German Historical Institute London Bulletin Volume XXI, No. 2 November 1999 CONTENTS Seminars 3 Annual Lecture 4 Review Articles Major Biographies of Marginal Figures? (Andreas Fahrmeir) 5 Reflections on Writing National History in Germany, 1870-1970 (Georg G. Iggers) 16 The Devil in the Details: The Concentration Camp as Historical Construct (Omer Bartov) 33 Debate Michael Maurer responds to John J. Breuilly 42 Book Reviews Manfred Groten, Köln im 13. Jahrhundert. Gesellschaftlicher Wandel und Verfassungswirklichkeit (Joseph P. Huffman) 47 Michael Rothmann, Die Frankfurter Messen im Mittelalter (Pierre Monnet) 52 Hillay Zmora, State and Nobility in Early Modern Germany: The Knightly Feud in Franconia, 1440-1567 (Christoph Bauer) 57 Peter H. Wilson, German Armies. War and German Politics 1648-1806 (Bernhard Stier) 63 cont. Contents Wolfgang Burgdorf, Reichskonstitution und Nation. Verfassungs- reformprojekte für das Heilige Römische Reich Deutscher Nation im politischen Schrifttum von 1648 bis 1806 (Joachim Whaley) 68 James M. Brophy, Capitalism, Politics, and Railroads in Prussia, 1830-1870 (Volker Then) 74 Hartmut Berghoff, Zwischen Kleinstadt und Weltmarkt. Hohner und die Harmonika, 1857-1961 (J. Adam Tooze) 78 Frank Lothar Kroll, Utopie als Ideologie. Geschichtsdenken und politisches Handeln im Dritten Reich (Peter Lambert) 85 George L. Mosse, The Crisis of German Ideology. Intellectual Origins of the Third Reich (Hans Mommsen) 95 David Williamson, A Most Diplomatic General. The Life of General Lord Robertson of Oakridge (Lothar Kettenacker) 98 Arnd Bauerkämper (ed.), ‘Junkerland in Bauernhand’? Durch- führung, Auswirkungen und Stellenwert der Boden- reform in der Sowjetischen Besatzungszone (Patrick Major) 104 Conference Reports ‘Acquiring the knowledge necessary for advancement in life.’ Prince Albert and the Development of Education in England and Germany in the Nineteenth Century (Andreas Fahrmeir) 113 Flotsam of Revolution: European Exiles in England after 1849 (Sabine Freitag) 118 Noticeboard 125 Library News Recent Acquisitions 128 2 SEMINARS AT THE GHIL AUTUMN 1999 28 Sept. PROFESSOR WINFRIED SCHULZE (Munich) German Historians and National Socialism Winfried Schulze has published widely on the social and political history of early modern Europe. He is also interested in the history of historiography, as is documented by his Deutsche Geschichtswissen- schaft nach 1945 (1989), and, most recently, Deutsche Historiker im Nationalsozialismus (1999, ed. with O.G. Oexle). 2 Nov. PROFESSOR FRANZ-JOSEF BRÜGGEMEIER (Freiburg) Waldsterben: The Construction and Deconstruction of an En- vironmental Problem Franz-Josef Brüggemeier is professor of social and economic history. He has recently published Das unendliche Meer der Lüfte: Luftver- schmutzung, Industrialisierung, und Risikodebatten im 19. Jahrhundert (1996), and Tschernobyl, 26. April 1986. Die ökologische Herausforderung (1998). 30 Nov. PROFESSOR JEREMY D. NOAKES (Exeter) The Nazi Party and Menschenführung, or who was leading whom and where to? Jeremy Noakes is one of the foremost British experts on National Socialism. He is perhaps best known for the documentary readers on various aspects of the Third Reich which he has edited, the most recent being German Home Front in World War II (1998). 7 Dec. PROFESSOR WOLFGANG REINHARD (Freiburg) European Models of the State in Colonial and Post-Colonial Power Processes Wolfgang Reinhard has published widely on many aspects of the history of European expansion, as well as on the history of the papacy in early modern Europe. His most recent publications include Geschichte der Staatsgewalt. Eine Verfassungsgeschichte Europas von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart (1999), and Parasit oder Partner: Europäische Wirtschaft und Neue Welt 1500-1800 (1998). Seminars are held at 5 p.m. in the Seminar Room of the GHIL. Tea is served from 4.30 p.m. in the Common Room, and wine is available after the seminars. 3 THE 1999 ANNUAL LECTURE Continuity and Change Political and Social Developments in Germany after 1945 and 1989/90 will be given by Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. GERHARD A. RITTER (Munich) on Friday 12 November 1999, at 5 p.m. Reception to follow 4 REVIEW ARTICLES MAJOR BIOGRAPHIES OF MARGINAL FIGURES? by Andreas Fahrmeir SAUL DAVID, Prince of Pleasure: The Prince of Wales and the Making of the Regency (London: Little, Brown and Co., 1998), x + 484 pp. ISBN 0 316 64616 4. £22.50 E. A. SMITH, George IV, Yale English Monarchs (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999), xiv, 306 pp. ISBN 0 300 0768 5 1. £25.00 BRUCE SEYMOUR, Lola Montez: A Life (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998), x + 468 pp. ISBN 0 300 07439 5. £10.95 (paperback). ISBN 0 300 06347 4. £25.00 (hardback) THOMAS WEIDNER (ed.), Lola Montez oder eine Revolution in München (Eurasburg: Edition Minerva, 1998), 367 pp. ISBN 3 932353 23 4. DM 98.00. EUR 49.28 George IV and Lola Montez were people of very different rank. The moment George Augustus Frederick was born as the heir to the throne of Britain and Hanover it was clear that, unless death intervened prematurely, he would at least appear in many historical works. When Elizabeth Gilbert was born on 17 February 1821 in Grange near Sligo as the daughter of a British officer, it was relatively unlikely that she would be remembered much after her death. Yet in spite of the huge difference in status, the two figures shared the fate of having remained for many years on the fringes of historical interest, until a surprising recent renaissance. For the regent and later king of a country which had emerged victorious from a protracted war against Napoleon, and which did not permanently diverge from a course of reform, mod- ernization, and industrial growth, George IV has had a singularly bad press. Indeed, historians usually considered him largely irrelevant to the successes or failures of the British political system, and too much of a ‘bad king’ to be taken seriously even as a patron of the arts.1 In 1 Rudolf Muhs, ‘Georg IV.’, in Peter Wende (ed.), Englische Könige und Königinnen. Von Heinrich VII. bis Elisabeth II. (Munich, 1998), pp. 242-4. 5 Andreas Fahrmeir different ways, both Saul David and E. A. Smith set out to revise this impression. In the case of Lola Montez, the resurgence of interest is even more stunning. At least five books on her, three of them biographies, have appeared since 1992 – before then, not even a handful of biographies of her had been published.2 However, the subject headings attached to these books in the catalogue of the British Library confirm that, at this level, at least, her relevance is still seen as restricted to ‘Ludwig I – King of Bavaria – Relations with women’ (although a book limited to Lola Montez can only scratch the surface of this topic), ‘Courtesans – Biography’, or ‘Mistresses – Biography’. There is no mention of such categories as ‘Bavaria – 1848 Revolution – Cause of’, which would seem equally justifiable. Books on George IV, by contrast, are, of course, indexed under the much better-sounding ‘Kings and Rulers – Biography’. The sudden interest in such figures as George IV and Lola Montez by leading academic publishers seems to be more than a coincidence. Others could have been chosen, but it so happens that two books on each figure have appeared in the last couple of years. To a certain extent, these books – and others treating similar ‘marginal figures’ – seem to represent the latest episode in the continuing search by historians (whether full-time university employees or independent authors) for topics that will appeal to a broader audience and therefore ‘sell’ books, first to publishers, then to readers. In this perspective, the combination of plenty of sex, some politics, and a dash of adventure which charac- terized their lives makes both George IV and Lola Montez ideal subjects for such an exercise today. From the more specialized viewpoint of professional historians, these books provide an opportunity for a re- examination of seemingly well-known periods from a different perspective. In doing so, they raise new questions: in the one case, about the character and political significance of Britain’s perhaps most maligned king in recent memory; in the other, about the remarkable career and short-lived political impact of one of the world’s most interesting adventuresses. So how successful is this new approach in an intellectual perspective? 2 In addition to the books reviewed here, these are Roberto Giardina, Lola Montez: Ballerina e avventuriera. Vita di Eliza Dolores Gilbert contessa di Landsfeld (Milan, 1992); Reinhold Rauh, Lola Montez: Die königliche Mätresse (Munich, 1992); and James F. Varley, Lola Montez: The California Adventures of Europe’s Notorious Courtesan (Spokane, 1996). 6 Major Biographies of Marginal Figures? I On the face of it, the biographies of George IV by Saul David and E. A. Smith are quite similar. Both promise readable ‘lives’ written for a public which extends beyond specialists; both indicate that they will re- evaluate their key figure in the light of new evidence and new interpretations. In one sense, this seems comparatively easy (in so far as it can ever be easy to write a good biography), as it is hard to make George IV’s life appear dull. Its main events are well known, and need hardly be repeated here: his difficult relationship with his father; his gambling and building debts; his secret and illegal but temporarily happy marriage to Mrs Maria Fitzherbert, a Catholic, which might have cost him the throne; his legal marriage to Caroline of Brunswick, which allowed him to discharge some of his debts, but which proved disastrous; his architectural enterprises; his splendid coronation; and the sad figure he cut in politics. It is as Prince of Wales that George has become most prominent in popular perception: as a blond blockhead in Blackadder; as a scheming figure in the background of the royal court, conspiring against the emotionally challenged but competent Prime Minister, Pitt the Younger, in The Madness of King George.