Changing Views of Twentieth-Century German History at A/AS and GCSE Level
Submitting Institution
Sheffield Hallam UniversityUnit of Assessment
HistorySummary Impact Type
SocietalResearch Subject Area(s)
Language, Communication and Culture: Cultural Studies
History and Archaeology: Historical Studies
Summary of the impact
This case study presents the impact of two book chapters, one book and an
extended journal article written by Professor Matthew Stibbe on related
aspects of gender relations, mobilisation for war, and wartime captivity
in twentieth-century Germany. The Weimar and Nazi periods continue to be
extremely popular subjects at all levels of the education system. Through
sixth-form master classes, A/AS-level and GCSE day conferences, and a
magazine article aimed at sixth-formers and their teachers, Stibbe has
used his research findings and profile to influence the way that modern
German history is understood by school students, taught by school
teachers, and presented to school audiences by professional actors,
examiners and textbook writers.
Underpinning research
Stibbe is an internationally recognised expert on twentieth-century
German history. He was employed by Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) in
2003 as a Lecturer, and has since been promoted to Senior Lecturer (2004),
Reader (2007) and Professor (2010); all underpinning research was
undertaken at SHU by Stibbe.
Since 2004 Stibbe has been engaged in a programme of original research on
the treatment of POWs and civilian internees in twentieth-century
conflicts. References 1-2 represent one strand of this, the relationship
between gender, wartime captivity and peace-making or `cultural
demobilisation' after war. Reference 1 exposes the uneven reintegration of
former POWs into German society in the 1920s, and the expectation that
women, as wives and mothers, should `heal' men's suffering. The previously
little-known work of the Swedish Red Cross nurse and philanthropist Elsa
Brändström, who founded convalescent homes for ex-prisoners and their
families, is a key aspect of this story. Reference 2 examines both women's
and men's experiences of civilian internment and brings to light its
marked impact on their status as citizens and national subjects during and
after the war. In particular, it reveals that men who had spent the war in
captivity found it hard to regain their sense of masculine self-worth.
In addition, Stibbe undertook research to produce a broader thematic book
(Reference 3) which reshapes conventional understandings of the failure of
the Weimar Republic, particularly through focusing on the legacies of
wartime violence. By beginning the study in 1914 rather than 1918, Stibbe
gives a longer-term perspective highlighting the very deep and contested
impact of the First World War on all areas of German life, especially on
class, culture and gender relations. In particular, he draws attention to
the difficulties faced by successive Weimar governments in incorporating
all ex-soldiers and relatives of the dead and injured into official
commemorations of the war, including over one million ex-POWs and their
dependants. He also shows that the war became an even more divisive
subject in late 1920s Germany than it had been in the earlier part of that
decade, as financial constraints led state authorities to discriminate
quite openly between different categories of war victim, and as veterans'
groups failed to agree on a unified form of national remembrance.
Finally, Stibbe's 2012 peer-reviewed journal article, `In and Beyond the
Racial State' (Reference 4), offers a critical discussion of recent work
on gender and National Socialism. In particular it draws out new insights
which a gendered approach sheds on established themes such as mobilisation
for war and genocide, the links between home front and fighting front, and
the formation of memory after 1945. It also engages with the construction
of masculinities and femininities in the context of work and leisure,
wartime travel and military service overseas, and post-war captivity and
family reunions. Instances of `militarised comradeship' between men and
women - a phenomenon almost wholly ignored in previous literature - are
interrogated and their gendered meanings explored. The article concludes
by calling for a new social history of experience in the Third Reich based
on the study of personal forms of communication, such as diaries, letters
and conversations with peers. These sources can be used to uncover
previously hidden understandings and subjective, everyday re-workings of
Nazified terms like `honour', `performance', `heroism' and `struggle'.
References to the research
1. `Elsa Brändström and the Reintegration of Returning Prisoners of War
in Post-War Germany and Austria', in Ingrid Sharp and Matthew Stibbe
(eds.), Aftermaths of War: Women's Movements and Female Activists,
1918-1923 (Leiden: Brill, 2011), pp. 333-53. The output can be
supplied by the HEI on request.
(This peer-reviewed book chapter was praised in a review in H-Soz-u-Kult
by Laurie Cohen for its `nuanced reading' of the campaigner Elsa
Brändström and for its `admirable uncover[ing of] a speech in 1922 that
reveals [her] view of gendered social cohesion' - see http://hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/rezensionen/2012-2-183).
2. `Gendered Experiences of Civilian Internment during the First World
War: A Forgotten Dimension of Wartime Violence', in Ana Carden-Coyne
(ed.), Gender and Conflict since 1914: Historical and
Interdisciplinary Perspectives (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan,
2012), pp. 14- 28. The output can be supplied by the HEI on request.
(The readers' reports on this essay were so positive that the editor and
publisher decided to reposition it from Chapter 8 to Chapter 1 and use it
as the flagship sample contribution. See http://www.palgrave.com/PDFs/9780230280953.pdf.
A review of the volume by Juliette Pattinson in Women's History Review
in 2013 also notes that Stibbe's chapter `utilises documents in Austrian
and German archives' to produce new `insights... about the emasculation of
male prisoners and the destabilisation of captive women's roles' - see http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09612025.2013.764667).
3. Germany, 1914-1933: Politics, Society and Culture (Harlow:
Longman/Pearson, 2010)
(This 258-page book has been lauded by Monica Black in European
History Quarterly, 42/2 (2012), pp. 370-2, as a work which `shift[s]
the focus' away from standard narratives of World War I and of Weimar's
demise. Another reviewer, Thomas J. Saunders, writes in German Studies
Review, 35/1 (2012), pp. 174-5, that: `the author's recognized
expertise on this period and the relative expansiveness of treatment yield
an impressive synthesis of key developments and historiographical
reflection'). The output can be supplied by the HEI on request.
4. `In and Beyond the Racial State: Gender and National Socialism,
1933-1955', Politics, Religion & Ideology, 13/2 (June 2012),
pp. 159-78, DOI: 10.1080/21567689.2012.675712
(One of the readers' reports for this refereed journal article noted:
`This is a richly-textured historiographical review of the scholarship on
gender issues in Nazi Germany. It is clearly written by someone who is
well versed in the field').
Details of the impact
Through a variety of events listed below, groups of students, as well as
teachers and actors involved in delivering theatre-based events for
schools, have been provided with up-to-date knowledge and fresh
perspectives on established themes in GCSE and A/AS-level history. This
has challenged some of their preconceived ideas about Weimar and Nazi
Germany. It has also given them insights into what historical research is
today, how and why it produces new knowledge, and the processes by which
that new knowledge is turned into new interpretations of the past. In
other words, it has furthered their comprehension of history as an
academic discipline as well as their understanding of `Germany' as a
topic.
Since 2008 Stibbe has expanded his impact activities from local to
regional to national reach, incorporating insights from his new research
and publications. This upward trajectory of impact can be traced in the
following list of beneficiaries.
1. A-level students at Barnsley Sixth Form College
The impact here built on contacts established by Stibbe over a six-year
period (2004-2010) when he held annual sixth-form master classes at
Sheffield Hallam University on women in Nazi Germany as part of the
government's Aim Higher initiative. In March 2012 and February 2013 master
classes with new content were delivered to c.35 A-level students from
Barnsley Sixth Form College. They comprised a lecture and seminar on the
theme of the legacy of World War I for Weimar Germany. The class involved
use of primary sources from Stibbe's research on gender and the
reintegration of former POWs (References 1-2), including the
above-mentioned speech in 1922 by Elsa Brändström (see section 3), in
order to provide new ways of thinking about the divided memory of the war
in the 1920s and early 1930s. Interviewed by one of the education
specialists at Sheffield Hallam University on 11 March 2013, the lead
history teacher at Barnsley Sixth Form College stated that the master
classes had given her `more confidence in teaching the subject' and
had helped her and her students to see the link between original research
into specific areas such as returning POWs and the development of new
interpretations of Weimar Germany more generally (Source 1).
2. A-level teachers at the National History Teachers' Conference,
Keele
A lecture and follow-up question-and-answer session on recent developments
in historiography on Nazi Germany were delivered to two separate groups of
A-level teachers (around 25 in each group) as part of a conference
organised by Tristram Hunt MP in conjunction with Keele University in
November 2012. They provided Stibbe with the opportunity to showcase new
themes based on Reference 4, particularly with regard to gendered
approaches to National Socialism. The lead organiser of the conference
wrote to Stibbe afterwards thanking him for his contribution and adding: `Your
sessions on the Nazis were well received with 84% of the delegates in
the morning and 87% of the delegates in the afternoon stating that it
was valuable or very valuable' (Source 2). One teacher commented in
direct written feedback to Stibbe: `I appreciate the historiography you
provided. You have re-engaged me with the subject'.
3. Sixth-form students and their teachers
Publication of Stibbe's article `The Legacy of the First World War for the
Weimar Republic', in the sixth-form magazine New Perspective, 18/2
(December 2012), pp. 13-16. This piece draws on References 1 and 3 in
order to demonstrate how the under-explored theme of returning POWs can be
used to provide a more multi-dimensional understanding of the impact of
the war, thereby encouraging students to move beyond a narrow focus on the
supposed `injustices' of the Treaty of Versailles in their coursework and
exam answers. According to an email from the magazine's editor: `Most
purchasers are in the UK and are schools and colleges that teach AS- and
A-Level'. It is especially suited to the sixth-form style of
teaching (Source 3). There are purchasers from all continents, excluding
South America. The journal is available in print and by electronic
edition, online at www.ehistory.org.uk').
4. A- and AS- level students from the North-West and Yorkshire regions
Using material from Reference 4, a lecture was delivered to around 180 A-
and AS-level students at Manchester Central Hall in December 2012 on the
theme: `Were women as well as men included in the Nazi `national
community?'. The lecture drew on examples of `militarised comradeship'
between the sexes as a way of challenging the idea that war in the Third
Reich was necessarily imagined and experienced in fundamentally separate
ways by men and women. This event was organised by Sovereign Education. Of
the 90 students surveyed, 76% agreed or strongly agreed with the
statement: `this lecture has shown me that an understanding of gender
history can help challenge existing interpretations of the past' (Source
6).
5. GCSE students, school teachers and examiners, and professional
actors
In March 2013 Stibbe made a major contribution to Germany Live!, a
national conference-come- theatre show in the Adelphi Theatre, London put
on by Keynote Educational Ltd., one of the leading providers of training
courses for teachers and conferences for students. This event was attended
by 1,350 GCSE students and 125 teachers representing 43 schools from
England including London, Kent, Surrey, Berkshire, Hampshire,
Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire,
Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, the West Midlands,
Hereford, Torquay and Carlisle (Source 8). The event covered German
history in the period 1918 to 1945. Prior to the show, Stibbe took part in
ten hours of rehearsals, helping to advise actors, narrators and GCSE
examiners on particular scenes as well as refining his own visual and
written material (Source 4). On the day of the show, Stibbe had walk-on
parts in Acts I, III and IV, delivering detailed explanations of the
legacy of the First World War for Weimar Germany (References 1 and 3);
mass organisations in the Third Reich (Reference 4); and the role of women
in Nazi Germany (Reference 4). These spoken sessions were combined with
information packs, visual material and imaginative scenes created by the
actors. The show was captured on a DVD made courtesy of Keynote
Educational Ltd. Of the 87 students surveyed, 69% agreed or strongly
agreed that `the event has given me a greater understanding of the role of
women in Nazi Germany', while 54% agreed or strongly agreed with the
statement: `This event has given me greater understanding of how ex-POWs
were treated in post-war German society'. One student commented: `The
role plays were very entertaining and I think the [information] pack
will be useful for me' (Source 7). The chief narrator of the show,
himself an experienced history education consultant, wrote in a
testimonial afterwards that `Professor Stibbe's sessions... were
well-judged, thorough and appropriate for the age group... Stibbe
committed himself fully to the whole venture, discussing with and making
suggestions for the contributions of the other participants in a
collaborative way' (Source 5). He also continued: `At the same
time as the "Germany Live" event was being prepared I was in the latter
stages of writing an A Level textbook... [for a] leading history
education publisher. Professor Stibbe's contributions to the development
of "Germany Live" enabled me to improve the approach I was taking,
particularly in the chapter on the Volksgemeinschaft. Professor
Stibbe also made available to me the article "In and Beyond the Racial
State" [Reference 4] which was particularly useful' (Source
5).
Sources to corroborate the impact
Corroborating contacts:
- The lead history teacher at Barnsley Sixth Form College
- The PGCE Director of Partnerships/History Course Leader, Keele
University
- The editor of New Perspective magazine
- The productions coordinator at Keynote Educational Ltd., Wilmslow,
Cheshire
Individuals who have already provided a statement:
- Testimonial from an experienced history education consultant who was
chief narrator of the Germany Live! show regarding Stibbe's
input into this event. The author of the testimonial is also a former
director of the Schools History Project, Deputy-President elect of the
Historical Association, GCSE chief examiner and a school textbook writer
Other sources
- Questionnaires filled out by 90 students at the Manchester Central
Hall event
- Questionnaires completed by students at the Germany Live!
event at the Adelphi Theatre, London
- List of the 43 schools who attended the Germany Live! show at
the Adelphi Theatre, from London, Kent, Surrey, Berkshire, Hampshire,
Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire,
Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, the West Midlands,
Hereford, Torquay and Carlisle
Items 5, 6 and 7 and 8 are in Stibbe's possession and are available on
request from the University.