahre

Former PhD students:

- Yichi Chen: The History of Changsha During the Sino-Japanese War

- Kerstin Schulte: "Volksgemeinschaft" Behind Barbed Wire: The Internment Camps in the British and American Zones of Occupation and their significance for German postwar society, 1945-1970 (supported by the ).

- Lisa Städtler: Sozialismus der Spaß macht? Die Unterhaltungszeitschrift Das Magazin in der DDR, 1954-1990

- Stephen Freath (career change in 2020): Infanticide in the Coroner's Courts in north east England, 1850-1900

Some background information

So far, I have published four research monographs, edited several collective volumes and special issues, and have authored articles in internationally leading journals, including , , , , and .

studied the relationship between mass media, the judiciary and politics in Germany, France and the United States in the early twentieth century through a comparative historical approach. is a biographical study of the early Nazi activist Horst Wessel, whom, after his violent death in 1930, was elevated into an icon of German youth by the Nazi regime. This book, originally published in German, was also translated into English. Very recently, my third book came out with Yale University press. Entitled , it is the first comprehensive history of the Nazi stormtroopers (SA) that analyses the fate of this paramilitary organization until the end of the Second World War. Against the established historiographical consensus, I argue that the SA did not sink into oblivion after the 'Night of the Long Knives' in 1934, but gained new clout in the second half of the 1930s and even contributed to the extremely violent German warfare and to the Holocaust. Richard J. Evans, reviewing the book for the , called it 'a comprehensive and carefully considered account, which will now be the standard work on the subject. […] Indispensable.' And Taylor Downing wrote in : '[An] excellent new history of the Sturmableilungen. . . a convincing thesis, supported with immense scholarship and research in national, regional, and local archives, providing a rich and detailed history.'

Memberships

At 缅北禁地, I am founder and co-convenor of the . I am also a member of the , of the , the Forum of Human Rights and Social Justice and of the . In addition, I am also a member of: (fellow), , , , Arbeitskreis Gewalt - Geschichte - Gesellschaft and at the .

Office hours in 2024/25, term 2

Wednesday, 9am-12pm. Please drop me an email to arrange for a meeting via zoom.

Undergraduate Teaching

Germany and Central Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries (HIS 2307)

Genocide and Justice in the Twentieth Century: From the Armenian Genocide to the International Criminal Court (HIS 3235)

The Aftermath of War in Europe and Asia, 1945-1956 (HIS 2317)

History and Film: Representing the Past (HIS 2308)

The Writing of History (HIS 3020)

History Lab I (1102)

History Lab II (HIS 1103)

Postgraduate Teaching

Conflict in European History (HIS 8052 and HIS 8053, team-taught)

Practice in History (HIS 8061, team-taught)

MA dissertation module (QV31)

Previous modules taught at 缅北禁地:

Introduction to European History (HIS 1027)

Varieties in European History (HIS 1029)

The History of Modern Germany, 1806 until today (HIS 2241)

Reading History (HIS 3000)

• Articles

  • Siemens D. . Rechtsgeschichte – Legal History 2025, 33, 87-96.
  • Siemens D. . Journal of Contemporary History 2024, 59(2), 370-393.
  • Siemens D. . Historische Zeitschrift 2024, 318(2), 290-322.
  • Brückweh K, Freeland J, Kessler M, Richardson-Little N, Siemens D. . German History 2023, 41(2), 279-296.
  • Siemens D. . Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte 2023, 71(2), 370-433.
  • Siemens D. . Journal of Modern European History 2023, 21(3), 343-360.
  • Ludi R, Siemens D. . The Journal of Modern European History 2023, 21(3), 286-293.
  • Siemens D. . The Path of Memory: the Periodical for Holocaust Education and Teaching 2018, 31, 2-10.
  • Siemens D. . Zeithistorische Forschungen/Studies in Contemporary History 2018, 15(1), 184-192.
  • Siemens D, Wolf G. . Journal of Genocide Research 2017, 19(2), 165-169.
  • Siemens D. . Journal of Genocide Research 2017, 19(2), 191-213.
  • Siemens D. . Journal of Modern European History 2016, 14(4), 548-567.
  • Hedinger D, Siemens D. . Journal of Modern European History 2016, 14(4), 492-499.
  • Siemens D. . Zeithistorische Forschungen/Studies in Contemporary History 2016, 13(1), 172-178.
  • Siemens D. Elusive Security in the GDR: Remigrants from the West at the Faculty of Journalism in Leipzig, 1945-1961. Central Europe 2013, 11(1), 24-45.
  • Schemmert C, Siemens D. Die Leipziger Journalistenaus­bildung in der Ära Ulbricht. Vierteljahrshefte fuer Zeitgeschichte 2013, 61(2), 201-237.
  • Hedinger D, Siemens D. What’s the problem with law in history: An introduction. InterDisciplines: Journal of History and Sociology 2012, 3(2), 6-17.
  • Siemens D. Towards a New Cultural History of Law. InterDisciplines: Journal of History and Sociology 2012, 3(2), 18-45.
  • Siemens D. Antifaschistisches Lehrstück oder „plumpe Hintertreppen­konstruktion“? Der DEFA-Spielfilm DER LUDE (1984) über den Mord an Horst Wessel und die „Klassenjustiz“ der Weimarer Republik. Filmblatt: Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift 2011, 16/17(46/47), 105-117.
  • Siemens D. Politik ist die Fortsetzung des Krieges mit anderen Mittel: Deutungskämpfe um den Ersten Weltkrieg in der politischen Kultur der Zwischenkriegszeit. Geschichte fuer heute 2009, 2, 40-58.
  • Siemens D. Explaining Crime: Berlin Newspapers and the Construction of the Criminal in Weimar Germany. Journal of European Studies 2009, 39(3), 336-352.
  • Siemens D. Konzepte des nationaljüdischen Körpers in der frühen Weimarer Republik. Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft 2008, 56, 30-54.
  • Siemens D. . Archiv für Sozialgeschichte 2007, 47, 639-682.
  • Siemens D. Bielefelder „Christussozialist“ im Straßenkampf: Über die Inszenierung von Horst Wessel zu einem deutschen Helden im Nationalsozialismus. Jahresbericht des Historischen Vereins für die Grafschaft Ravensberg 2007, 92, 167-182.
  • Siemens D. „Vor den Schranken von Moabit“: Zur Kulturgeschichte der Weimarer Strafjustiz. Paragrana: Internationale Zeitschrift für historische Anthropologie 2005, 15, 196-210.
  • Siemens D. „Gegen die Rechtssprechung der Strafgerichte“ - Der Kampf um die Gerichtsreportage als Teilaspekt der Vertrauenskrise der Justiz 1926-1929. Jahrbuch der Berliner Wissenschaftlichen Gesellschaft 2003, 67-76.

• Authored Books

  • Siemens D. . Berlin: Ch. Links Verlag, 2026. In Press.
  • Siemens D. . Madison/Wisconsin, USA: Wisconsin University Press, 2025.
  • Siemens D. . Berlin: Aufbau Verlag, 2022.
  • Siemens D. . Bonn: Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, 2020.
  • Siemens D. . Warsaw: Proszynski Media, 2019.
  • Siemens D. . Munich: Siedler Verlag, 2019.
  • Siemens D. . Dresden: Sächsische Landeszentrale für politische Bildung, 2019.
  • Siemens D. . New Haven: Yale University Press, 2019.
  • Siemens D. The Making of a Nazi Hero: The Murder and Myth of Horst Wessel. London: I.B.Tauris, 2013.
  • Siemens D. Horst Wessel: Tod und Verklaerung eines Nationalsozialisten. Munich: Siedler Verlag, 2009.
  • Siemens D. Metropole und Verbrechen: Die Gerichtsreportage in Berlin, Paris und Chicago, 1919-1933. Stuttgart: Steiner Verlag, 2007.

• Book Chapters

  • Siemens D. . In: Ingo Loose; Christian Rau; Michael Schwartz, ed. Bürgerlichkeit in Diktaturen: Perspektiven auf die Kulturgeschichte europäischer Gesellschaften im 20. Jahrhundert. Berlin: Metropol, 2024, pp.165-184.
  • Siemens D. . In: Dillon C; Wünschmann K, ed. Living the German Revolution of 1918-19: Expectations, Experiences, Responses. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023.
  • Siemens D. . In: Rossol N; Ziemann B, ed. The Oxford Handbook of the Weimar Republic. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022, pp.848.
  • Siemens D. . In: Classen C; Saupe A; Wagner H, ed. Echt inszeniert: Historische Authentizität und Medien in der Moderne. Potsdam: ZDBooks, 2022, pp.343-362.
  • Albert G, Siemens D, Wolff F. . In: Albert, G; Siemens, D; Wolff, F, ed. Entbehrung und Erfüllung: Praktiken von Arbeit, Körper und Konsum in der Geschichte moderner Gesellschaften. Bonn: J. H. W. Dietz Nachf, 2021, pp.8-20.
  • Siemens D. . In: Ziemann B; Rossol N, ed. Aufbruch und Abgründe: Das Handbuch der Weimarer Republik. Wiesbaden: WBG Academic, 2021, pp.441-463.
  • Siemens D. . In: Hartmann BJ; Siemens D; Grundmann R, ed. „Was soll aus uns werden?“ Zur Geschichte des Centralvereins deutscher Staatsbürger jüdischen Glaubens im nationalsozialistischen Deutschland. Berlin: Metropol Verlag, 2020, pp.15-43.
  • Siemens D. . In: Koch A; Kubiciel M; Löhnig M, ed. Strafrecht zwischen Novemberrevolution und Weimarer Republik. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2020, pp.21-35.
  • Siemens D. . In: Michael Dreyer and Andreas Braune, ed. Zusammenbruch, Aufbruch, Abbruch? Die Novemberrevolution als Ereignis und Erinnerungsort. Stuttgart: Steiner, 2018, pp.233-246.
  • Siemens D. . In: Buchstein, H; Richter, H, ed. Kultur und Praxis der Wahlen: Eine Geschichte der modernen Demokratie. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag fuer Sozialwissenschaften, 2017, pp.215-236.
  • Siemens D. . In: Johansen A; Knepper P, ed. The Oxford Handbook of the History of Crime and Criminal Justice. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2016, pp.555-572.
  • Siemens D. . In: Metzler G; Schumann D, ed. Geschlechter(un)ordnung und Politik in der Weimarer Republik. Bonn: Dietz, 2016, pp.255-277.
  • Siemens D. . In: Klose, J, ed. Militarisierung von Staat und Gesellschaft in der DDR. Leipzig, Germany: Leipziger Universitätsverlag, 2015, pp.31-46.
  • Siemens D. . In: Steinbacher, S; Wachsmann, N, ed. Die Linke im Visier: Zur Errichtung der Konzentrationslager 1933. Goettingen, Germany: Wallstein, 2014, pp.191-213.
  • Bischoff E, Siemens D. . In: Wetzell R, ed. Crime and Criminal Justice in Modern Germany. New York: Berghahn, 2014, pp.207-225.
  • Siemens D. Prügelpropaganda: Die SA und der nationalsozialistische Mythos vom „Kampf um Berlin“. In: Wildt, M; Kreutzmüller, C, ed. Berlin 1933-1945. Munich: Siedler Verlag, 2013, pp.33-48.
  • Siemens D. Gewalt, Gemeinschaft, Inszenierung: Zur Geschichte der Sturmabteilung (SA) der NSDAP. In: Becker, S; Studt, C, ed. „Und sie werden nicht mehr frei ihr ganzes Leben“ – Funktion und Stellenwert der NSDAP, ihrer Gliederungen und angeschlossenen Verbände im „Dritten Reich“. Muenster: Lit, 2013, pp.49-68.
  • Siemens D. Dem SA-Mann auf der Spur: Nationalsozialistische Erinnerungspolitik im Berlin der 1930er Jahre. In: Hördler, S, ed. SA-Terror als Herrschaftssicherung: „Köpenicker Blutwoche“ und öffentliche Gewalt im Nationalsozialismus. Berlin: Metropol, 2013, pp.147-163.
  • Siemens D. Vermessen(d)e Verbrecherjagd: Zur Geschichte der biometrischen Identifizierungs­techniken in der Kriminalistik seit dem 19. Jahrhun­dert. In: Hartmann, B; Siemens, D; Vosgerau, G, ed. Biometrie – Sicherheit für den gläsernen Menschen?. Paderborn: Schoeningh, 2012, pp.43-78.
  • Siemens D. The “True Worship of Life”: Changing Notions of Happiness, Morality and Religion in the United States, 1890 – 1940. In: Welskopp, T; Lessoff, A, ed. Fractured Modernity – America Confronts Modern Times, 1890s to 1940s. Munich: Oldenbourg, 2012, pp.43-60.
  • Siemens D. Das Narrativ der Krise in der deutschen Geschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts. In: Zwierlein, C, ed. Sicherheit und Krise: Interdisziplinäre Beiträge der Forschungstage 2009 und 2010 des Jungen Kollegs der Nordrhein-Westfälischen Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Künste. Paderborn: Schoeningh, 2012, pp.63-82.
  • Siemens D. Von der bleiernen Nachkriegszeit zur Modernisierung im Wiederaufbau? Das gegenwärtige Bild der frühen Bundesrepublik in der Geschichtswissenschaft. In: Lorenz, M; Pirro, M, ed. Wendejahr 1959? Die literarische Inszenierung von Kontinuitäten und Brüchen in gesellschaftlichen und kulturellen Kontexten der 1950er Jahre. Bielefeld: Aisthesis, 2011, pp.23-43.
  • Siemens D. Kühle Romantiker: Zum Geschichtsverständnis der „jungen Generation“ in der Weimarer Republik. In: Baumeister, M; Föllmer, M; Müller, P, ed. Die Kunst der Geschichte: Historiographie, Ästhetik, Erzählung. Goettingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2009, pp.189-214.
  • Siemens D. „Wahre Tugend mit Beefsteaks unvereinbar“: Diskurse um Ethik und Ästhetik im deutschen Vegetarismus, 1880-1940. In: Elberfeld, J; Otto, M, ed. Das schöne Selbst: Zur Genealogie des modernen Subjekts zwischen Ethik und Ästhetik. Bielefeld: transcript, 2009, pp.133-168.
  • Siemens D. Forschung am lebenden Objekt: Kriminologie und Expertenwissen in Chicago zwischen 1900 und 1930. In: Kesper-Biermann, S; Kästner, A, ed. Experten und Expertenwissen in der Strafjustiz von der Frühen Neuzeit bis zur Moderne. Leipzig: Meine, 2008, pp.43-56.
  • Siemens D. „Vom Leben getötet“: Die Gerichtsreportage in der liberaldemokratischen Presse im Berlin der 1920er Jahre. In: Hardtwig, W, ed. Ordnungen in der Krise: Zur politischen Kulturgeschichte Deutschlands 1900-1933. Munich: Oldenbourg, 2007, pp.327-354.
  • Siemens D. Sensationsprozesse: Die Gerichtsreportage der Zwischenkriegszeit in Berlin und Chicago. In: Bösch, F; Borutta, M, ed. Die Massen bewegen: Medien und Emotion. Zur Geschichte ihrer Beziehungen in der Moderne. Frankfurt am Main: Campus, 2006, pp.142-171.
  • Siemens D. Die „Vertrauenskrise“ der Justiz in der Weimarer Republik. In: Föllmer, M; Graf, R, ed. Die „Krise“ der Weimarer Republik: Zur Kritik eines Deutungsmusters. Frankfurt am Main: Campus, 2005, pp.139-163.

• Edited Books

  • Albert G, Siemens D, Wolff F, ed. . Bonn: J. H. W. Dietz Nachf, 2021.
  • Hartmann BJ, Siemens D, Grundmann R, ed. . Berlin: Metropol Verlag, 2020.
  • Hartmann B, Siemens D, Vosgerau G, ed. Biometrie - Sicherheit fuer den glaesernen Menschen?. Paderborn: Schoeningh, 2012.
  • Gailus M, Siemens D, ed. "Hass und Begeisterung bilden Spalier": Horst Wessels politische Autobiographie. Berlin: Bebra Verlag, 2011.

• Reviews

  • Siemens D. . Journal of the History of Sexuality 2017, 26(3), 523-526.
  • Siemens D. Review of Sven Felix Kellerhoff, Die NSDAP. Geschichte fuer heute 2017. Submitted.
  • Siemens D. . Beitraege zur Geschichte des Nationalsozialismus 2017, 33, 258-261.
  • Siemens D. . German History 2017, 35(3), 468-470.
  • Siemens D. . H-Soz-Kult 2017.