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An Exploration of Global German History

By José Guzmán

German History has entered the Global Turn! The emergence of a Global German History in the last 20 years calls for examination to see the development of new avenues in the field of Global History. The connections and new perspectives that have flourished inside the discipline are posing innovative challenges that move this school of thought forward. This begs the question, what topics and new approaches does a Global History of Germany bring to the table? One of the ways of going about a project like this is to look at the literature of Global History journals and books that plainly state that they are creating an entry in the historiography of Global German History. Therefore, this essay will explore books as David Blackbourn’s Germany in the World and Glenn Penny’s Germany Unbound, which tackle Global German History.

Furthermore, books such as Lena Rudeck’s Vergnügen in Besatzungszeiten and Ezra Özyürek’s Subcontractors of Guilt: Holocaust Memory and Muslim Belonging in Postwar Germany add intersectional approaches of non-global historians to Global German History. In addition, I examine articles in the Journal of Global History at University of Cambridge to explore the question of what it means to write Global History with Germany in mind. Finally, looking at what young and new scholars are researching and contributing to the debate is an important step in widening the scope for historiographical debate. Therefore, the Student Journal of Global History at Freie Universität Berlin is another valuable source to know how the development of topics in this field is being researched.

The primary objective of this essay is to examine the overlaps in themes and approaches within the historiography of this field. Which are the recurring topics in the minds of historians of Global German History? Many issues, such as identity, globalization, and nationalism, are common to this type of historiography. Therefore, this paper will show the similarities and contrasts that the discipline has to offer and how to move forward with Global German History. In the discussion of what Global German History is, it is crucial to state that this essay mainly focuses on Anglophone publications. This is partly because this paper aims to bridge the gap for many non-German speakers who would want to dive into the vast ocean of Global German History.

The Berlin Wall. Photo by Javier Gonzalez via Pexels.

Books on Global German History

The literature on Global German History is rapidly expanding across the academic world, and some authors stand out notably due to their innovative approaches to the subject. Glenn Penny and David Blackbourn are authors whose recent works, Germany Unbound and Germany in the World, offer compelling examples of Global German History by emphasizing new perspectives and critiques of traditional historiography.

In Germany in the World: 1500–2000, Blackbourn seeks to position German history within a broader global context. As he states in the introduction, “Think of it as a new German history for a global age, a history that we very much need.”[1] Blackbourn’s work spans five centuries and focuses on how Germans interacted with the world and viewed themselves concerning various historical events. A key concept in his book is “playing with scales,”[2] which allows him to examine German history from global and local perspectives. For example, Blackbourn highlights the role of Germans in producing raw materials for European colonization, focusing on how the city of Nuremberg became a crucial hub for these exchanges. This approach emphasizes that interconnectedness in history should not only be studied at the macro level, such as transatlantic exchanges, but also through local and regional dynamics, revealing hidden connections that might otherwise be overlooked.

Similarly, Glenn Penny, in Germany Unbound, critiques traditional approaches to German historiography by arguing that focusing on the nation-state has not served Germany’s history.[3] He suggests that breaking away from the idea of a singular national identity is crucial to better understand Germany’s past. In particular, Penny criticizes the teleological view of history, such as the Sonderweg thesis, which posits that Germany’s history was inevitably leading to the Third Reich. He writes, “We cannot let the nation-state dictate our histories of the modern era to us…[f]or within an unbound German history, there are characteristics, clues, models, and precedents that can do much to undermine the return of violent, exclusionary nationalism.”[4] Penny’s approach is not just a rejection of national history, but a call to view German history as dynamic and multifaceted, shaped by mobility, cultural exchange, and interaction across borders.[5]

One view Penny has is that German history has been cast into a box of a single identity that leads to a single national understanding of what is to be German, yet in his outlook, what makes the unbounding of German history important, is that German identity is a fluidity of various spatial and cultural diversities that have been forming since before the modern era.[6] Penny counteracts the notion of a stable German territory where Germans would stay in one place. The author argues that Germans were frequently on the move and spread out.[7] His main argument for the notion of a German History in the global sense is that it should focus on mobility rather than an affiliation to a land-bound identity. His reasoning for this is that this conceptualization of a global perspective allows a greater understanding of what it is to be German and the problems and solutions that arise from this new reasoning.

Together, Penny and Blackbourn’s recurring theme is mobility and the idea that German History has much more to offer than what national borders entail. This change of perspective through a change of scale and fluidity breaks the molds of stability and engages readers and researchers to look outside the box and see connections where they might not have found them before.

Cover of: Rudeck, Lena. Vergnügen in Besatzungszeiten: Begegnungen in westallierten Offiziers- und Soldatenclubs in Deutschland, 1945–1955. Bielefeld, Germany: Transcript Verlag, 2023.

Is it Global German History?

While Lena Rudeck’s book may not label itself as a work of Global History, its content delves deep into themes that resonate with global historians. Rudeck’s exploration of officers’ and soldiers’ clubs in postwar Germany (19451955) during the Allied occupation highlights how cultural exchanges between occupiers and the local population forged significant post-war relationships. One of her central arguments is that fraternization in bars and leisure spots fostered new cultural linkages between Allied forces and the Germans, complicating the rigid lines typically drawn between the victors and the defeated.[8] These interactions offer a lens into how cultural dynamics were reshaped during this period.

Moreover, Rudeck broadens the discussion to include gender relations, detailing how interactions between Allied soldiers and German women persisted despite initial prohibitions. Her work also touches on the racial tensions present within these social spaces, particularly regarding segregation in American military clubs, reflecting the broader struggles of race relations within the occupying forces. Rudeck’s analysis of race, gender, and everyday life in post-war Germany provides a nuanced view of how global powers intersected with local society, particularly in cross-cultural exchanges within leisure spaces.[9] Expanding the approach from a pure juxtaposition of the Allies and Germans therefore also relies on the application of intersectionality to understand how deep and complex these types of relationships were. This allows global historians to take a broader approach that expands their assessment of this historical event. One potential critique of Rudeck’s work is that it leans toward a transatlantic approach, focusing primarily on the local interactions between specific actors. However, the broader Cold War context and the global impact of the Allied occupation allow global historians to incorporate these insights into their analyses.

While Rudeck’s work focuses on the immediate post-war period and the interactions between Germans and Allied forces, Esra Özyürek’s Subcontractors of Guilt: Holocaust Memory and Muslim Belonging in Postwar Germany offers an essential perspective on how memory culture in Germany intersects with immigration, the Holocaust, and Islamophobia. The book explores how guilt is shifted and imposed upon immigrant groups, particularly those of Middle Eastern descent. Özyürek critiques the simplistic portrayal of antisemitism, arguing that Germans often view immigrants from the Middle East as inherently more violent and prone to antisemitism. She introduces the “Export-Import Theory” to explain how Germans claim to have overcome their history of antisemitism, only to suggest that Muslim immigrants are reintroducing this prejudice.[10] Yet, as Özyürek points out, most antisemitic crimes in Germany are committed by far-right nationals, challenging the notion that immigrants are the primary source.[11] This work is significant for Global German History, highlighting the shifting narratives of guilt and how historical responsibilities are displaced onto marginalized groups.

Following this argument leads to a problematization of identity in a global context. This involves exploring what migrants endure when coming to a new country, how the host society perceives them, and how they navigate these perceptions. Thus, a Global German History approach must delve deeper into questions of identity and perception, revealing the complex dynamics that have shaped historical narratives and continue to influence contemporary discourse.

What about the articles?

The Cambridge Journal of Global History provides us with a better overview of the issues running through the minds of historians who focus on Global German History. This journal began its publication in 2006 to conceptualize a much more complex analysis of the historiography that enthralled the process of globalization. Its first editorial notes, “The Journal of Global History has the ambition of helping to overcome the fragmentation in historiography while avoiding pitfalls that have emerged in earlier attempts to achieve this goal.”[12] His mission highlights the need for a cohesive understanding of Global History while acknowledging the inherent challenges in systematizing such a broad and interdisciplinary field.

One of the earliest contributions to Global German History within this journal was by Sebastian Conrad in 2008. In the article, Globalization Effects: Mobility and Nation in Imperial Germany, 1880–1914, Conrad argues that nationalism and imperialism are not a contrary concept but share a symbiotic relationship.[13] He utilizes Imperial Germany as an example of the connections between the two concepts of migration and Nationalism. The defining argument that follows is that migration was the primary source for creating nationalism. Conrad explains, “The movement and circulation of people, in other words, proved to be a rather paradoxical process: a truly transnational phenomenon that, at the same time, reinforced national borders and mechanisms of exclusion.”[14] Thus, it was through mobilization that Germany was not only able to establish itself as a colonial powerhouse but also to be able to demonstrate its nationalism through those migratory waves. This argument resonates with the ideas presented by Glenn Penny and David Blackbourn, who emphasize mobility as a driving force in reconceptualizing German history from a global perspective. Here it becomes clear how some themes recur in the historiography of Global German History. This provides a line of thought that runs through the field.

Another example portrayed in this journal is Patrick Bernhard’s Colonial Crossovers: Nazi Germany and its Entanglements with Other Empires. In this text, Bernhard asserts the need to examine fascism, especially German fascism, not as an isolated event but as a phenomenon intertwined with other European regimes. He pushes for a shift from traditional histories of the Nazi regime toward a transnational approach, arguing, “First, it allows us to move beyond questions regarding whether, for example, the Nazis misperceived British or French colonial rule and their associated conceptions of empire.”[15] Therefore, Global German History is presented to incorporate ideological events into a scheme of other surrounding countries and not into a vacuum. For this reason, the articles put entanglements at the forefront of this perspective. By placing Nazi Germany in a broader context of imperial connections, Bernhard emphasizes that Global German History must account for ideological exchanges with other nations rather than viewing events in isolation.

Continuing this exploration of Empires and Fascisms as a must-study field on the transnational and global scale, Reto Hofmann argues for a much deeper dive into how the Axis Powers influenced one another. His arguments lie in that the Axis powers’ development into fascism did not lie in a “sui generis formation because it rested on the bedrock of liberal imperialism.”[16] Hofmann also argues that although Fascism and Imperialism coexisted and worked together, they did not merge into a whole new phenomenon.[17] It is evident that the main argument when it comes to understanding not just German imperialism but this ideology itself is to extrapolate it from the nation’s borders and view how the concept evolves and develops inside and out. Thus, the Global History approach to this subject is the importance of never undermining connections and their effect in the grand scheme of foundational ideologies.

Nonetheless, connections are not the only things that Global History works with. Finally, Hannah Catherine Davies’ essay, “Mingled in an Almost Inextricable Confusion”: The Panics of 1873 and the Experience of Globalization, offers a compelling case for studying financial crises as a lens through which to view global entanglements and their disconnections. In her essay, she elaborates on the financial crisis that enveloped Europe and the US in 1873, in which she compares how the US, Austria, and Germany all had different approaches to what the economic crisis would look like. What makes this article particularly relevant to Global German History is how it addresses both the connections and disconnections during a global financial crisis. For example, the author notes that although the Atlantic was conceived as a source of financial exchange, it was also a barrier to information.[18] Davies also explains “one reason for the confusion engendered by transnational capital flows: the object of investment was situated on the other side of the Atlantic, and information flows lacked transparency.”[19] By highlighting the disruptions and gaps in global networks, Davies provides a broader understanding that the creation of Global History can be based on ruptures.

Together, these examples emphasize the importance of exploring how transnational connections and disconnections shape the narratives of Global History, offering a more nuanced approach to understanding German history in its broader context.

Cover of Global Histories: A Student Journal, Vol. x, Issue 1 (2025).

Let’s read the students.

Knowledge production in any field is complemented by considering the ideas of up-and-coming scholars who bring new histories to the foreground. For this reason, Global Histories: A Student Journal from Freie Universität Berlin constitutes an opportunity to read emerging scholarship. For historical context, the student journal was founded in 2015 in response to the student conference convened by the students of the Global History program of the same university held in April of that year. This project is organized for and by students to “provide a space within which young scholars can exhibit and express their work in dialogue with others.”[20] In their scope and purpose, the journal “[a]ims to offer a platform for debate, discussion and intellectual exchange for a new generation of scholars with diverse research interests.”[21] One of the pillars representing the journal is its mission of not giving a standard definition of Global History but encouraging “collaboration and cooperation among students.”[22] This is of great importance because it allows other students to see what their colleagues are working on and allows them to establish relationships that could garner more input into the field.

So, what topics are on the minds of prospective students of Global German History? Two articles in this journal correspond to different approaches to German Global historiography. Firstly, Sophie Genske’s article on immigration and citizenship explains the complexity and hurdles of what makes a person a German citizen and what makes German identity a global pursuit. Her article Gerson Liebl Makes his Case: Citizenship and (Post-)Colonial Forgetting in Germany, deals with the story of Gerson Liebl, a man whose grandfather was a German officer during German colonization and had a child of mixed race. Although Gerson believed himself to be able to get German citizenship, the German state did not allow this to happen due to its contentious citizenship law, therefore limiting the scope of who belongs to a certain nationality. As seen, the notion of belonging and nationhood is a recurring theme that many historians of Global German History follow, yet what stands out is that it focuses on a case study that lies in contemporary history as well. Therefore, this work also allows seeing Global German History as an active field that can be used in contemporary life.

Another compelling contribution comes from Clara Fechtner, who, in her article East-South Women’s Encounters in the Global History of the Cold War: The Anti-Imperialism of Women’s Activism(s), sheds light on the connections between women involved in revolutionary movements from Europe, particularly Germany, and their counterparts in the Global South. Fechtner focuses on the transnational exchanges between these women, highlighting their roles as leaders in anti-imperialist movements. Her research underscores the significance of women’s activism during the Cold War, offering a nuanced understanding of their contributions to both European and global revolutionary networks.

A crucial aspect of her article is acknowledging the sources with which Global German History is written. In her article, she uses sources from the German Federal Archives, The Feminist Documentation and Information Centre in Berlin, and the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam. Therefore, archival sourcing, in this work, lies primarily on European archival power. Nonetheless, she addresses this issue and goes on to state, “It must be taken into account that it tells the story from the ‘European’ perspective rather than from women in India, Mozambique, or Egypt.”[23] Yet, she believes that it still allows to see the interactions between women from the Global South and how they interact with other members of the movement in European spaces. Although an interesting perspective, this is a glaring problem of Global History regarding the limitations of archival work. Even though sourcing archival material is a concern that arises from any perspective of historiography in relation to Global History, the overarching approach to history leads to this type of problem. Nonetheless, the article does an excellent job of addressing these issues.

Conclusion

As demonstrated throughout this exploration, Global German History is a dynamic field that intersects with various critical themes such as race, identity, mobility, and gender. While significant progress has been made, there remain numerous areas that require deeper investigation and development. The future of this historiographical approach is wide open, inviting further contributions and constructive critiques. Engaging with these new perspectives is essential for enriching our understanding of German history and creating a more comprehensive, nuanced narrative. Therefore, it is vital to continue fostering emerging voices and exploring diverse topics to shape the future direction of this discipline.


Notes

[1] David Blackbourn, Germany in the World: A Global History 15002000 (Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2023), p. 8.

[2] Ibid, p. 10.

[3] Glenn Penny, Germany Unbound, Cambridge University Press, 2022, p. 1.

[4] Ibid, p. 2.

[5] Ibid, p. 7.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Lena Rudeck, Vergnügen in Besatzungszeiten: Begegnungen in Westallierten Offiziers- und Soldatenclubs in Deutschland, 19451955 (Bielefeld, Germany: Transcript Verlag, 2023), pp. 3842.

[9] Ibid, pp. 133142.

[10] Esra Özyürek, Subcontractors of Guilt: Holocaust Memory and Muslim Minority Belonging in Post-War Germany (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2023), p. 82.

[11] Ibid, p. 2.

[12] The Journal of Global History, Cambridge University Press Vol 1 (2006).

[13] Sebastian Conrad, Globalization effects: mobility and nation in Imperial Germany, 1880–1914, The Journal of Global History, Vol 3 (2008), p. 43.

[14] Ibid, p. 47.

[15] Patricht Bernhard, Colonial crossovers: Nazi Germany and its Entanglements with Other Empires, Journal of Global History, Vol 12 (2017), p. 209.

[16] Reto Hofmann, The fascist new-old order, Journal of Global History, Vol. 12 (2017), p. 167.

[17] Ibid, p. 177.

[18] Hannah Catherine Davies, ‘Mingled in an Almost Inextricable Confusion’: the Panics of 1873 and the Experience of Globalization, Journal of Global History Vol 15/02 (2020), p. 293.

[19] Ibid, p. 296.

[20] Global Histories: A Student Journal, Vol.1 (2015) p. vii.

[21] Ibid.

[22] Ibid.

[23] Sophie Genske, “Gerson Liebl Makes His Case: Citizenship and (Post-)Colonial Forgetting in Germany,” Global Histories: A Student Journal 7/2 (2021), p. 51. https://doi.org/10.17169/GHSJ.2021.468


References

Bernhard, Patrick. “Colonial Crossovers: Nazi Germany and Its Entanglements with Other Empires.” Journal of Global History 12, no. 2 (July 2017): 206–27. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1740022817000055.

Blackbourn, David. Germany in the World: A Global History 1500-2000. Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2023.

Conrad, Sebastian. “Globalization Effects: Mobility and Nation in Imperial Germany, 1880–1914.” Journal of Global History 3, no. 1 (March 2008): 43–66. https://doi.org/10.1017/S174002280800243X.

Davies, Hannah Catherine. “‘Mingled in an Almost Inextricable Confusion’: The Panics of 1873 and the Experience of Globalization.” Journal of Global History 15, no. 2 (July 2020): 291–309. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1740022820000054.

Fechtner, Clara. “East-South Women’s Encounters in the Global History of the Cold War: The Anti-Imperialism of Women’s Activism(s).” Global Histories: A Student Journal Vol 6 (January 10, 2021): No 2 (2021): Global histories 6 (2). https://doi.org/10.17169/GHSJ.2021.359.

Genske, Sophie. “Gerson Liebl Makes His Case: Citizenship and (Post-)Colonial Forgetting in Germany.” Global Histories: A Student Journal, January 25, 2022, Vol. 7 No. 2 (2021): Global histories 7 (2). https://doi.org/10.17169/GHSJ.2021.468.

Global Histories: A Student Journal. Vol. 1. 1. Berlin 2015.

Hofmann, Reto. “The Fascist New–Old Order.” Journal of Global History 12, no. 2 (July 2017): 166–83. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1740022817000031.

Kölling, Dennis. “Towards a Global Perspective on Contemporary History. A Critical Literature Review of Recent German Zeitgeschichte.” Global Histories: A Student Journal Vol 3, Issue 1 (2017) https://doi.org/10.17169/GHSJ.2017.84.

Özyürek, Esra. Subcontractors of Guilt: Holocaust Memory and Muslim Minority Belonging in Post-War Germany. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2023.

Penny, H. Glenn. German History Unbound: From 1750 to the Present. 1st ed. Cambridge University Press, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108226943.

Rudeck, Lena. Vergnügen in Besatzungszeiten: Begegnungen in westallierten Offiziers- und Soldatenclubs in Deutschland, 1945–1955. Bielefeld, Germany: Transcript Verlag, 2023.

The Journal of Global History. Vol. 1. 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.


About the Author

José Guzmán is currently a Master’s student in the Global History program at Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. His main academic interests lie in German history and intellectual history. His current MA project explores love letters exchanged between East and West Germany, examining how these letters reflect not only the historical and political realities of a divided society but also offer insight into the emotional nuances of grief, love, longing, and anxiety.


Other Recent Articles in the TRAFO Series New Avenues in Global History

Natalie Tongue, Towards a Global History of War, Disability and Gender, 12.06.2025.

Michel Wong, Clara Mattei, Austerity, and the Soviet Union, 20.05.2025.

Julie Birke, The Making of Modern Austerity: Insights from Clara Mattei’s The Capital Order and its Contributions to Global History, 03.04.2025.


Citation: José Guzmán, An Exploration of Global German History, in: TRAFO – Blog for Transregional Research, 15.07.2025, https://trafo.hypotheses.org/60145

 

 


OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
Forum Transregionale Studien (July 15, 2025). An Exploration of Global German History. TRAFO – Blog for Transregional Research. Retrieved February 17, 2026 from https://doi.org/10.58079/14cct


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