Hermann Neubacher and the German Politics in South East Europe in World War II

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Ulrich Herbert
• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History
• Term: from 2010 to 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 164784152

At the beginning of this project stood the observation that the German occupation policies in the Balkans in World War II operated transnationally and cut different policy areas. The historiography has examined this region mainly from the perspective of the respective southeast European nation states. In contrast to this, the present project analyses German policies by the way of a biographi-cal approach in two ways: as a supranational set of policies as well as an interplay between occu-pation, economic exploitation and annihilation. The specific developments and dynamics of Nazi policies in Southeastern Europe, which differed markedly from other theatres of World War II, can be analysed by focusing on one of their foremost exponents, Hermann Neubacher. Meanwhile, a start has been made on writing up the results. However, owing to the extensive re-search in 24 archives in ten countries, and to the extremely difficult conditions in the Southeastern European archives, progress has suffered unavoidable delays. Research in those archives, however, was indispensable and indeed decisive for the direction of this study, whose prospective im-pact will reveal the German politics in South East Europe in a new and different light. As the project does not form part of a broader research cluster, but is undertaken by a single individual, we hereby apply for a further year of funding in order to allow for completion.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants