germany dissertation topics

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Making Your Thesis a Success

For most students, their final research paper is the first major work written during their degree program. It is much more comprehensive and demanding than term or seminar papers they have written during the course of their studies and, therefore, requires more planning.

Formalities: What regulations apply to the thesis?

Here, you will find information on the regulations governing the writing and submission of your thesis.  Formalities Please take note: These specifications apply for bachelor’s and master’s theses. You can find the regulations applying to the diploma thesis in the §§ of the ADPO (General Academic and Examination Regulations) and the FPSO (Departmental Study and Examination Regulations) of your degree program.

Tips and Tricks

Here, you will find some tips, literature and links we have compiled to help you succeed in writing your thesis. Tips and Tricks

English Writing Center and Schreibberatung German as a Foreign Language

The English Writing Center and the Schreibberatung German as a Foreign Language offer free one-to-one consulting in English or German writing to all members of the TUM community. The Center is staffed by both professional language instructors and student peer tutors, all of whom are native English or German speakers. They help you develop long-term proficiency in English or German writing, while polishing your actual texts in the process.

Having trouble choosing a topic for your bachelor’s or master’s thesis? Our Themenbörse posts current thesis topics from across the spectrum of TUM’s academic departments.

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List of Master´s Theses Topics

Dear students:

At the end of your studies you will have to write a thesis (master's thesis). To help you find a topic, you will find some general suggestions below, which you can modify or specify according to your interests.

• Sprachkontraste zwischen dem Deutschen und einer oder mehrerer anderer Sprachen: Sprachliche Unterschiede auf allen linguistischen Beschreibungsebenen (Phonetik/Phonologie, Wortschatz, Morphologie und Syntax, Text und Stilistik) und in allen sprachlichen Bereichen (gesprochene oder geschriebene Sprache, Standardsprache, Fachsprachen usw.).
• Analysen zu (deutschen und anderen) Fachsprachen: Qualitative und quantitative Analysen zu Fachsprachen aus verschiedenen horizontalen Bereichen, vertikalen Ebenen oder Textsorten (ggf. können solche Arbeiten an die Entwicklung und Auswertung eines fachsprachlichen Korpus an der Technischen Universität Berlin angeschlossen werden).
• Beurteilung und Entwicklung von Lehr‐/Lernmaterialien und ‐konzeptionen: Berücksichtigung von linguistischen, didaktischen, methodischen, politischen oder historischen Gesichtspunkten, darunter auch Fragen der Fachsprachenlinguistik und ‐didaktik, von Gender oder Landeskunde bzw. Inter‐/Transkulturalität.
• Reflexion von Sprache und Kultur in Kunst und Literatur: Thematisierung von Sprache sowie inter‐ bzw. transkultureller Erfahrungen in Filmen, Dramen, Romanen, Erzählungen, Gedichten, Liedern – Analyse und Interpretation unter systematischen oder historischen Gesichtspunkten (weiterer Teilbereich: Stereotypenforschung).
• Bedarfs‐ und Motivationsanalysen für Deutschen als (fachliche) Fremdsprache: Qualitative und quantitative Analysen von Materialien und Ordnungen, Fragebogenaktionen bei verschiedenen (sprachlichen oder fachlichen) Gruppen oder Sprachkompetenztests.
• Geschichte des Deutschen als fremder Sprache: Historische Untersuchungen zur Entstehung und Entwicklung, letztlich auch zur Zukunft von Deutsch als Fremd‐ oder Zweitsprache, ggf. als Tertiärsprache und als fachlicher Fremdsprache – auch im Vergleich zu anderen Fremdsprachen.
• Erforschung konzeptioneller und methodischer Grundlagen: Diskussion von Grundbegriffen neuer Modellierungen zentraler Konzepte (wie unter anderem Konzepte wie Fremdsprache, Landeskunde, Transkulturalität, Fachkommunikation, Optimierung usw.).
• Fragen der Landeskunde: Lehr‐ und Lerninhalte, Verhältnis zum Sprachunterricht, Wissen vs. Kompetenz, Inter‐ und Transkulturalität usw. AKTUELL: Sprachliche, berufliche und kulturelle Integration von Flüchtlingen und Asylsuchenden, Unterstützung der heimischen Bevölkerung.
• Individuelle Lernerfaktoren: Qualitative und quantitative Untersuchungen zum Einfluss und Zusammenspiel verschiedener Lernervariablen wie Motivation, Sprachlerneignung, Alter, Geschlecht, Lernstile und Persönlichkeitsfaktoren auf den Sprachlernerfolg (unter Berücksichtigung verschiedener Konstrukte und Operationalisierungen von ‚Lernerfolg‘).
• Testen          und        Evaluieren:        Zweckorientiertes           Erstellen              und        Bewerten            von        Test‐         und Aufgabenformaten zur Messung fremd‐ und fachsprachlicher Kompetenzen und Fertigkeiten (unter Bezug auf den Gemeinsamen europäischen Referenzrahmen), Varianten (kumulativer) Evaluation von Unterricht, etc.

Feel free to add more ideas to this small list of topics. So please do not hesitate to contact us with more ideas: Please contact the examiners in good time and remember that you have six months to write the master´s thesis after submitting the topic and that it must not exceed 80 pages. Please note that final theses can be handed in at the earliest after half of the processing time. This period begins with the deadline set by the Examinations Office. Early submission dates that deviate from this require a written request from the student stating the reasons and a statement from the first examiner. Early deadlines that differ from this require a written request from the student stating the reasons and an explanation from the primary examiner.

Master’s Theses at Our Chair (a selection)

Prospective Students

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B.A. and M.A. Theses

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• Thesis B.A. Political Science SR 2014
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• Thesis M.A. Political Science SR 2014
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• Thesis M.A. Comparative Democracy
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Student Counselling

Update on the submission of theses

Please read carefully the respective paragraph of your Study Regulations concerning the bachelor's or master's thesis. You can find there all you need to know.

You can find your study regualtions in the  download area  under your field of study.

Looking for a Supervisor

Procedure for the search for a supervisor

1. first decide on the topic

You should first think about the topic you would like to write about. Ideally, you should then summarize the topic in an exposé.

2. search for the first supervisor

You should look for a supervisor/first reviewer for your thesis one to two semesters before you start writing it. If you are unsure who is suitable for a topic, please contact the Student Counseling Service. Pay particular attention to the information about theses on the professorships' websites. There you will usually also find information on how best to apply for a thesis. If there is no information on this, we recommend that you always visit the office hours of the potential supervisor. If you make a request by email, you should make it very clear in writing exactly what you want to do for your thesis.

Please note that some examiners want to know their candidates, so you should have taken a final module examination with them. Please also refer to the information on the pages of the professorships.

You should look for your first examiner or supervisor yourself. 

If you cannot find anyone, you still have the option of being assigned a supervisor by the examination committee. However, we only recommend this procedure in an emergency. If you want to use this option, write an informal application in which you ask to be assigned a supervisor. The application should include the desired topic and also details of who has already rejected you. The application should be submitted to the Examinations Office by email. The examination committee will then assign someone to you.

3. Search for a second assessor if necessary

You can also look for a second assessor yourself, although the supervisor can recommend someone. If you register your thesis without a second assessor, the examination committee will automatically appoint someone. Please also note the specific requirements regarding your degree program and your study regulations.

4. final determination of the topic in consultation with the supervisor

Together with the supervisor (first reviewer), you then determine the final topic.

5. registration of the thesis

Finally, register your thesis with the Examination Office. The formalities are explained below.

Who may supervise my thesis?

Below you will find information on which groups of people are authorized to supervise theses. Please note that there are differences between the individual degree programs and study regulations. You should therefore pay particular attention to the general explanations listed for your degree program and your study regulations regarding who may supervise a thesis. If you are unsure, you can also ask the Examinations Office. 

Here you will find all the essential information about which groups of people are authorized to supervise a thesis as first or second supervisor:

• BA Political Science (Study Regulations 2014)
• BA Political Science (Study Regulations 2022)
• BA Sociology (Study Regulations 2015)
• BA Sociology (Study Regulations 2022)
• MA International Studies / Peace and Conflict Research (Study Regulations 2014 and 2022)
• MA Political Science (Study Regulations 2014)
• MA Political Science (Study Regulations 2022)
• MA Political Theory (Study Regulations 2014 and 2022)
• MA Sociology (Study Regulations 2015)
• MA Sociology (Study Regulations 2022)
• MA Economic Sociology (Study Regulations 2019)
• MA Comparative Democracy

​Tips for writing theses

You can find useful advice on how to write your thesis in the download area  under your field of study.

Registering your thesis

There is no fixed period for registering a bachelor's or master's thesis. You can register your thesis at the Examination Office at any time using the registration form . You can post the registration form in the letterbox in front of the Examination Office at any time; it is not necessary to come in person during office hours. Please make sure that you have completed it in full.

You can find the form     in the   download area  under your field of study. 

After submitting the registration form, you will receive a confirmation letter from the Examination Office, which will also indicate the submission date for your dissertation.

To register for the dissertation, you must have completed the following modules or earned the following CP.

​Returning the topic, language, group work

The agreed topic can be returned once only and only within the first third of the processing time. The new topic must differ in content from the returned topic.

As a rule, you must write your thesis in German (exception: M.A. Comparative Democracy). In agreement with the examiners or the chairperson of the Examination Committee, you may write your thesis in English.

Theses in the form of group work can also be allowed if the individual student's contribution to be assessed as an examination achievement is clearly distinguishable and assessable through the indication of sections, page numbers and other objective criteria that enable a clear differentiation.

Processing times and scale

You must submit your thesis to the Examination Office of the Faculty of Social Sciences in due time. If the thesis is not submitted on time, it is deemed to have been failed.

Processing time is as follows:

If the first deadline cannot be met for reasons beyond the student's control (e.g. the student or a child cared for by the student is ill), the chairperson of the Examination Committee extends the processing time in accordance with the respective Study Regulations (see above). The student must apply for this informally to the Examination Office before the first submission date.

The thesis can be submitted at the earliest after 50% of the processing time.

Formal Requirements

Bachelor's theses :

• Submission of the thesis in 3 bound copies
• The Declaration on Examination Achievements must be bound in (see download area  under your field of study. ).
• You can discuss further formalities with your supervisor.
• On the cover sheet only the following: degree programme, thesis topic, author's name and submission date.

Master's theses :

• The Declaration on Examination Achievements must be bound in (see download area  under your field of study.).

Reviewers’ reports

The standard time for the reports by both reviewers together is 6 weeks after submission of the thesis. The second reviewer can limit himself/herself to co-signing the first reviewer's report if both award the same grade.

Oral Final Examination

Once you have passed your thesis, you must present it within an oral examination. The subject of the oral examination is the content of the dissertation as well as questions and/or tasks in the context of the topic chosen for it. The examination lasts 30 minutes. The supervisor and an observer are present.

As a rule, the student arranges the date for the oral examination with the supervisor and an observer, whereby there are no fixed time periods for this.

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Dieter Groh Tel.: (069) 798-36562 PEG 2.G 130

Daniela Toplicanec Tel.: (069) 798-36589 PEG 2.G 132 Responsibilities: Certificates, theses, transcripts

Please send your enquiries primarily by e-mail: [email protected] .

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Theses and Dissertations

The following resources are general indexes to theses and dissertations on all topics, including those on Germanic Studies. Dissertations are important as they often express the most innovative work on a topic; include comprehensive citations and bibliographies of primary and secondary sources; and provide detailed literature reviews and theoretical discussions.

• ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global This index includes dissertations and masters theses from most North American graduate schools as well as many European universities. Full text is provided for most indexed dissertations from 1997 to the present, while most dissertations from 1980 on include abstracts written by the author. Orders for complete dissertations before 1997 may be placed online, but check UW's Library Catalog first to see if they are owned on campus. Free interlibrary loan may also be a possibility
• Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (ABELL) Covers from 1920 to present. Includes doctoral dissertations about English language, literature, and culture published anywhere in the world
• DART-Europe DART-Europe is a project by research libraries and library consortia to improve global access to European research theses
• Dissonline.de - Digitale Dissertationen im Internet Open access dissertations online, a service of the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, integrated into their larger catalog (after entering search, limit to Hochschulschriften and even further to Online Ressourcen ). Instructions, in German, here
• Electronic Theses Online Service (EThOS) OS offers free access to the full text of nearly 100,000 electronically stored UK theses; of the remaining 200,000 records dating back to at least 1800, many are available to be ordered for scanning through the EThOS digitisation-on-demand facility. A rich resource!
• Foreign Dissertations at the Center for Research Libraries (CRL) CRL holds more than 800,000 foreign dissertations and Habilitationsschriften from universities outside of the US and Canada. If you know the exact title of a dissertation and do not find it in the CRL Catalog, CRL has a program to purchase foreign doctoral dissertations for scholars' individual research needs; such requests should be initiated via Interlibrary Loan
• Helveticat The catalog of the Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek; search for dissertations by combining diss with a keyword
• Index to Theses in Great Britain and Ireland A comprehensive listing of theses with abstracts accepted for higher degrees by universities in the United Kingdom and Ireland since 1716. As of 2013, there were 589,028 theses in the collection, with 355,862 having abstracts
• Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD) The Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD) is an international organization dedicated to promoting the adoption, creation, use, dissemination and preservation of electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs). NDLTD supports electronic publishing and open access to scholarship in order to enhance the sharing of knowledge worldwide. Try the new Global ETD Search
• Open Access Theses and Dissertations (OATD) Index of more than 1.5 million electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs), with preference given to records of graduate-level theses freely available online
• Österreichische Dissertationsdatenbank This database references over 99,000 dissertations and theses held at Austrian Universities; about two-thirds are abstracted in both German and English
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• Last Updated: Mar 4, 2024 9:12 AM
• URL: https://researchguides.library.wisc.edu/german

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Theses – Frequently Asked Questions

Contact form for students

You are very welcome to approach us. 

Please use the contact form for students because it will help us to handle your request as quickly as possible.

Important links and pointers

Examination pages of your degree programme

Principles for Safeguarding Good Academic Practice of 22 December 2021

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Verfahrensablauf für den Abschluss des Master of Education-Studiums (G, HR, Gym, SoPäd)

Verfahrensablauf für den Abschluss des Master of Education-Studiums (WiPäd)

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Examining Board

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To complete your studies successfully, you must submit a thesis at the end of your programme. On this page, we will inform you about what you need to do and bear in mind.

• Before registering the thesis
• While working on the thesis
• After submitting the thesis

We will also give you an overview of:

Please bear in mind that the rules governing your final exam are entirely based on the examination regulations and their annexes that apply to you.

All rules for your degree programme can be found on the examination pages of your degree programme.

1. Before registering the thesis

1.1. what must i do to be able to register for the thesis.

To be admitted to the thesis part of your programme, you need to have acquired a defined minimum number of credits (ECTS points). This is usually 120 credits in Bachelor’s programmes and 60 credits in Master’s programmes.

‘Acquired’ means that the ECTS points have been credited to your academic record in Stud.IP. Even if module components have been completed, their credits will only count officially once the assessment has been completed.

On top of the minimum number of credits attained, your examination regulations and/or the annex of the regulations that deal with your subject may also require other accomplishments. For instance, you may need to have successfully completed certain subject modules, practical modules or the basic curriculum before you can be admitted to the thesis.

1.2. How do I find a topic, and how may I formulate it?

The best way to settle questions about your topic and to seek assessors is to approach the teaching unit (in other words, the institute or department within the School) within which you want to write the thesis.

Please note:

On Stud.IP you will find a wide range of topics under the tab

Thesis topics

For each topic, contact persons, a general description and the nature of the work required are shown, e.g.:

• ‘focus on application or other practical aspects’; or
• ‘conceptual/theoretical’

1.3. Who may assess and grade my work?

The thesis will be evaluated by two appointed examiners, who act as assessors . While your request is being processed, you will be supervised by the first assessor.

The topic of the thesis is determined by the first assessor. A member of the university lecturers’ and professors’ group or a private lecturer of the relevant subject must be among the assessors. In individual cases, the competent Examining Board may allow deviations from this rule.

Only holders of a scholarly university degree or an equivalent qualification may be appointed as examiners.

1.4. May the thesis be the work of a group?

This depends on specific circumstances.

If the relevant annex of the examination regulations permits, Bachelor’s theses may be the work of up to three persons.

If the examination regulations permit, group theses can also be submitted at the Master’s level.

In the case of group work, the contribution of each examinee to be assessed must meet the requirements of the examination regulations. They must be clearly definable as an individual module component that can be individually assessed (e.g. with reference to sections or page numbers).

In which cases is group work not allowed?

A group thesis is inadmissible if students are to be involved whose thesis work would be outside the scope of their own examination regulations.

For example: A group thesis is not permissible if it involves students of the MA in Education (Gymnasium) as well as students of the MA in Education (Business education) or the MA in Economics and Law. It is also not possible to take a group thesis with students who are not enrolled at the University of Oldenburg.

1.5. How do I register for the thesis, and how am I admitted?

You register for the thesis after you have selected a topic in consultation with your assessors.

For this purpose, use the Registration for the Thesis form.

The process is as follows.

• Using your email address assigned by the university, address your application to the first assessor.
• After consultation with the second assessor, the first assessor then confirms the topic and the assessment plan and sends the form to the Examinations Office.
• If necessary, the Examinations Office will then seek a decision by the Chair of the Examining Board.
• The Examination Office will inform you by email about the processing time and will admit you to the thesis. You will receive a letter of admission by post. Subsequently, your thesis will be displayed as registered in Stud.IP.

1.6. What are the rules if external persons, i.e. persons who do not belong to the university, supervise my thesis?

Information on this can be found in the following Guidance leaflet:

Information on the acceptance and processing of theses with the participation of companies and organisations outside the university

1.7. Roughly how much time will writing the thesis take?

A general answer is hard to provide.

It is your responsibility to reserve enough time for the preparation and planning of your thesis. How much time you will need will depend on various things, including personal factors.

Are you unsure about the time required or about finding a topic?

We invite you to make use of the university’s advisory services. They are there to help you.

• The Learning Workshops at the Study and Career Counselling Service (ZSKB) offer training and advice on reading and writing academic texts, among other things.

Learning Workshops at the Study and Career Counselling Service (ZSKB)

• Please also note these pointers and recommendations for your graduation:

Timetable for the transition from Bachelor’s to Master’s

Procedure for completing the Master of Education (primary school, secondary school, Gymnasium, special needs education)

Procedure for completing the Master of Education (Business education)

2. While working on the thesis

2.1. how long can i take to write my thesis.

This depends on the provisions of the examination regulations or their annexes that apply in your case. The Examinations Office will officially inform you of the deadline for submission of the thesis.

Note that the work will not be considered to have passed if you do not meet the deadline and do not prove any valid reasons for this failure.

A valid reason is illness on the part of the student. For information on the extension of the deadline for the thesis in case of your own illness, see 2.4. What if I fall ill while working on the thesis? Can I extend the deadline?

Please note: If, in the case of admission to the thesis or the extension of the submission deadline on valid grounds (e.g. illness), the end of the processing period falls between 24 December and 1 January, the processing time will be officially extended to the first working day after 1 January. No action is required from you in these cases.

2.2. Can I withdraw from the thesis project or change the topic after I have been admitted?

If the examination regulations that apply to you allow it, you can change the topic within a specified period.

For example, the Bachelor’s examination regulations stipulate that the student can change the topic set by the first assessor within the first month after admission without giving reasons. A later change is only possible if valid grounds are recognized.

If you are still uncertain, you are welcome to approach us.

2.3. Can I change the topic of my thesis during preparation?

Once you have been admitted to the thesis, its nature, task and topic are officially fixed. A change of topic is no longer permitted.

However, the title of the thesis may be changed with the permission of the first assessor. In the event of a change of title , you must send a confirmation of the change from the first assessor to the Examinations Office before you submit the thesis. To this end, please use the contact form for students.

2.4. What if I fall ill while working on the thesis? Can I extend the deadline for submission?

If you fall ill while working on the thesis (and can be considered incapable of taking an examination), you must provide appropriate proof to obtain an extension.

Please note: Exam stress is not considered a valid ground for extending the deadline.

How should I announce this inability?

The announcement and proof of your inability to take an examination (in this case, the thesis assignment) must be submitted to the Examinations Office without delay. You can submit proof of this inability using the contact form for students.

A certificate of incapacity for work is accepted as proof, unless another form is required by the Examinations Office.

The proof must include a statement on the probable duration of the incapacity for work.

To whom is the certificate to be addressed?

Please always address the certificate to the  Examinations Office  and not to the assessors. If the grounds for extension have been accepted, the assessors will receive a notification from the Examinations Office.

At what stage should I apply for an extension?

Be sure to communicate the reasons for the extension immediately, as soon as possible.

Recommendation: If you are already unwell when you start working on the thesis, do not wait to see if you will be able to submit it in time despite your illness. Instead, request an extension and provide supporting evidence immediately.

Maximum extension An extension will only be granted for a moderate lengthening of the total period assigned for working on thesis. If the extension or extensions granted would double the originally authorized processing time for the thesis, the assignment is to be replaced by a new one.

2.5. I look after my young children and/or take care of close relatives. Can I apply for compensation for the exercise of these responsibilities?

• Students eligible for motherhood protection (under the Motherhood Protection Act);
• students who raise and care for children in a common household; and
• students who regularly care for close relations for at least 10 hours a week

can apply for an extension of the period for working on their thesis.

There is no specific form for this purpose. Use the contact form for students and send it to the Examinations Office.

Evidence and duration

To be granted an extension, you must provide appropriate evidence.

• Child care: confirmation that you form a common household (Haushaltsbescheinigung), to be obtained from your town’s registration office (Meldebehörde).
• Care: A certificate from your health or care insurance firm.

The Examining Board responsible for your case will decide on the duration of the extension.

Are you pregnant? Please contact the Maternity Leave Team of the Admission’s Office in Division 3. Important information and advice can be found on the webpage on maternity leave for students

Maternity leave for students

2.6. How can I get a special arrangement to compensate for chronic illness or disability?

What are the conditions for such a special arrangement.

To be able to claim a special arrangement for compensation, you must prove that you have a long-term impairment that meets the criteria of a disability or chronic illness.

If your disorder does not have the characteristics of a disability or chronic disease, you will not be able to legally claim a special arrangement for compensation.

How do I request a special arrangement for compensation?

You do not need a specific application form. Submit your application to the Examinations Office using the contact form for students.

Who will decide on my application?

The Examining Board responsible for you will decide on your application.

You will be informed of the extent of the compensation.

If the Examining Board considers the application to be unfounded in whole or in part, it will reject the application in whole or in part. The Examinations Office will issue a decision based on the decision of the Examining Board. The reasons for rejection will be communicated in this document.

Do I have to supply proof that I am entitled to a special arrangement for compensation?

Yes. The disability or chronic illness is generally substantiated by a doctor’s certificate or–in the case of mental illnesses–by a statement from a licensed psychotherapist, or by presentation of a disabled person’s pass.

Here, the main point is not the diagnosis but rather the plausibility of the disability or chronic illness. The certificates submitted must show in what way the disability or chronic illness affects the production of the thesis.

The certificate should contain a recommendation on the length of the extension.

Where can I get support and advice?

The University of Oldenburg and Studentenwerk Oldenburg offer a wide range of advisory services, tips and information. Advice for students with disabilities or chronic illnesses is open to all students who feel they are disabled or chronically ill.

Students with a disability or chronic illness

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact the counsellor for disabled students at Studentenwerk Oldenburg:

Studying with a disability or chronic illness

2.7. How should the thesis be submitted? Must I make a sworn declaration?

Current procedure.

Send your thesis as a PDF (1 file) attached to an email to the Examinations Office.

Make sure to address it to the right section of the Examinations Office.

If your examination regulations require a signed sworn declaration (affidavit), you must send it as a PDF file attached to an email message.

Please send the bound copies of your thesis directly to the assessors.

Sworn declaration (affidavit)

The Lower Saxony Higher Education Act (NHG) ( Section 7 para 5 p. 2 NHG ) forms the legal basis for the acceptance of affidavits, in which students declare they carried out the submitted work independently and without impermissible assistance.

You must supply an affidavit if the examination regulations of your degree programme require it. This is the case, for instance, for the single-subject and dual-subject Bachelor’s degree programmes (see Section 13a of their examination regulations). The regulation serves to uphold the quality of exam procedures. It complements older tools for the prevention of scholarly misconduct.

Please bear in mind that submitting an untruthful affidavit can lead to criminal prosecution.

Text of the affidavit

I hereby declare in lieu of an oath that I wrote this thesis independently, using only the cited sources and aids. I furthermore affirm that I have followed the general principles of scholarly work and publication as set out in the Guidelines for Good Academic Practice at the University of Oldenburg.

Guidelines for Good Academic Practice at the University of Oldenburg

2.8. What do I need to know about ‘scholarly work’? What is scholarly plagiarism?

On scholarly work, please see the information provided by the Learning Workshops of the central Study and Career Counselling Service (ZKSB). Under ‘Materials and Links’, you will find helpful pointers and references to the faculties.

Learning Workshops

Materials and Links (in German)

What is scholarly plagiarism?

If you reproduce someone else’s ideas and work in a scholarly text without proper attribution, instead of formulating your own, this is plagiarism. It means passing off someone else’s work or ideas as one’s own.

You must also properly attribute reused content of your own. Otherwise, you will be committing plagiarism. When reusing your own previous work, you must explicitly acknowledge this. For example, insert a note at the beginning of the text or section that says something like: ‘This article uses the results of a seminar paper I wrote for the module [...] as part of the Bachelor’s degree programme in [...]’.

How does the University of Oldenburg deal with plagiarism?

Plagiarism constitutes scholarly misconduct and must be punished for reasons of equal opportunities.

If assessors detect plagiarism, the matter is referred to the Examinations Office and investigated further. If the suspicion of plagiarism is confirmed, the thesis will be assessed as ‘failed’.

In grave cases of fraud, for example the illicit copying of an entire work, or in the case of repeated fraud, expulsion (deregistration) may follow

3. After submitting the thesis

3.1. how and when does the assessment take place, and do i have to take an oral examination afterwards.

The rules state that all examination procedures must be carried out expeditiously. What ‘expeditiously’ means in practice will depend on the case in question. For general guidelines see the relevant examination regulations .

Assessment period

There is no standard duration for the assessment period, as the time required depends on the length of the thesis. The Bachelor’s examination regulations stipulate that theses are to be assessed ‘usually within six weeks after their submission’. Master’s theses are usually to be evaluated within eight weeks of their submission.

If the assessors take longer to assess your thesis than the duration stipulated in the examination regulations that apply to you, the Examinations Office will send them a reminder.

Has the assessment period expired and do you urgently need your final grade? First, contact your assessors. If this does not lead to a solution, contact your

School’s complaints desk

Thesis grade

The thesis is evaluated and graded according to the scale provided in the examination regulations. The grade is determined by the Examinations Office after transmission by the examiners. It is calculated as a weighted arithmetic mean of the individual grades.

After the grade has been determined, you will receive a notification from the Examinations Office by email.

Is there an oral or other examination in the thesis process?

In most of the university’s degree programmes, an accompanying event is organized as part of the thesis process. At this event, the technical foundations of the work are discussed and the achievements and results of the work are reported.

Often the author is also required to ‘defend’ the thesis in a final presentation.

In a few degree programmes (especially at the Master’s level), you are expected to orally present the results of your thesis in a final colloquium that is open to the entire university.

The purpose of these colloquia is to show that you are able to deal independently and in a scholarly manner with interdisciplinary and problem-related questions in the field of your subject and that you can present your insights comprehensibly.

Are you still wondering what the workload of your thesis module comprises and what you need to do in the framework of the module?  Use the contact form for students. The Examinations Office will explain further.

3.2. Can I view the assessment reports on my thesis?

It is not standard policy to provide these reports.

If you would like to view the reports of the assessors on your thesis, you should first ask the assessors themselves.

If you are not granted access, please ask the Examinations Office to allow you to view them. In your request, you should explain why the inspection is of interest to you on legal grounds.

Please be aware that access to the assessment reports and minutes can only be granted within one year after the announcement of the thesis grade.

Please send the application to the Examinations Office via the contact form for students.

The place and time of inspection will be determined in consultation with the Examining Board .

3.3. What can I do if I disagree with the grade of my thesis?

In principle, you have the option of contesting a negative assessment of your work.

However, before launching a formal appeal , you would do well to approach the assessors and ask them to reconsider their assessment, offering persuasive considerations and arguments. Tell the assessors why, from your point of view, the assessment decision is incorrect. It is recommended that you initially contact the first assessor and approach this person with your objections to the assessment.

If the assessors uphold their assessment decision, you are free to contest the assessment in writing.

Please note that you must state very specifically in your objection:

• Why the assessment decision violates your rights, and
• What specifically the assessors should have assessed more favourably.

Only then will the assessment decision be reviewed in an appeal procedure.

The final decision on appeals is taken by the Examining Board .The Examinations Office supports the Examining Board and manages the whole appeal procedure. Objections must therefore be addressed to the Examinations Office.

If you have any questions, please use the contact form for students and the Examinations Office will explain further.

3.4. How many credits do I get for successfully completing my thesis? When will they be added to my record?

The number of ECTS credits awarded may vary from one degree programme to another. While at the Bachelor’s level 15 credits for the thesis module are the standard (12 for the thesis and 3 for the accompanying event), 30 credits are awarded in most Master’s programmes. In Master of Education programmes, the number of credits is different.

To find the answer to your question, consult the examination regulations that apply to you or the annex to the examination regulations that deals with the thesis module. Please feel free to contact the Examinations Office if you have any questions.

Upon receipt of the assessments or evaluations, the Examinations Office will quickly record the submitted grades. At the end of the day on which the grades are entered into the system, you will receive an email informing you that the grade has been credited to your academic record.

3.5. After passing the thesis, do I have to do something to obtain my graduation documents, and when can I expect to receive them?

Yes, the production of the graduation documents does require you to take action.

With the notice that you have been admitted to the thesis, you will also receive a Declaration on the Issuing of the Graduation Documents . Use this form to apply to the Examinations Office for the graduation documents. At the end of your degree programme, you must provide appropriate information on this form so that everything can be taken into account. Please submit this form via the contact form for students.

The form contains questions regarding matters such as:

Non-essential modules

Non-essential modules (also called additional examinations) are modules that have been successfully completed beyond the requirements of the programme. Such modules are only included in the diploma upon request. Additional notice: Master’s modules taken earlier than scheduled are not considered additional examinations.

Disregarding low grades in the overall grade

If the applicable examination regulations permit, the student’s overall grade will be calculated without taking the lowest examination grades into account. This will be done for modules amounting to a maximum of 18 credits in total.

Additional notice: The module examination grades that were not included in the calculation of the overall grade will nevertheless be shown on the diploma and the Transcript of Records.

Indication of specializations on diplomas

If a student has taken several specializations during their studies, the Examinations Office needs to know which specialization is to be shown on the diploma.

Duration of the preparation of the graduation documents

The time needed to produce the documents depends on various factors and is therefore variable.

Non-binding rule of thumb:

• The Examinations Office expects its staff to need around two weeks of work.
• Add to this the time needed to obtain the required signatures in the Schools;
• as well as the time for the delivery of post within the university.

All in all, the production of the graduation documents will take 4-8 weeks .

4. Responsibilities and contact persons

4.1. examinations office.

The Examinations Office of the University of Oldenburg is responsible for the administration of examinations and for the implementation of administrative procedures under examination law.

Examination matters

Three administrative teams are responsible for handling general examination matters. These include:

• the granting of admission to examinations;
• the processing of withdrawals from examinations;
• the granting of special arrangements for compensation;
• the notification of failed examinations;
• the preparation and issuing of graduation documents and certificates; as well as
• the creation of data records for online exam management.

Besides, the Examinations Office supports the work of the Examining Board , especially its Chair, and acts as an intermediary between the students and the Examining Board. The Examinations Office participates in the meetings of the Examining Board in an advisory capacity.

Higher-level special tasks

• Team for credit recognition
• Typing office (e.g. for graduation documents)

Contact persons and organizational structure of the Examinations Office

4.2. Examining Board

The Examining Board perform the tasks assigned to it under the examination regulations . It is composed of several members with voting rights. In general, these are:

• three members of the university professors’ group;
• a member of academic staff who is engaged in teaching; as well as
• a student representative.

In addition, a person from the Examinations Office takes part in the meetings of the Examining Board in an advisory capacity.

Approval by the Examining Board

The approval of the Examining Board is required in the following cases:

• If neither assessor of a thesis belongs to the professors’ group.
• If the thesis is to be written in an institution outside this university and is to be supervised by an external assessor from this institution.

4.3. Assessors

See 1.3. Who may assess and grade my work?

4.4. Feedback and complaints management

You can address comments and complaints on the work of the Academic Examinations Office directly to Division 3.

We will consider your concerns carefully and individually, in cooperation with staff members from the concerned sections of the university. Our objective is to identify areas for improvement and initiate any measures necessary for this purpose.

Send us your feedback via the linked complaints management contact form.

Complaints management of Division 3

Complaints offices outside Division 3

Unfortunately, we cannot deal with feedback that touches on matters outside the scope of Division 3. We hope you understand this.

However, if you, for example:

• are not satisfied with the supervision by your assessors;
• consider the time for assessment to be too long; or
• find the topic or the workload unsuitable;

and you send us critical comments on such a matter, we will gladly take this as an opportunity to inform the School about the criticism without revealing who submitted it. However, it would be better to address such a request with direct reference to the thesis to the complaints desk of your School.

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dissertations in German studies 2020

Bahr, Katrin. Postkoloniale Solidarität: Alltagsleben von DDR-Bürgern in Mosambik. University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of German and Scandinavian Studies. Advisor: Andrew Donson. May 2020. Abstract: My dissertation examines the everyday life and work of East Germans and their families sent to Mozambique between 1979 and 1990. I investigate the issues of state and individual solidarity and the interactions within the development projects. Since the GDR did not see itself as a colonial power or an heir to Germany's colonial past, it acquitted itself of the charge of being exploitative in its foreign policy. From its perspective, it stood side by side in “solidarity” (Solidarität) with its “brother states” (Bruderstaaten)throughout the developing world. My research shows that the GDR never achieved this ideological goal in Mozambique. While the GDR proclaimed solidarity when starting the projects, they still tried to exploit natural resources in Africa and acted like a post-colonial power. Despite official ideology, the East Germans who went to Africa could not escape the civilizing mission that assumed cultural superiority, however socialist the mission may have been. In my dissertation, I ask how the development mission came about; how the East Germans interacted with the Mozambicans; how their relationships were represented in GDR newspapers and journals; how political ideology shaped the substance of the collaborations; and how the East Germans remembered their work.   Barthold, Willi Wolfgang. Zeitschrift, Text und Bild: Der bürgerliche Realismus im Kontext der visuellen Massenmedien des 19. Jahrhunderts. Georgetown University, German Department. Advisor: Dr. Peter C. Pfeiffer. February 2020. Abstract: The dissertation focuses on German realist literature of the late nineteenth-century and its interplay with the visual and media culture of its time. By analyzing realist texts in their original, serialized mode of publication and within the context of an emerging popular culture of visual stimulation, this study shows how this literature was shaped by its contextualization within illustrated journals as “mass media” and developed self-reflective, poetological, and epistemological discourses that explored changing notions of reality. Close-readings of works by Wilhelm Raabe, Theodor Fontane, Balduin Möllhausen, and Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach demonstrate that realist literature grappled with transforming ways of storytelling in an increasingly image-dominated society, the mechanisms of creating “truth” in mass media communication, as well as notions of gender and foreignness in a modernized and globalized media-cultural context. This research thus bridges the gap between scholarly arguments that, on the one hand, focus on the importance of journals as publication media of realist texts and those that, on the other hand, focus on literary realism’s interplay with the visual, by suggesting that only a combination of methods from both fields can lead to a thorough understanding of the epistemological inquiries that shape these texts.   Borham, Holly. The Art of Confessionalism: Picturing Lutheran, Reformed, and Catholic Faith in Northwest Germany, 1580-1620. Princeton University, Department of Art and Archaeology. Advisor: Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann. May 2019. Abstract: This dissertation investigates the status of religious imagery in Lutheran, Reformed, and Catholic contexts in the decades prior to the Thirty Years' War by investigating artworks commissioned for three neighboring Westphalian nobles: the Reformed Count Simon VI of Lippe at Schloss Brake in Lemgo, the Lutheran Prince Ernst of Holstein-Schaumburg in Bückeburg, and the Catholic Prince-Bishop Dietrich von Fürstenberg of Paderborn. In addition to sharing some of the same artists, who often drew from common print sources, the ties connecting these patrons included shared borders, mutual defense pacts, marriages, and friendships. Relying on such sources as diaries, contracts, inventories, and textual marginalia, along with church ordinances, sermons, and colloquy proceedings, this dissertation lays out the close relationships that existed between these three patrons of different religious confessions, reconstructs the history of their artistic commissions, yields insights into their stylistic and iconographic choices, and establishes each artistic project in its larger cultural and confessional context. This dissertation ultimately argues that confessional self-fashioning involves factors beyond theological conviction. The desire to be represented in a “princely manner” comparable with one's peers is transconfessional, leading to a re-evaluation of what defines Lutheran, Reformed, and Catholic art at the turn of the seventeenth century.   Brier, Jessica D. Typophoto and the Reinvention of Photography in Weimar Germany. University of Southern California, Department of Art History. Advisor: Megan R. Luke. May 2020. Abstract : Coined in 1925 by Hungarian artist, designer, and theorist László MoholyNagy, the term Typophoto denoted the synthesis of typography and photography in modern visual communication. Typophoto was foundational for German typographer Jan Tschichold’s doctrine of New Typography, which promoted the combination of sans serif typefaces and photographic illustrations to optimize the legibility of graphic design. In practice, Typophoto signified the material hybridity of the photographic halftone, a process which turned photographic images into grids of printed dots and appear as coherent images through optical illusion. Though it was introduced in the late nineteenth century, the halftone remained an object of conceptual and visual interest for graphic designers well into the twentieth century. The network of Central European graphic designers known as the New Typographers recognized the halftone as a tool of montage and used it to experiment with the relationships between word and image, color and space, representation and abstraction in commercial graphics. This dissertation traces a genealogy of Typophoto between 1923 and 1933 through New Typography’s heterogeneous experiments with photography as material, form, and concept. Photography was thoroughly reinvented through offset printing, retouching, methods of perceptual psychology, and as a potent metaphor for the aspirations of modernist graphic designers.   Cao, Jan. Transplanting Languages: Botanical Poetics of Paul Celan and Yoko Tawada. Northwestern University. Advisor: Anna Parkinson. December 2020. Abstract: Reflecting on and engaging with the intricate dynamics of vegetative life, Paul Celan and Yoko Tawada address issues such as uprootedness, displacement, and the transplantation of language with what I call “plant writing.” Tawada’s plant writing is a process that turns words into word-leaves [“kotoba”], which constantly metamorphose into different meanings, sounds, and shapes according to its temporal, spatial, or linguistic context. Celan’s plant writing, especially his attempted conversations with plants, becomes a way to address his “placelessness” as a migrant who had never been granted a home, and his “timelessness” as a Holocaust survivor who has been robbed of his personal time in history. Their concern with plant life not only touch upon certain fundamental ontological and hermeneutical questions, but also offers them a refuge in language from language that has become simultaneously abusive and abused. The two authors form a dialogue by each imagining a new language that helps those who are no longer at home with their “mother tongue” to relocate themselves in a delirious, post-disaster world.   Carls, Paul. Political conflict as moral conflict : multiculturalism and the nation in Germany (2015- 2017). Université de Montréal, Political Science Department. Advisors: Laurence McFalls and Marcel Fournier. March 2020. Abstract: This dissertation studies political conflict in Germany around the issues of multiculturalism, immigration, and national identity in the wake of the Refugee Crisis. It uses Émile Durkheim’s notion of the moral fact, a set of moral ideas, truths, obligations, and judgments, to develop a theory of moral conflict that explains the motivations of political actors across German society. It identifies four moral ideals, or ideal visions of the German community: the ideal of non-domination; the ideal of Verfassungspatriotismus; the ideal of the (ethno)cultural nation; and the ideal of the biological nation. At the heart of each moral ideal is a sacred object, either a concept of human dignity or the nation, leading to moral prescriptions related to immigration, multiculturalism, and diversity. These sacred objects and moral prescriptions are mutually profanatory to each other, driving conflict. Actors in the conflicts involved the Autonomen, the German state, the right-wing populist AfD, and other elements of the German far-right. The instances of conflict between participants are understood as interaction rituals that create sui generis collective energy that induces and reinforces emotional attachments individuals have towards the moral fact.   Chiedozie Michael Uhuegbu. Borders, Belonging and Otherness in African-German literature. Vanderbilt University, German, Russian, and East European Studies. Advisor: Christoph Zeller. March 2021. Abstract: My dissertation focuses on how African and German authors depict migration experience. I examine how Jenny Erpenbeck’s Gehen, ging, gegangen (2015), Nura Abdi’s Tränen im Sand (2013), Luc Degla’s Das afrikanische Auge (2006), and Chima Oji’s Unter die Deutschen gefallen: Erfahrungen eines Afrikaners (1992) describe migration experiences. Migration literature has gained attention among scholars of different fields; however, close readings are rare and do not cover the autobiographical and fictional works that are at the center of this dissertation. Although scholars have begun to focus on Afro-German in recent years, the African diaspora is not yet to be covered by scholarship. This dissertation aims to be a groundbreaking study that discusses African-German migration literature. It combines texts from authors of German and African descent to foreground questions of borders, belonging, marginality and cultural difference that emerge from Africans’ migration to Germany. Thus, this study argues that for these literary texts, migration comes with its own cultural dislocation and translocation perceived in the larger contexts of industrialization and globalization and accentuates the quest for home, belonging, and contested identity composition.   Dämon, Hanja. The German film industry under American and British control: 1945-1949. King’s College London, German Department. Advisors: Erica Carter and Lara Feigel. November 2019. Abstract: This thesis analyses the reactivation of the German film industry between 1945 and 1949 in the British and US Zones of occupation. Film was at this time not only perceived as culturally and economically relevant, but also considered a means to potentially impart certain messages to audiences, and therefore deemed an important medium that required supervision especially in the first years after the war. As all German film production was subjected to Allied control, the thesis explores how British and US guidelines and regulations – notably the pre-censorship of film scripts at the beginning of the occupation – shaped individual projects after 1945. My focus on the two zones serves to analyse similarities and differences in British and US approaches to reestablishing the German film industry, making use of archival material. My research particularly emphasises that the British were not merely following the US-American lead, as has previously sometimes been suggested.   Digruber, Sandra. The Co-Construction of Knowledge in Foreign Language Teacher–Student Classroom Interactions. Georgetown University, German Department. Advisor: Marianna Ryshina-Pankova. August 2018. Abstract: Interactions between instructors and students in the foreign language (FL) classroom have been researched from various angles. However, an in-depth semantic perspective is rarely adopted. This study investigates how instructors support the co-construction of both language and content knowledge through interactions with students in a German FL class. Systemic functional linguistics (SFL), specifically the concepts of SPEECH FUNCTIONS, MOOD, CLAUSE COMPLEX, and TRANSITIVITY, inform the qualitative analysis of discourse semantics and lexicogrammar in transcribed classroom observations. The analysis of SPEECH FUNCTIONS reveals that the discourse semantic moves of registering, elaborating, and extending can be particularly effective in the elicitation of knowledge. The MOOD analysis shows that questions are usually congruently realized as wh- and polar interrogatives. Instructors use less projection in their CLAUSE COMPLEXES than learners, who tend to support their statements through quotes. The TRANSITIVITY analysis demonstrates the instructors’ individual differences and their flexibility in word choices. Overall, this research suggests a stronger focus on the effect of different discourse semantic moves and their linguistic realizations in teacher training and pedagogical practices for fostering more productive classroom communications.   Egen, Christoph. What is disability? Devaluation and exclusion of people with disabilities from the Middle Ages to postmodernism. Leibniz University of Hanover. Advisors: Bettina Lindmeier, Christoph Gutenbrunner, and Hans-Peter Waldhoff. 2019. Abstract: The concept of disability does not adequately reflect human diversity, but conveys the image of a seemingly homogeneous group of people, which is symbolically reduced to the pictogram of the wheelchair user. Christoph Egen looks at the questions of what "disability" is in the first place and how the social view of people with functional disabilities has changed from the Middle Ages to the present day. In doing so, he draws on the process sociology of Norbert Elias to investigate the processes of devaluation and exclusion of people – and thus makes a valuable contribution to the interdisciplinary technical discussion.   Gindner, Jette. Capitalist Crisis and Radical Political Imagination in German Literature and Cinema After 1989. Cornell University, Department of German Studies. Advisors: Leslie A. Adelson and Paul Fleming. August 2019. Abstract: “New Realisms” examines three moments of manifest economic crisis: East Germany after 1989, the Financial Crisis of 2008, and the contemporary labor market. Employing what I term a formalist materialism, critically differentiated from Caroline Levine’s Forms, this project explores how new literary and cinematic realisms mediate structures of economic crisis in aesthetic form. In contrast to recent scholarship, which casts new realisms as a response to the virtualization of everyday experience by social media, I argue that a renewed turn to realism in German literature and film is motivated by economic crises and can be understood as the artistic apprehension of transnationalism, financialization, and racialized-gendered precarity in cultural form. In contrast to discourse analyses of crisis in the work of Joseph Vogl, “New Realisms” foregrounds the epistemological value of art and the ways in which literature and cinema theorize economic-social life through formal strategies.   Girßmann, Imke. Capital centre as a place of national culture of remembrance? The Berlin Monuments to Freedom and Unity and to homosexuals persecuted in National Socialism. Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg. 2020. Abstract: Since the 1990s, a large number of places of remembrance and remembrance have been initiated in the new government quarter in Berlin. In the process, battles over interpretations and spaces shaped the processes time and again. Imke Girßmann takes a closer look at two current, but at first very contrasting, monument projects in her foray through the symbolically charged centre of the capital: the Monument to Freedom and Unity and the Monument to the Homosexuals Persecuted in National Socialism. Detailed analyses of the discourses and practices of the actors involved reveal surprising interdependencies that reveal a desire for the establishment of community and nation.   Gröner, Anke. "Ziehet die Bahn durch deutsches Land." Gemälde zur Reichsautobahn von Carl Theodor Protzen (1887–1956) im Kontext seines Gesamtwerks. : Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Fakultät für Geschichts- und Kunstwissenschaften, Germany. Advisor: Christian Fuhrmeister. November 2020. Abstract: During National Socialism, the fine arts did not offer anything new – with the exception of one subject: the “Reichsautobahn”. Construction on the so-called “Streets of the Führer” started 1933, and already very early on, artists were asked to depict these new “Pyramids of the Third Reich”. One of those painters was Carl Theodor Protzen whose life and work – as well as the “Autobahnmalerei” in general – had not been researched in any notable manner. This dissertation positions paintings and painters of the Reichsautobahn in the overall context of art production in the “Third Reich”. It concludes that the output was numerically rather small and not particularly important despite having been presented in dedicated exhibitions and in the Große Deutsche Kunstausstellung. The paintings were sold to the Nazi Party or the industry that worked on the Autobahn, but not to private collectors; most artists working on the subject are forgotten today. This thesis is the first in-depth research into the subject of Autobahnmalerei and will hopefully serve as launchpad for further investigations.   Guarnaschelli, Dean J. Lothar Günther Buchheim's Das Boot: Memory and the Nazi Past. St. John’s University, Department of World History. Advisors: Dolores L. Augustine, Mauricio Borrero, and Konrad Tuchscherer. July 2020. Abstract: This study investigates the relationship between Lothar-Günther Buchheim (1918-2007), his bestselling 1973 novel Das Boot (The Boat), and West Germany’s Vergangenheitsbewältigung. As a war reporter during the Battle of the Atlantic, Buchheim benefitted from distinct privileges, yet he was never in a position of power. Thirty years later Buchheim confronted his own past and railed against what he perceived to be a varnished public memory of the submarine campaign. Michael Rothberg’s theory of the implicated beneficiary is used as a lens to view Buchheim and this duality. Das Boot has been retold by others worldwide because many people claim that the story bears an anti-war message. Wolfgang Petersen’s critically acclaimed 1981 film and interpretations as a comedy sketch, a live stage play and a streamed television sequel have followed. This trajectory of Buchheim’s personal memory reflects a process that practitioners of memory studies have described as transnational memory formation. Archival footage, interviews, and teaching materials reflect the relevance of Das Boot since its debut. Given the debates that surrounded Buchheim’s endeavors, the question now raised is whether Germany’s “mastering the past” serves as a model for other societies analyzing their own histories.   Halpern, Sara. Saving the Unwanted: The International Response to Shanghai’s Jewish Refugees, 1943-1949. Ohio State University, Department of History. Advisor: Robin Judd. October 2020. Abstract: The dissertation places the Holocaust survival of 15,000 European Jewish refugees in Shanghai into the global history of World War II and its aftermath. Given that institutional archives in Australia, Europe, Israel, and North America maintained voluminous correspondences between government and United Nations officials and Jewish organizations concerning this group in Shanghai, the dissertation rethinks the Holocaust and Jewish history and historiography in global context rather than regional or national. The sources reveal that resurging nationalism and racism curtailed opportunities for relief and emigration for Shanghai’s Jewish refugees. Thus, the dissertation argues that Shanghai’s Jewish refugees symbolized the unwanted human spoils of Western imperialism during China’s treaty port era. Neither China nor Western Powers desired to take full humanitarian responsibility for the Jewish refugees’ well-being in the aftermath of extreme nationalism and racism, including antisemitism.   Herschman, Rachel Elizabeth. : Kasper’s Theater: Avant-Garde and Propaganda Puppetry in Early Twentieth-Century Germany. University of Washington, Seattle, Department of Germanics. Advisor: Eric Ames. November 2018. Abstract: Kasper’s Theater: Avant-Garde and Propaganda Puppetry in Early Twentieth-Century Germany is a research-driven study of how and why artists turned to puppetry during the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich. Organized chronologically, the project examines the different ways a puppet could be both an icon of rebellious resistance and a vehicle for manipulation and control—and why it matters. Kasper, the tramp-like everyman trickster cousin of Punch, is a central character, but this study follows other puppets, too, and brings together a range of works by canonical, lesser-studied, and newly rediscovered artists. More than just a history of puppetry, Kasper’s Theater argues that puppets blur the line between life and art and offers a new view of German cultural and political history.   Hirstein, Mario. Gewalt und Spiele in den Filmen Michael Hanekes. University of Waterloo, Canada & Universität Mannheim, Deutschland. Advisors: Alice Kuzniar, Waterloo and Justus Fetscher, Mannheim. December 2019. Abstract: This dissertation shows how Michael Haneke’s films expose the ludic qualities of today’s most common forms of violence. Time and again, the protagonists of Haneke’s films play violent games or are forced to play against their will, suffering in the process. Guilt and childhood, the virtualizing effects of games and videos and the modern media landscape, ritual sacrifice, ironic employment of a “dark pedagogy” and, most importantly, the ubiquity of game structures in the neoliberal present, are at the center of these games. While play and violence are intertwined in many ways, it is especially the meta-game of economics which conjoins both concepts. The structural violence that is inscribed in the global financial game is revealed throughout Haneke’s oeuvre, often through underprivileged “players” who are rejected from participating. Haneke’s involvement of the audience in meta-diegetic mind games (Elsaesser) is crucial for understanding cultural and economic violence as a constant in our daily lives.   Jangam, Urvi. Eine Ästhetik des Nicht-Visuellen. University of Mumbai, Department of German. Advisors: Vibha Surana Department German, university of Mumbai (Erste Betreuerin), Andrea Bogner Interkultureller Germanistik Georg-August-Universität Göttingen. September 2019. Abstract: Die vorliegende Studie von mir als geburtsblinde Forscherin postuliert anhand der indischen Ästhetik des rasa (ästhetischer Genuss) eine eigenständige nicht-visuelle Ästhetik, die ihre Wurzeln vor allem in den vier Sinnen hat und eine neue Art des rasa, d. h. den nicht-visuellen ästhetischen Genuss (adrishya rasa) anbietet. Sie erörtert diese nicht-visuelle Ästhetik im Rahmen zweier grundlegender, wenig untersuchter Bereiche, nämlich der ästhetischen Wahrnehmung der Blinden und der literarischen Texte blinder Autor*innen. Ausgewählt wurden hierfür Reisetexte, Gedichte und Kurzprosa. Der indische ästhetische Rasa-Ansatz musste jedoch um eine neue Art des ästhetischen Erlebens erweitert werden, nämlich die des nichtvisuellen, um den Texten der blinden Autor*innen gerecht werden zu können. Die kritische und kontrastive Auseinandersetzung mit Texten von Geburtsblinden und Späterblindeten Schriftstellern deutet auf eine alternative Ästhetik hin, die so bisher kaum konzipiert wurde. Die unterschiedlichen Nuancen der nicht-visuellen Wahrnehmung werden in der Farbwahrnehmung, Raumwahrnehmung, nicht-visuellen Ästhetik in der Sprache, sowie Entstehung der Bilder dargestellt.   Kick, Verena. Negotiating the German Public Sphere: Workers, Soldiers, and Women in Photobooks of Weimar Germany. University of Washington, Germanics. Advisor: Sabine Wilke. June 2019. Abstract: This dissertation focuses on the intersection of non-fiction writing and visual culture, specifically on the montage of texts and photos as an approach to examine the changing public sphere in Weimar Germany. “Negotiating the German Public Sphere: Workers, Soldiers, and Women in Photobooks of Weimar Germany” shows how photobooks employ montage strategies associated both with 1920s Soviet Cinema and Walter Benjamin’s concepts of montage and experience to specifically address workers, soldiers, and women. An analysis of Walter Benjamin’s Einbahnstraße (1928), Kurt Tucholsky’s and John Heartfield’s Deutschland, Deutschland über Alles (1929) and Ernst Friedrich’s two volumes of Krieg dem Kriege! (1924/1926) reveals how these photobooks offer an alternative to the biased portrayals of these social groups in Weimar Germany’s mass media. At the same time, particularly Tucholsky, Heartfield and Friedrich demonstrate to these groups, as the intended readers of their publications, the possibility of creating an effective consciousness to combat impending fascism. This work engages with the larger discussion of the representation of social classes in German literature and media, and it furthermore contributes to the scholarship on photobooks by elucidating previously uninvestigated uses of photographs and montage strategies.   Kintzinger, Stowe. Civilian Power Status Questioned: The Curious Case of Post-Unification German Foreign Policy Toward Iran. Durham University, School of Government and International Affairs. Advisor: Ruth Wittlinger. January 2020. Abstract: By approaching post-unification German foreign policy toward Iran from an original, civilian power perspective, this thesis not only offers a new way of explaining the relationship, but considers for the first time, its wider implications for prevailing understandings of German foreign policy and interest. Despite concern that with unification, Germany would return to rationalist and materialist aims in its foreign policy, instead, the prevailing characterisation remains one of ostensible continuity as a civilian power. Notwithstanding the prevalence of this explanation, existing literature has advanced a fundamental question regarding the extent to which Germany remains a civilian power, or is in fact, pursuing an increasingly normalised approach to foreign policy. Although German foreign policy towards Iran is prominent, it remains greatly under-evaluated, and has never been substantively addressed from any theoretical or analytical perspective, despite appearing to challenge civilian power understandings of Germany’s foreign policy and interest. In approaching Germany’s foreign policy toward Iran from a civilian power perspective, this thesis ultimately demonstrates that contrary to prevailing, civilian power explanations of Germany, its policy in this case is fundamentally explained by economic interests, provided that diplomatic efforts preempt the use of military force by others.   Lampe, Josch. The Marxisms of West Germany's "1968": Remaking a Public Critique through Literary Magazines. University of Texas at Austin, Department of Germanic Studies. Advisor: Katherine Arens. February 2021. Abstract: My dissertation focuses on two of West Germany's preeminent literary magazines—Kursbuch (founded in 1965) and Literaturmagazin (founded in 1973)—and the ways in which they sought to shape and redefine a literary public sphere as a site of cultural and political critique during the long '68, as well as their role in the reevaluation and dissemination of different, global Marxisms. It combines archival research on the editorial correspondence and conceptualization of these respective magazines with a detailed analysis of their content in order to better understand the intellectual event "1968" and its immediate aftermath as part of a larger contested history of publishing practices in West Germany after 1945. My project recoups a set of West German and international voices that have been too often overlooked as viable experiments in Western Marxisms within an international framework, not just as part of West Germany's nation-(re)building and World War II recovery. In other words, these magazines brought to public discussion a broader spectrum of leftist thought. I illustrate how the journals' editorial staffs were assessing West Germany by addressing its weaknesses through the lenses of an inherently international, multilayered, and often incoherent set of Marxist agendas in the making.   Liberles, Ahuva. Believing or Belonging: Religious Conversions, Family Life, and the Jewish Community in late Medieval German Lands. Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jewish History Department. Advisors: Ephraim Shoham-Steiner and Israel Yuval. December 2020. Abstract: This research project examined three important topics – conversion, family life and the relations within the Jewish community in Regensburg during the period of the regime of Duke Ludwig IX, beginning with the expulsion of Jews from the Bavarian duchy surrounding Regensburg (1450) and until Regensburg's blood libel accusation of 1476. This research consists of three life stories, whose footprints were found in the bavarian archives. They relate to the precarious experience involved in converting to a new religion and changing one’s religious and social identity. Each chapter examines and reconstructs some elements of conversion that lay at the core of the case study in question, using a wide range of legal and archival sources of both Jewish and Christian provenance. The political discussion in each chapter helps trace the specifics of the decline of the Jewish community’s influence in the city, demonstrated by their actions and reactions when a member of their religious minority considered converting to the religion of the ruling society. It illuminates the contesting social aspects of conversion within the broader political, judicial, and social aspects of the Jewish-Christian encounter in the German lands in the final decades of the medieval period.   Luginbill, Sarah. Portable Altars, Devotion, and Memory in German Lands, 1050-1190 CE. University of Colorado Boulder, Department of History. Advisor: Anne E. Lester, Johns Hopkins University. May 2021. Abstract: This dissertation examines the patronage and production of non-fixed altars during the height of the Investiture Conflict and during the period of the early crusades (c.1095-1190), when notions about the role of priests, the Mass, and ecclesiastical ritual were changing in the Holy Roman Empire. Through the analysis of textual references to devotional objects and their meanings in monastic chronicles and charters, this dissertation argues that because of their portable nature, altars, reliquaries, censers, patens, liturgical textiles, and crosses provided a physical conduit for memory and a source of wealth in times of crisis. Additionally, it demonstrates how reliquaries and altars not only preserved the individual and institutional identities of their donors through inscriptions and iconography, but also drew attention to the sacrality of the object itself. In the midst of the Saxon War and ongoing struggles with the Holy Roman Emperor, nobles and clergy in Saxony expressed their piety and asserted their autonomy through devotional object donation and treatment. Surviving portable altars from this region, when studied alongside extant charters and chronicles, provide insight into the centrality of objects to Christian devotion in periods of upheaval.   McKnight, Douglas. Persecution and Resistance: The Carinthian Slovenes and Memories of the Second World War. Georgetown University, German Department. Advisor: Katrin Sieg. November 2020. Abstract: This dissertation traces the evolution and diversification of Carinthian Slovene vernacular memory practices, showing that the trauma of forced assimilation, persecution, deportation, and resistance during the Second World War has produced a hyper-local memory in Austria that challenges Carinthia’s official memory of the Second World War. Relying on John Bodnar’s framework of memory, it examines these various vernacular practices through a cross-media analysis of museums, memorials, civic education initiatives, and literature created by Carinthian Slovene artists and memory activists. Using a variety of methods from various fields, including literary and cultural studies, history, and critical geography, it juxtaposes these various media of memory, showing the advantages and limitations of each, and by doing so, reveals the numerous strategies a historically discriminated against minority has at its disposal for influencing the official memory culture of the state in which it resides. By concentrating on southern Carinthia, it adds a new, regional perspective to studies of postwar Austrian collective memory and shows that the dynamics of collective memory in southern Carinthia continue to remain locally anchored, and thus question Memory Studies’ recent emphasis of transnational memory frameworks, particularly for European memories of the Second World War.   Müller, Matthias. The Loser's Edge: Writing from the Vantage Point of the Vanquished, 1918-1945. Cornell University, Department of German Studies. Advisor: Patrizia C. McBride. December 2020. Abstract: The Loser’s Edge: Writing from the Vantage Point of the Vanquished, 1918–1945, examines how the experience of defeat became a unique source of epistemological insight in literature and historiography between 1918 and the beginning of the Cold War. Taking my cue from historian Reinhart Koselleck’s polemical claim that history may well be made by the victors but is in fact written by the vanquished, I argue that experiences of defeat triggered a singular mode of historical reflection that was substantially marked by aesthetic innovation. In three exemplary case studies–focusing on the German defeats in World War I and World War II, and each staging a dialog between two writers–I show how Koselleck’s anthropological account of history-writing as a reversal of the victor-vanquished dialectic not only provides an unconventional framework for making sense of Germany’s historical role in European modernity. It also captures a striking modernist constellation that linked historiography, storytelling, and future-oriented thinking. The work of storytelling implied by this historiographic model is aesthetic at its very core. It provides trenchant analytical categories for appraising the experiential negotiation of defeat in works by Heinrich and Thomas Mann, Alfred Döblin, and Ernst Jünger. Müller-Kindler, Kathrin. 1. und 2. Deutsche Architektur- und Kunsthandwerk-Ausstellung im Haus der Deutschen Kunst zu München (1938 und 1938/1939): Dokumentation, Analyse und Kontextualisierung. Ludwig Maximilians-Universität München: Fakultät für Geschichts- und Kunstwissenschaften. Advisors: Christian Fuhrmeister and Wolf Tegethoff. July 2020.  Abstract: Im Zentrum der Arbeit steht die Aufarbeitung der „Deutschen Architektur- und Kunsthandwerk- Ausstellung im Haus der Deutschen Kunst zu München“ 1938 und 1939 im Hinblick auf ihre Organisationsstrukturen, Ausstellungskonzepte und Wirkungsgeschichte wie auch die Einbettung in einen Überblick über die Architekturausstellungen in Deutschland zwischen 1933 und 1945. Besonderes Augenmerk wird hier auf die Ausstellung „Neue Deutsche Baukunst“, eine deutsche Wanderausstellung im europäischen Ausland von 1941- 1943, gelegt. Diese Arbeit trägt dazu bei, das Wissen über die nationalsozialistische Ausstellungspraxis zu vervollständigen und bietet durch die Katalogisierung der Architekturausstellungen zwischen 1934 und 1943 eine profunde Grundlage für weitere Forschungen.   Obermeier, Stephanie. Reluctant Autofictionalists. Early Twenty-First-Century French and German Experiments with the Autofiction Genre. University of Kent, Department of Comparative Literature and Department of Modern Languages. Advisors: Heide Kunzelmann and Lucy O'Meara. December 2020. Abstract: This thesis comprises six case studies of the twenty-first-century French and German autofictional novel by the authors Amélie Nothomb, Felicitas Hoppe, Michel Houellebecq, Thomas Meinecke, Clemens J. Setz, and Anne F. Garréta and Jacques Roubaud. The study is concerned with novels which, although they might not fully conform to the autofiction genre, clearly demonstrate an extreme self-awareness and self-consciousness with regards to their generic status and engage in explicit or implicit dialogue with autofiction and genre theory. Precisely because of autofiction’s surge in popularity, on the one hand, and its fraught and complex reception, on the other, autofiction lends itself as a genre through which contemporary authors may explore newer developments in novelistic genres and contemporary forms of (firstperson) storytelling more broadly. While they make use of complex associative narrative structures in order to subvert the autofictional character’s authority and the reader’s expectations, these novels are not, however, representative of a new genre or literary era, even though the more experimental texts in the latter half of this study gesture toward potential future innovation, as influenced by models of digital textuality.   Peters, Meindert E. Re-Inhabiting Modernism: Embodied Cognition in German Literature and Thought 1910- 1934. University of Oxford, Department of Medieval and Modern Languages. Advisor: Ben Morgan. July 2020. Abstract: This thesis brings five German modernist texts into dialogue with contemporary cognitive studies. In doing so, it opens up a space from which to explore an often-neglected aspect of German modernist texts, namely their exploration of how one can re-situate oneself in unfamiliar environments. Rather than emphasising the alienation and isolation that these texts explore regarding the modern urban environment, this dialogue helps us focus on the more dynamic moments of use, responsiveness, cooperation, and coordination also at the heart of these explorations. At the same time, the modernist period, as a dynamic and often overwhelming time of socio-political and material change and upheaval, also asks us to shift our focus, in contemporary cognitive studies, away from smooth coping, that is, the moments in which things go well and easy. Infusing cognitive studies with the existential questions asked by these texts helps us explore not only the ways in which we react to the socio-material environment’s resistance and frustration of our everyday comportments, but also the ways in which we can come to be responsive to, and re-situate ourselves in, such unfamiliar territory.   Ploschnitzki, Patrick. "Das hätten sie mal richtig übersetzen sollen!" - Folk Myths and Fanscaping in German Dubbing. University of Arizona, Department of German Studies. Advisor: David Gramling. April 2021. Abstract: “Somebody translated it wrong at some point, and then everybody started talking that way.” is one of the many constantly perpetuated folk myths arising around dubbing, i.e., lipsynchronized audiovisual translation. The dissertation investigates this and other assumptions in a German-German context, especially the notion of “wrong translations” that is particularly present in fan-made review platforms of television dubbed into German. Contrasted with interviews with agents of the current German dubbing industry, the dissertation further explores online amateur commentary on canonical episodes of the US-American animated sitcom The Simpsons and the fan-translator relationship in a globalized, networked, enlightened context. Central to his research is the concept of fanscaping: unsolicited lay revisions of professional translations, usually generated on (proprietary) online platforms by enthusiast communities insisting, often inconsistently, on intercultural accuracy and semantic precision over translators’ deliberate, pragmatic compromises.   Quam, Justin. Helping Language Learners Align with Readers Through Narrative: Insights into the Breadth, Targets, and Explicitness of Evaluation from APPRAISAL Studies of L2 German Writers. Georgetown University, German Department. Advisor: Marianna Ryshina-Pankova. August 2020. Abstract: Successful meaning-making through language depends on an awareness of one’s presumed audience. In engaging with that audience, literate language users are characterized by their ability to express individuality, offer opinions, assert affiliation, and reinforce or challenge socially valued concepts through the choice of linguistic tokens appropriate to those interactions. In Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL; Halliday & Matthiessen, 2013), these uses of language fall under the interpersonal metafunction, which encompasses the language user’s goals and relationship with an intended audience (Eggins, 2004; Halliday, 1984). One key component of interpersonal meaning making is evaluative language, described within the context of SFL by the APPRAISAL system (Martin & White, 2005), which facilitates analysis of evaluation patterns beyond the word or sentence level (Coffin, 2002). This project involved APPRAISAL analyses of two sets of texts written by learners of German at four proficiency levels. Lower-proficiency writers tended to rely more heavily on explicit, narrator-centered evaluations, whereas higher-proficiency writers drew more often on emotion as a vehicle for implicit evaluation and broadened the scope of their evaluations to include valued behaviors and traits. The thesis concludes with potential instructional activities and remarks on the applicability of the current APPRAISAL scheme to narrative analysis.   Resvick, Jessica C. Reading Recognition: The Poetics of Poetic Realism. University of Chicago, Department of Germanic Studies. Advisor: Christopher Wild. May 2019. Abstract: This study examines the motif and operation of recognition in texts by Adalbert Stifter and Gottfried Keller. Combining newer media historical approaches to the period with traditional epistemological concepts, it refigures poetic realism in terms of its relationship to knowledge transmission. In the primary texts considered here, recognition (Aristotelean anagnorisis) frequently transpires through the act of reading (anagnosis). By engaging with chronicles, letters, or epigrams, protagonists come to sudden and occasionally fantastic insights about their obscured familial identities and, more generally, the congruence of their life with art. While the apparent artifice of these scenes seems to put them at odds with the tenets of realism, they in fact reveal the poetics of poetic realism by reflecting the conditions of the narrative’s production and reception. These self-reflexive scenes, ubiquitous in realist texts, at once engender “reality effects” and focus attention on the constructed character of such works. Close readings of canonical narratives, manuscripts, and personal journals demonstrate the media-specific ways these authors construct literary reality and the ways in which intra- and extradiegetic readers gain knowledge, via texts, about this reality. The recognition scene thus emerges as a hallmark of realist poetics and discloses a uniquely realist mode of reading.   Rettig, Noelle. From Aesthetic to Pathology: Reading Literary Case Studies of Melancholy, 1775-1830. Georgetown University, German Department. Advisor: Mary Helen Dupree. August 2019. Abstract: This dissertation contributes to the ongoing discussion of the narrative representation of mental illness in the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries, at a time when the nascent disciplines of psychology and psychiatry began to come into their own, and the discourses of mind and body were renegotiated under advances in the medical sciences; I attempt, in other words, to examine how mental illness was conceptualized long before diagnoses such as depression, bipolarity, or schizophrenia made their way into mainstream scientific discourse. Even though “melancholy” continued to function during this time period as a blanket term for any number of mental, physical, and spiritual illnesses, thereby connoting a pathological state, it also began to take on a specifically “poetic” meaning, involving the subjective and transitory mood of the modern individual. As a focal point, I have chosen four primary texts: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Die Leiden des jungen Werther (1774), Friedrich Schiller’s Die Räuber (1781), Karl Philipp Moritz’s Anton Reiser (1785-1790), and Georg Büchner’s Lenz (1836) – works which all represent melancholy at the interstices of science and subjectivity, reason and passion. In its entirety, the study investigates how multivalent images of melancholy are deployed in order to individuate characters and their respective psychologies, emotions, and affects.   Rowan-Olive, Caroline. Cultural memory and Vergangenheitsaufarbeitung in Christa Wolf’s prose works: a narratological and cultural studies analysis. University of Reading, Department of Languages and Cultures. Advisors: Dennis Tate and Ute Wölfel. November 2020. Abstract: This thesis examines three important prose works by Christa Wolf: Kindheitsmuster (1976), Kassandra (1983) and Leibhaftig (2002), focusing on Wolf’s treatment of the National Socialist past, including the persistence of National Socialist patterns of thought throughout the lifetime of the German Democratic Republic. A text-focused narratological approach is combined with the broader perspectives offered by cultural memory studies. Both the production contexts and the reception of the texts are explored. Of central concern is the extent to which these texts shift the boundaries between what is remembered and what is forgotten, to include the experience of otherwise excluded social groups. The key discourses explored are the perpetrator-victim configuration, trauma and testimony. Kindheitsmuster combines empathy for German victims with uncompromising insistence on the guilt of Mitläufer/innen. The later texts are gentler on perpetrators, though the trauma discourse is sustained. The witness discourse is most prominent in Kassandra, which also universalises the search for causes of war through the use of myth. In Leibhaftig, the focus shifts from the body politic to the individual female body. All three texts shift the boundaries of cultural memory towards the inclusion of the experience of less powerful social groups, particularly women.   Seale, Joshua. Between Austria and Germany, Heimat and Zuhause: German-Speaking Refugees and the Politics of Memory in Austria. Georgetown University, German Department. Advisor: Friederike Eigler. August 2020. Abstract: This dissertation explores the memory of postwar German-speaking refugees in Austria through an analysis of diverse media, cultural practices, and their reception. Part I examines postwar memorials and their reception in newspapers, as well as the role of pilgrimage, religious ritual, and public responses of defacement. Part II focuses on post-Waldheim literature and its reception, specifically examining the literary genres of novels and travelogues describing German-speaking refugees’ trips to their former homes. Identifying a gap between the vast cultural memory of German-speaking refugees on the one hand, and the dearth of scholarship dealing with the subject on the other, I argue that it is time for these memories to be taken seriously and not be dismissed as uncritical or otherwise problematic representations of the past. At the same time, however, they cannot be accepted as-is without placing them in the proper historical context. Consequently, an analysis of narrative strategies and the role of memory in making the past present is timely and important.   Shacham-Rosby, Chana. Elijah the Prophet in Medieval Franco-German (Ashkenazi) Jewish Culture. Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Department of Jewish History. Advisor: Ephraim Shoham-Steiner. May 2020. Abstract: This study focuses on the figure of the biblical prophet Elijah in the context of Jewish culture during the high middle ages. The study begins with an overview of Elijah's character in Jewish and Christian sources. Following is an examination of three arenas where Elijah is prominently featured: Eschatology, Circumcision and Passover Seder. The study discusses how the construction of Elijah's character and roles reflects how these Jewish communities perceived themselves within their historical setting. The study also introduces an innovative approach to understanding the mechanisms of how knowledge was transmitted between different strata of society, as well as between Jews and Christians living in the medieval urban setting.   Sieg Barthold, Emily. The Thirty Years’ War as Unifying Heritage: Historical Fiction, Ecumenism, and German Nation-Building (1871-1920). Georgetown University, German Department. Advisor: Mary Helen Dupree. April 2019. Abstract: To investigate how literary narratives of the Thirty Years’ War reinterpreted this conflict as unifying heritage for German Protestants and Catholics, this dissertation presents the results of a survey of 34 historical novels published between 1871 and 1920. Given the salience of confession in the popular imagination of the Thirty Years’ War, this study explores how literary portrayals reflect Imperial German understandings of what it meant to be German and whether this “Germanness” was contingent upon confession. Despite the diversity of modes of historical and political thought during this period, this study argues that historical fiction of the Thirty Years’ War: (1) masks contemporary concerns in historical imaginings in order to comment on national unity, ecumenical reconciliation, and/or women’s and Jewish (anti-)emancipation; (2) recast power politics and greed, rather than religion, as the driving force behind catastrophic war in order to present the collective trauma of 1618-1648 as both the crucible of German national identity and a warning against the peril of internal German division; and (3) in a majority of cases portray German national identity as compatible with the Protestant as well as Catholic confessions, and in a minority of cases with Jewish and other religious identities.   Thompson, Peter. Synthesizing the chemical subject: Poison gas, gas masks, and collective armoring in Germany, 1915-1938. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Advisor: Peter Fritzsche. February 2021. Abstract: At the broadest level, “Synthesizing the Chemical Subject” argues that the gas mask proved to exacerbate fears of possible chemical warfare among Germans in the 1920s and 30s. As a technological object imbued with pervasive anxiety about political, social, and environmental instability, the gas mask was a ubiquitous presence in interwar German society. Not only did daily encounters with the mask visibly present the possibility of aero-chemical attack, but the object itself became a symbol of the very nature of German futurity. The project narrates the contestations over this vision of a "chemically-minded" future and the ways in which scientific calls for gas mask distribution aligned with the Nazis’ appeal to a protected and disciplined Third Reich that extended into each German household. By revealing the ways in which a seemingly protective 20th century technology maintained its own violent politics and existed within a perversely self-justifying technological order, the project underscores the ways in which technological objects have historically impacted perceptions of both national community and environmental risk.   Uca, Didem. Coming of Age on the Move: Young Travelers, Migrants, and Refugees in 20th- and 21stCentury Literature in German. University of Pennsylvania, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures. Advisor: Catriona MacLeod. June 2019. Abstract: This dissertation analyzes texts by eight twentieth- and twenty-first-century transnational, multilingual, and hyphenated authors–– Franz Kafka, Irmgard Keun, Elias Canetti, Emine Sevgi Özdamar, Vladimir Vertlib, Yoko Tawada, Selim Özdoğan, and Saša Stanišić––whose young protagonists travel, migrate, and seek refuge due to different sociohistorical, political, and familial factors. Their child and adolescent protagonists must learn to negotiate various national, cultural, and linguistic contexts while facing intersecting forms of marginalization on the basis of factors such as race, religion, gender, sexuality, age, nationality, and linguistic background. As the protagonists come of age, they begin to find their voices, affecting both their engagement with their storyworlds and the narration of their stories. The dissertation makes two significant interventions. First, this is the only extended study of transnational German literature to consider age alongside other intersecting components of identity. Second, by combining sociocultural and narratological methods, the study develops an analytical framework to address issues of identity, politics, aesthetics, and form. By featuring young protagonists coming of age amidst literal, linguistic, and figurative border crossings, these texts play on, reimagine, and burst open tropes of the traditional Bildungsroman genre and thus constitute a newly theorized subgenre: the modern transnational Bildungsroman in German.   Von Holt, Isabel. Figurationen des bösen im barocken Trauerspiel. Freie Universität Berlin, Fachbereich Philosophie und Geisteswissenschaften, Institut für Deutsche und Niederländische Philologie. Advisors: Peter-André Alt and Hans Richard Brittnacher. September 2019. Abstract: The study “Figurationen des Bösen im barocken Trauerspiel” deepens the understanding of 17th century literary and cultural production by reassessing the dramatic writing from authors such as Andreas Gryphius and Daniel Casper von Lohenstein as an aesthetics of evil avant la lettre. The dissertation argues that by locating evil inside its human protagonists, these plays respond to and were shaped by an anthropological shift from malus to malum in the early modern episteme, anticipating an internalization or even psychologization of evil, which until now has been claimed only for the 18th century onward. This research intervenes in the continuous discussion that considers aesthetics of evil to be a particularly modern phenomenon by presenting an early modern perspective. It thus revises the situation of the Baroque at the threshold between the premodern and modern periods.   Watroba, Karolina. "Der Zauberberg" and the Pleasures of Immersive Reading. University of Oxford, Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages. Advisor: Ben Morgan. September 2019. Abstract: This is the first study of Thomas Mann's "Der Zauberberg" ("The Magic Mountain", 1924) written from the perspective of its non-academic readers. I discuss hundreds of records of reading experiences - preserved in parentheses and asides and between the lines of traditional academic studies, on Internet fora and blogs, in reviews, essays and memoirs, marketing brochures from Davos and advertizing copy used to sell the novel, Mann's fan mail and his replies to it, and in books and films, whether popular, famous or half-forgotten. The reading records that I have brought together span the century since the novel’s publication, as well as numerous languages and several continents, and testify to an energetic confrontation with "Der Zauberberg" outside the ivory tower of academia. Using the common metaphor of immersion in a book, I discuss different examples of how and why non-academic readers have engaged with the novel and what it has meant to them, and what academic readers have missed by not attending to this wealth of untapped material.   Wangensteen, Kjell. Hyperborean Baroque: David Klöcker Ehrenstrahl (1628-98) and the Rhetoric of Style. Princeton University, Department of Art & Archaeology. Advisor: Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann. June 2019. Abstract: This dissertation examines the transformation of painting style and practice effected by the Swedish court painter David Klöcker Ehrenstrahl (1628–98). A native of Hamburg, Ehrenstrahl spent several years studying and working in various cities across Europe before rising to prominence in Sweden in the decades following the Thirty Years War. Much in demand by aristocratic clients, he primarily served two royal patrons during his long and distinguished career: Dowager Queen Hedwig Eleonora and her son, King Karl XI, who enlisted Ehrenstrahl’s talents for a series of ambitious cultural projects when the kingdom was at the height of its wealth and power. Though steeped in a variety of contemporary artistic models, ranging from Dutch still-life to English portraiture and High Roman Baroque allegory, Ehrenstrahl refused to confine himself to one particular genre or mode of painting following his arrival in Sweden. Rather, he appropriated, adapted, and synthesized various motifs and styles to suit many purposes, including his own advancement at court. While this dissertation comprises a monograph on Ehrenstrahl, its fundamental argument is a methodological one that predicates artistic “style” as a set of conscious decisions often made in service to practical and political aims, not just aesthetic ones.   Winters, Melissa K. From the Wartburg to Nuremberg: Richard Wagner, the Middle High German Blütezeit, and Early Modernity. University of California, Berkeley, German and Medieval Studies. Advisor: Elaine C. Tennant. December 2020. Abstract: The composer Richard Wagner was an avid reader of pre-modern literature and scholarly studies of the Middle Ages and the Reformation era; nearly all of his mature operas reflect this lifelong interest. This dissertation examines his reception of the Middle High German courtly literary tradition and its after-echoes in Early New High German textual culture in two of his operas, Tannhäuser (1845) and Die Meistersinger (1868), situating these works within broad trends and developments that took place within the field of Germanic philology in the 1800s. Paying particular attention to the reciprocal influence between scholarship and the fine arts during this era, it considers both the libretti and scores of Tannhäuser and Die Meistersinger in light of what nineteenth-century philologists had to say about both minnesong and mastersong. It argues that whereas Tannhäuser represents an experimental stage in Wagner’s medievalism, one that incorporates a number of ideas Wagner had encountered in his early explorations of Germanic philology, some of which are not wholly intellectually compatible, Die Meistersinger demonstrates a remarkably nuanced understanding of the differences between thirteenth- and sixteenth-century poetic idiom and style, which Wagner underscores by the strategic use of musical archaism.  

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The German National Library ( Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek ) receives a depository copy of dissertations written in Germany. They also have an extensive collection of dissertations written elsewhere about German topics.

• Go to Erweiterte Suche (Advanced Search) on the DDB OPAC .
• Set one of the search boxes to “Hochschulschrift,” and search for “diss?” (where “?” is the truncation operator). Set another search box to "Alle Wörter or Schlagwörter," and type in your search term(s).
• Click on the "suchen" button.

Having identified the dissertation you need, search for it in the Center for Research Library (CRL) Catalog  making sure that the "Dissertations" tab is selected at the top. If it is held by CRL, you can initiate an Interlibrary Loan (ILL) Request to have UCLA Library borrow the dissertation on your behalf. If you do not find the title you want, you can request to have it purchased through CRL's Demand Purchase Program . If you need assistance with this process, please contact the Librarian/Curator for European Studies. 

Printed Bibliographic Sources for German Dissertations:

• Deutsche Nationalbibliographie und Bibliographie der im Ausland erschienenen deutschsprachigen Veröffentlichungen. Reihe H, Hochschulschriften. Monatliches Verzeichnis. Monthly bibliograpy. Frankfurt am Main : Buchhändler-Vereinigung.
• Deutsche Nationalbibliographie und Bibliographie der im Ausland erschienenen deutschsprachigen Veröffentlichungen. Reihe E, Monographien und Periodika -- Fünfjahresverzeichnis Five-yearly cumulation. Bearbeiter und Herausgeber: Die Deutsche Bibliothek. Published/distributed: 1986-1990- Frankfurt am Main : Buchhändler-Vereinigung, 1992- . Available in YRL Reference Reading Room and at SRLF.
• Österreichische Dissertationsdatenbank Austrian Dissertation Databank.
• Gesamtverzeichnis Österreichischer Dissertationen. 1966- . Complete Directory of Austrian Dissertations. Organized by university and then alphabetically by author. Includes an author and subject index.
• Helveticat Helveticat is the online catalog of the Swiss National Library (NL). Add the word “diss” to your search terms in order to retrieve dissertations.
• Jahresverzeichnis der Schweizerischen Hochschulschriften = Catalogue des Écrits Académiques Suisses. 1897/98– This is the annual directory of Swiss university publications and includes dissertations published before 1999. Available online through HathiTrust.
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Dissertation search tools available at Yale

• Orbis (Yale dissertations only) Orbis holds records for all Yale dissertations for which microfilm copies exist, i.e. all dissertations completed in departments of the Graduate School since 1965, plus select dissertations completed in departments of the Graduate School between 1892 & 1965. Yale dissertations can be located in Orbis by: (1) Entering the author / title in a Simple Search (2) Using the terms “dissertation” or “thesis” and words known to be in the bibliographic record in a Keyword search. more... less... If you do not locate a Yale dissertation in Orbis, check the card catalog at Manuscripts and Archives. Except for some early dissertations that are not available, all Yale dissertations are held at Manuscripts and Archives.
• ProQuest Dissertations & Theses This database makes nearly every dissertation ever filed in the United States available in PDF format. Not all dissertations are available, however, as authors with dissertations under contract with a press are sometimes encouraged not to make their dissertations freely available. In these cases you can at least read an abstract. Note that you can search by school, department, and adviser.

From European institutions

• DART-Europe The European portal for finding electronic theses and dissertations. DART-Europe is a partnership of research libraries and library consortia who are working together to improve global access to European research theses.
• Deutsche Nationalbibliothek German dissertations since 1998 are comprehensively collected by the National Library of Germany, so search its online catalog by clicking on the link above.
• Dissonline Searches electronic university publications held by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, including dissertations and "Habilitationen".
• Electronic Theses Online Service (EThOS) EThOS offers free access, in a secure format, to the full text of electronically stored UK theses--a rich and vast body of knowledge.
• Index to Theses A Comprehensive Listing of Theses with Abstracts Accepted for Higher Degrees by Universities in Great Britain and Ireland since 1716. Abstracts are available from many theses since 1970 and for all since 1986.
• Österreichische Dissertationsdatenbank This database references over 55,000 dissertations and theses held at Austrian universities; select dissertations are available online.

From international institutions

• CRL Center for Research Libraries Foreign Doctoral Dissertations Holds 800,000 dissertations from universities outside the U.S. and Canada. However, only 20,000 of these are cataloged in the database. If you know the exact title of a dissertation and do not find it in the database, CRL recommends searching the CRL Catalog. If the title does not appear in the database or the catalog, contact CRL directly to inquire if it is held. CRL continues to acquire about 5,000 titles per year from major universities.
• Networked Digital Library of Theses & Dissertations (NDLTD) The NDLTD is an international organization dedicated to promoting the adoption, creation, use, dissemination, and preservation of electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs). The NDLTD Catalog contains more than one million records of electronic theses and dissertations. For students and researchers, the Union Catalog makes individual collections of NDLTD member institutions and consortia appear as one seamless digital library of ETDs.
• The Universal Index of Doctoral Dissertations in Progress This site holds a database of voluntarily-registered, author-identified doctoral dissertations in progress around the world. Its goal is to avoid duplications in doctoral dissertations, create the ultimate meeting place for researchers, and allow for interaction between them. Bear in mind, though, that only dissertations which have been registered by their authors can be found in the database. Registration and access to the database are free.
• Theses Canada This is your central access point for Canadian theses. From here you will be able to: - search AMICUS, Canada's national online catalog, for bibliographic records of all theses in Library and Archives Canada's theses collection; - access & search the full text electronic versions of numerous Canadian theses and dissertations; - find out everything you need to know about Theses Canada, including how to find a thesis, information on copyright, etc.
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History Dissertation Topics

Writing a dissertation serves as the primary project of the academic element of your university experience. It is an opportunity to delve deeper into an academic topic of particular interest to you and your primary opportunity to demonstrate your capacity for independent research work within an academic environment. Your dissertation can either help develop a more nuanced understanding of existing scholarship, analyze existing scholarship through a new analytical prism or if you are particularly fortunate perhaps even shed new light on a subject. However, your dissertation evolves in its objective and scope, it is paramount that you choose a topic that can sustain your interest and help you maintain the motivation needed in producing a quality piece of academic research. The scope of historical periods studied in your degree programme means narrowing your focus on one particular topic can prove to be a daunting task. To aid you in choosing a topic for your dissertation, this article offers numerous topic suggestions across a broad span of historical periods. The suggestions offered cover the following periods in history: the Crimean War, Napoleon, Italian Unification, German Unification, the First World War, the Great Depression, Mussolini, Nazi Germany, Stalin’s Russia and the Second World War.

The Crimean War Dissertation Topics

Napoleon iii dissertation topics, italian unification dissertation topics, german unification dissertation topics, the first world war dissertation topics, britain 1918-1939 & the great depression dissertation topics, mussolini’s italy dissertation topics, nazi germany dissertation topics, stalin’s russia dissertation topics, the second world war 1939-1945 dissertation topics.

The Crimean War is considered to be the first ‘modern’ conflict, having influenced the course of all future wars. If you are looking to write your history dissertation on the Crimean War, the topics suggested below will give you an idea of where to start.

• What was the main cause of the Crimean war?
• Why could the Crimean War be considered to be a ‘modern’ war?
• What was the most important event in the Crimean War?
• Examine and explain French policy during the Crimean War.
• What were the consequences of the Crimean War?
• What role did religion play in in the Crimean War?
• What was the most significant event that served to settle the Crimean War?
• Why did so many attempts at peace fail with regards to the Crimean War?
• Why did the Crimean War end when it did?
• Why is the involvement of women in the Crimean War considered to be so significant?
• What were the objectives of the Ottoman Empire during the Crimean War?
• What factors motivated the French and British empires to oppose Russia and side with The Ottomans in the Crimean War?
• Was the Crimean War inevitable given the strategic objectives of the primary actors?

Napoleon III was the first President of the French Republic and the only Emperor of the Second French Empire. He rebuilt Paris to mirror what he had seen in London and sought to improve living standards, but his military policy has been called into question. Possible ideas for your history dissertation topics on Napoleon III could include:

• How and why did Napoleon III come to power?
• What was Napoleon III’s attitude towards the Vienna system and how did he put this policy into practice?
• What were the key facets of Napoleon III’s economic and social policies and how did they allow him to retain power?
• Was Napoleon III driven by a desire to liberalise or to rule?
• What were the main problems faced by Napoleon III when he came to power and were they successfully overcome?
• What was the significance of the role Napoleon III played in the Crimean War?
• How did Napoleon III’s ‘authoritarian’ system of government differ from those of previous French Emperors?
• What were the key principles behind Napoleon III’s foreign policy?
• What was the key reason for Napoleon III’s demise? Why was it so significant?
• How would you consider Napoleon III’s legacy to have influenced relations in Europe since his demise?
• Is it fair to consider Napoleon III a patron of the Arts?
• What factors underpinned Napoleon III’s decision to support Italian unification?
• Considering his numerous social and political achievements, why do you think Napoleon III’s legacy is considered to be negative by many historians?

This was the political and social movement that served to unify the different states of the Italian peninsula in the 19th century. It began with the end of Napoleonic rule and the Congress of Vienna in 1815 and ended with the Franco-Prussian War, as Italy took shape as one nation for the first time. If you are looking to take a step back from British history, perhaps you could choose a dissertation topic that focuses on Italian Unification from the list of topics below.

• What were the main causes of Italian unification?
• What were the biggest issues facing the newly formed Italian government and how were they resolved?
• Evaluate Cavour’s contribution to Italian unification – was he the key reason why Italy was successfully unified?
• Which was more important with regards to unification – economics or foreign policy?
• What impact did the unification of Italy have on the functioning of the Vienna system?
• How did Italy’s approach to foreign policy reflect that of other nations at this time?
• Why had Italy existed for so long in a state of ‘disunity’?
• Evaluate whether Italian unification served to improve people’s standard of living?
• How successful was Italian unification? What, if anything, did unification achieve?
• Evaluate the significance of the contributions of Garibaldi to Italian Unification
• How did the unification of Italy impact the Balance of Power in Europe?
• Assess the position that Guiseppe Mazzini was the key driving force behind Italian Unification?
• Evaluate the various social factors that played into Italian Unification. Can one be considered to be most important?

Germany was effectively unified in 1871 when Otto von Bismarck managed to unify all the independent states into one state. Much debate surrounds whether or not there was a master plan to unify Germany or whether the aim was just to expand the Prussian State. Please see below a choice of free history dissertation topics concerning the subject of German Unification:

• Was German unification inevitable? Consider the events that led to unification to effectively determine whether Germany was always heading towards it.
• In what ways did German unification represent a victory for German liberals during this period?
• Explain the significance of the Schleswig Holstein crisis to German unification – was it the key reason for why unification was achieved?
• How important was Bismarck to the unification of Germany?
• Was German unification a success?
• What was Germany’s biggest achievement upon its unification?
• What issues did German unification fail to address?
• Did German unification serve to remove the divisions within society and government?
• Why was German unification so important for European society at this time?
• Consider the reasons why German unification was such a significant event.
• Evaluate the argument that German Unification was primarily an exercise in Prussian Nationalism.
• What was the role of Wilhelm I in the unification of Germany?
• What were the foreign policy implications for the existing major European powers of German Unification?

Although the war was ostensibly a global one, it predominantly took place in Europe after a chain reaction of war declarations leading to war on several fronts. It broadly encircled the European continent with an astronomical loss of life that was only ended with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. The First World War is a major part of history that we have all heard about and which has many elements worthy of deeper analysis. For your history dissertation topics you could research further into one of these areas:

• Of the following events – (a) The Morocco Crisis (1905-1906); (b) The British agreement with Russia (1907); (c) The Bosnia Crisis (1908); (d) The Agadir Crisis (1911); (e) The Balkan Wars (1912 and 1913); and (f) The assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand – evaluate which was most significant in causing the First World War?
• Was any one party to blame for the First World War, if so, who and why?
• Why was there so much unrest and rivalry amongst the European nations in the early part of the twentieth century and how could this be said to have led to the outbreak of war?
• Why did Gavrilo Princip assassinate the Archduke Franz Ferdinand? Was the reasoning for this decision misguided?
• Why were the great powers of Europe able to contain the Balkan crises of 1912 and 1913, but unable to prevent this developing into a European-wide war in 1914?
• Why did German attitudes change towards Austria during this period? How could this change in attitude be said to have led to the outbreak of war?
• How did events going on in the rest of the world at this time lead to the outbreak of war in Europe?
• “Now we know where our enemy stands. Like a flash of lightning in the night, these events have shown the German people where its enemy is. When the hour of decision comes we are prepared for sacrifices, both of blood and of treasure” (From a speech made in the German Reichstag in November 1911 in Balfour. M The Kaiser Cresset (1964)) – How could it be argued Germany’s entry into the war was based on paranoia within government that influenced the general public in their push towards war?
• “The British Government cannot undertake to declare war, for any purpose, unless it is a purpose of which the people of this country” (Note to the Cabinet from the Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury, in May 1901) – What were the reasons why Britain entered the war and were they the right ones?
• Did the First World War achieve anything? Was it successfully resolved?
• Was World War I inevitable? If so, why?
• Focussing on a particular country, evaluate the role of intelligence agencies in the outcome of the war.
• Assess the strategic impact of the Battle of the Marne (1914). Can it justifiably be called the key battle of the war? If so, why?

Between the two World Wars, Britain was faced with numerable problems that various governments sought to resolve for the good of society. However, whilst successive governments were criticised, some significant advancements were made. The Great Depression was a period of British history that is perhaps overlooked more than it should be. Research in this area would make for very interesting reading, if you choose one of the following history dissertation topics:

• What were the main problems facing Lloyd George’s government in the immediate aftermath of the First World War and how successfully were these resolved?
• Why did the Labour government fall in Britain in 1924?
• Why were the effects of ‘The Great Depression’ so severe in the old industrial and mining districts of Britain?
• How did the return to the Gold Standard in 1921 only serve to exacerbate the oncoming effects of ‘The Great Depression’?
• What polices did the government introduce in an effort to resolve the ‘The Great Depression’ and did they achieve anything to limit its effects?
• What were the main problems faced by the British government in the Interwar period and were they ever effectively resolved?
• What factors outside of Europe caused ‘The Great Depression? Was it the economic breakdown in the US alone?
• Why did the world economy ‘boom’ and ‘bust’ so quickly?
• When the Second World War started to what extent was Britain ready for war?
• What was Britain’s greatest achievement in this period and what was its biggest failing?
• To what extent did the First World War directly contribute to the inability of government to respond to the Great Depression?
• Was Neville Chamberlain ‘the voice of the British people’ during the Munich crisis?
• An analysis of the policies and support for the fascist movement in Britain during the 1930’s?
• Was appeasement really a means to prepare Britain for the inevitable conflict with Hitler?
• Why did the Munich crisis fail to deliver ‘Peace in Our Time?’

Mussolini effectively became a dictator in Italy in 1922 and governed the country through the advancement of his fascist ideology. But although he initially won a great deal of popularity, he made the mistake of siding with the Nazis in the Second World War, to his cost. Perhaps you could choose this or other areas involving Mussolini for your history dissertation topics.

• What failings of previous governments made Italy so susceptible to fascist rule?
• Why did fascism seem such an interesting alternative for the Italian people – what was its appeal within sections of Italian society?
• What is the concept of ‘totalitarianism’ and how ‘totalitarian’ was Mussolini’s regime in Italy?
• Critically evaluate Mussolini’s period of government – could it be considered successful based on the benefits that accrued to the people?
• What happened in 1922 to ‘free’ the Italian Republic to Mussolini’s government and why was this event so significant?
• How and why, once Mussolini had attained power, did public opinion change?
• Choose one event and consider why this could be considered to be the defining moment that led to Mussolini’s downfall – why is this so important?
• Consider whether Mussolini had the same level of control in Italy that Hitler had attained in Germany and explain your answer through the exploration of social, political and economic factors.
• Was Mussolini’s government a continuation of, or departure from, previous Italian governments??
• Did Mussolini’s style of government overextend Italy’s resources during the Second World War?
• With reference to Antonio Gramsci’s speech to the Italian Parliament: 16th May 1925, consider the statement that ‘the fascist revolution (in Italy) was only the replacement of one administrative personnel by another.’
• Were Hitler and Mussolini ‘suspicious allies’ throughout the 1930’s?
• In what forms did the fascist government of Italy collaborate with, or oppose, the Catholic Church?
• Was the Fascist government of Italy anti-Semitic?
• Account for the repression of freemasonry by Mussolini, the forms this oppression took, and the reasons for this.

Hitler came to power as, first chancellor, and then dictator, of Germany in 1933. His Nazi Party utilised their propaganda to effectively destroy the last threads of democracy in Germany and went on to attempt to implement their ideology in Europe, with devastating results. The impact of Nazi Germany is key to the history of many countries within Europe, and indeed the world, and would be an excellent area to base your history dissertation on. Some key history dissertation topics related to Nazi Germany are listed below.

• Why did the Weimar Republic’s collapse serve to make Germany so susceptible to the rise of the Nazis?
• What was it about the Nazis that made them an attractive choice for government with a large section the German people?
• What did National Socialism stand for both before and after Hitler took over the party?
• Why was Adolf Hitler able to stay in power after it became apparent to many in Germany that the war was lost?
• Was Hitler successful in his handling of domestic affairs up until 1939?
• What was Hitler seeking to achieve when the Germans invaded Poland in 1939? Is there any way Hitler could have achieved his policy goals in this regard? Why did he not achieve the domination and control he was seeking?
• Did Hitler feel cheated by the Munich agreement? What were the longer-term consequences of Munich for his ambition?
• Why did the German people not respond more forcefully to prevent the Nazis in relation to their dealings with the Jewish population of mainland Europe?
• How did the Nazi regime use art and cinema for wider propaganda purposes?
• With a consideration of contemporary reporting of the Berlin Olympics in 1936, were they a success for the regime?
• Who were the leading women within the Nazi movement, and what did they contribute to the Reich?
• ‘Triumph of the Will’ (1935) – directed by Leni Riefenstahl – can be considered the greatest example of a Nazi propaganda film. With reference to this film and other propaganda measures by the Nazi’s, on what level does the film seek to appeal to the German people?
• Analyse the education policies of the Third Reich, their aims and whether these were ever met.
• To what extent did alternative youth movements such as The Swing Kids offer an alternative for German youth to the Hitler Youth movement?

As Stalin is such a prominent figure in history, you may consider choosing your topic from the history dissertation topics below. Stalin is still an extremely divisive figure in Russia today, and although admired by some for his role in modernising Russia and for his war leadership, he remains a figure of much suspicion for modern historians.

• What contributed to Stalin’s rise to power after the death of Lenin?
• What were the main problems facing Russian/Soviet society after the death of Lenin, and how, if at all, did Stalin resolve them?
• Was Stalin’s repressive approach to governing the Soviet Union at the time of the purges necessary?
• What were Stalin’s biggest successes and failings, and why were they so significant?
• How did Russia move from seemingly being one of the West’s staunchest allies during the Second World War to being universally feared thereafter?
• Why was the USSR allowed to expand to encompass other countries when a similar policy in Nazi Germany led to war?
• Consider the differences between communism and fascism through an evaluation of Hitler and Stalin’s policies, with a view to determining whether they shared political similarities.
• How and why did communism spread from the USSR to other parts of the world?
• To what degree was Stalin’s style of rule in the Soviet Union different from Lenin’s?
• How far could the Soviet Union’s policy goals under Stalin (1944-1947) be considered legitimate in international law?
• Were the 7-10 million deaths in the Ukrainian Holodomor of 1933 a deliberate genocide ordered by Stalin?
• From a Soviet perspective, what were the benefits of the Nazi Soviet Pact, 1939?
• Discuss Soviet Anti-Semitism during the Stalin dictatorship.
• An analysis of the Stalin/Churchill relationship throughout the Second World War.

Unlike the First World War, the Second World War was a war of more rapid advancement and was a complex affair with major campaigns across Europe and the rest of the world – the war was effectively the protection of freedom against the threat of conquest. Such an important event in history would make for excellent reading so you might be interested in the following history dissertation topics:

• Why did the Second World War start? What was the cause?
• Was the war between Finland and Stalin’s Russia an example of Finland losing the war, but winning the peace?
• What was the most significant event in the war that led to the war’s result? Why is the event you have chosen so significant?
• How did Britain survive after the fall of France as the key resistance to Nazi Germany’s complete conquest of Europe? What factor was particularly significant?
• At what point did the Axis powers lose the war? Why?
• What were the effects of the war upon European society in its aftermath?
• Why were the Germans almost completely successful until 1941? How did they so spectacularly lose their position of ascendancy?
• How great was the US’ impact upon the war? What changed when they entered the conflict in Europe?
• Could the Second World War have been resolved peacefully at any point?
• How close was Britain to asking for talks with Hitler after the fall of France?
• To what extent does the Nazi occupation of the Channel Islands serve as a blueprint for their policies in other occupied territories?
• Was Rumania a willing, or coerced, ally to Nazi Germany in WW2?
• What was the key factor for German failure to break through in the Battle for Britain?

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The 10 most interesting dissertation topics related to germany.

Critical thinking is the best way to come up with topics on this subject. The ability to think deeper about any subject will give you more options. The more you know about the location and its background can give you all you need. There will always be something that even the most highly ranked expert will not know. These are the ingredients for a great paper. Keep in mind the amount of research material needed to complete an assignment of this size and importance. Here are the ten most interesting dissertation topics related to Germany.

• Choose any subject that has to do with the two world wars. There is so much to write on. There is the military. The total death and injured in these wars. The weather and its toll it had on the soldiers and machinery. The total destruction and the effects on the population.
• Stories of the Great Wall. The accounts of the individuals that were actually there. The emotions of the people and the effect it had on them. If you had to compare it to something in the United States could it bring it to a better understanding? Do Americans really understand the amount of diverse change it had on both sides of the wall? Can they grasp two sides of the continent becoming one? The stress on the government and economics.
• How the politics and people were put to the test time and time again. Living through all the death and destruction.
• The Holocaust and all the main people and places. How did the average German feel about that travesty? The interviews with actual survivors. The difference between first-hand account and books and movies.
• How much influence did J.F.K. have on the Germans coming together? How did the president feel about the whole situation?
• The past events and stories surrounding the castles and land of Germany. Where can you go to hear and see some of these spots? Where to look to find the oldest and well-known castles? Look up the oldest living people and their first-hand accounts of the land.
• The names and lives of the most brutal men in the Holocaust. How did they escape prosecution all this time?
• Living through the rebuilding of this land. Will they ever come close to being as strong as they once were?
• The organized crime in Germany. Was there too much freedom to just do as they pleased? Does anyone know for sure how strong the mafia is there?
• Oktoberfest, how big is the celebration become? How many different types of people take part in this celebration?

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History Dissertation Topics

Published by Grace Graffin at January 9th, 2023 , Revised On April 16, 2024

Introduction

Choosing the most appropriate topic for a history dissertation can be tricky. Before selecting a topic, it is imperative to have an in-depth knowledge of the historical events or phenomena you wish to evaluate. Complete comprehension of a topic area is necessary before you can go about the task of completing your dissertation.

To help you get started with brainstorming for history topic ideas, we have developed a list of the latest topics that can be used for writing your history dissertation.

PhD qualified writers of our team have developed these topics, so you can trust to use these topics for drafting your dissertation.

You may also want to start your dissertation by requesting  a brief research proposal  from our writers on any of these topics, which includes an  introduction  to the topic,  research question ,  aim and objectives ,  literature review  along with the proposed  methodology  of research to be conducted.  Let us know  if you need any help in getting started.

Check our  dissertation examples  to get an idea of  how to structure your dissertation .

Review the full list of  dissertation topics here.

2024 History Dissertation Topics

Topic 1: who was responsible for european civil wars an exploratory study identifying the determinants of the 1870 franco-prussian war.

Research Aim: This research aims to determine various political, social, and economic factors which caused European civil wars. It will use the 1870 Franco-Prussian War as a case study to analyse which political, social, or economic forces played their part in exaggerating this war. Moreover, it will use various historical lenses to evaluate the available evidence in this area to determine the factors objectively. Lastly, it will recommend ways through a historical viewpoint that could’ve saved lives in these wars.

Topic 2: What were the Socio-Economic Discontents of the Second Industrial Revolution? A Marx-Engels Perspective

Research Aim: This study identifies various socio-economic discontents of the second industrial revolution through the Marx-Engels communist lens. It will analyse how the second industrial revolution brought undesirable socio-economic changes in Europe and the rest of the world. It will develop a socio-economic framework by using Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels’s critique of capitalism and social class theory to show the second industrial revolution divided the entire world into two classes. Moreover, it will show how imperialist powers used the second industrial revolution to change the world order.

Topic 3: Did Mongols Bring Social Change in Ancient Arab? Impact of Mongols Invasion on Ancient Arab Culture and Traditions

Research Aim: This research intends to analyse the social change brought by Mongols in ancient Arab. It will find the impact of the Mongols’ invasion on ancient Arab culture and traditions by identifying channels such as slavery, forced marriages, etc., through which Mongols brought a cultural change. Moreover, it will find whether Arabs could come back to their original state or modern Arabs have their traits? And through which ways did ancient Arabs resist those changes?

Topic 4: What is Common among the United States’ Iraq, Japan, Afghanistan, and Cuba Invasions? A Comparative Study Finding the United States Common Political and Economic Motives

Research Aim: This study compares the United States’ Iraq, Japan, Korea, Afghanistan, and Cuba invasions. It will identify the United States’ common political and economic motives among these invasions, which gave it an incentive to pursue. It will be a multidisciplinary study exploring geopolitical, geo-economic, geo-strategic, and historical aspects of the invasions. Moreover, it will also compare the post-invasion situation of these countries to show how these countries dealt with it and how can which didn’t recover from invasion can improve.

Topic 5: The Life and Work of William Shakespeare: His Influence on The Modern Theater- A Critique of Dr. Johnson

Research Aim: This study sheds light on the life and work of William Shakespeare by analysing his role in modern theater. It will try to highlight his contribution in the field of literature and theater but through the approach of Dr. Johnson. Johnson’s works will be evaluated to see whether William Shakespeare has done something significant for modern theater or it is just a one-sided view of William Shakespeare’s followers. It will analyse various works of William Shakespeare from Johnson’s critical lens to provide an objective assessment.

Covid-19 History Research Topics

Topic 1: the history of coronavirus..

Research Aim: This study will explore the historical facts and theories related to the coronavirus pandemic.

Topic 3: History of Spanish flu

Research Aim: In 1918, a deadly pandemic called Spanish flu hit the world, and many people lost their lives. This study will highlight the history of the disease, symptoms, and similarities with the present crisis of COVID-19.

Topic 3: The history of various types of pandemics and their consequences

Research Aim: This study will investigate the history of various types of pandemics and their consequences on people’s health, economy, and the world’s transformation after it.

History Research Topics 2023

Topic 1: types of communications in history.

Research Aim: This research aims to identify the types of communications in history

Topic 2: Terrorism and its impact on people's life

Research Aim: This research aims to address terrorism’s impact on people’s life

Topic 3: Treaty of Lausanne and the world's predictions about Turkey in 2023

Research Aim: This research aims to conduct a study on the Treaty of Lausanne and the world’s predictions about Turkey in 2023

Topic 4: Mythological stories and their impact on the youth

Research Aim: This research aims to study the impact of mythological stories on the youth.

Dissertation Topics from the Nineteenth Century

Topic 1: analysis of church wealth expropriation and political conflict in 19th century colombia..

Research Aim: The research will explore the events of political violence after independence in Colombia regarding the redefinition of the Catholic Church’s property rights. The study primarily focuses on the country after 1850 to measure the influence of that expropriation of the Church’s assets on political violence.

Topic 2: Exploring the impact of 19th-century development of refrigeration on The American meatpacking industry.

Research Aim: The city of Chicago in the United States is known to be the center of modern refrigeration development due to it being the hub of the meatpacking industry. The proposed research will analyse Chicago’s meatpacking sector’s development and its significant role in developing critical technologies such as refrigeration. The study will examine the development of refrigerated transport and cold storage units to comprehend the city’s meatpacking industry’s local and later global success throughout the 19th century.

Topic 3: Examining the impact of the telegraph in the United States of America

Research Aim: The research uses document analysis to examine the influence of the invention of the telegraph in the United States of America. Specifically, the study will analyse how the telegraph revolutionized communication and news broadcasting to newspapers over national and international networks.

Topic 4: The impact of industrial conflict and technology on the development of technical education in 19th-century England.

Research Aim: The research will analyze the role that 19th-century employers played in training and educating the young industrial workers in England. The purpose of the study is to comprehend the various factors that influenced the development of technical education while discovering the reason for antagonistic relations with skilled workers, which may have caused the Great Strike and Lockout of 1897.

Topic 5: The impact of changing gender relations on childbearing populations in the 19th-century Netherlands.

Research Aim: The research will look to comprehend the changes in childbearing patterns using a sequence analysis approach. The study will also try to understand the association between gender relations, historical fertility records, and women’s reproductive patterns in the 19th century Netherlands.

Topic 6: Examining the shift of hierarchical and ethnocentric foreign relations to the western model of international relations in 19th-century Japan.

Research Aim: The research will analyse the 19th century, a period of transition in Japanese foreign policy. The study will mainly focus on the Russo-Japanese relations using document analysis to assess the four stages of shift that led Japan from an ethnocentric foreign policymaker to the Western-type without colonization and defeat in war.

History and Religious Dissertations

Topic 1: the impact of popular culture on evangelical christians in america..

Research Aim: The research uses document analysis to examine the impact that popular culture has had in shaping Evangelical Christian thought in the United States from the 1960s to the 2000s. The study focuses on analysing the variables that have allowed Evangelicalism to becoming a middle-class populist movement.

Topic 2: Fertility, feminism, and the American revolution

Research Aim: The research using document analysis, analyses the impact of the American Revolution on declining birth rates in the colonies and the increase of family limitation among white free women. The research will investigate the intentions of founding American women on their rejection of abundant fertility and a patriarchal family and the existent or non-existent role that colonial Christians played.

Topic 3: The decline of irrational and magical ideologies in England 1500-1600.

Research Aim: The research analyses how the introduction of religion, specifically early Christianity, had an impact on declining the conventional thought processes that used irrationality or magic as their basis. The research will use document analysis as its research method.

Topic 4: The impact of religion on innovation, 1604.

Research Aim: The research examines how Sir Frances Bacon’s epistle “Of Innovations” argues for the positive potential of innovation from the understanding of the Biblical scriptures. The study will also explore the relationship between Bacon and the English Protestant Church.

Topic 5: The role of churches and religion in World War II.

Research Aim: The research looks to examine the role of churches in Europe during WWII. The study will also analyse their religious ideologies and their deeds as institutions to impact the perceptions of World War II. The research will be conducted using document analysis.

History and Sociology Dissertations

Topic 1: race, poverty, and food deserts in cardiff, 1980-2016..

Research Aim: The research examines the demographic and spatial patterns that have shaped access to supermarkets in low-income neighbourhoods in Cardiff from 1980 to 2016. The research methods used will be quantitative.

Topic 2: Impact of World War II rationing on British cuisine

Research Aim: The research analyses the impact of rationing items by the British Ministry of Food on the specific culture from the 1940s to the 1980s. The research uses variables of socio-economic classes and geographic locations of the country to examine the cultural impacts it had on the British palate during the time. The research methods will include quantitative and qualitative analysis.

Topic 3: Impact of religious doctrines and ideologies on racism and racist factions in the USA.

Research Aim: The research analyses the relationship between different Christian sects and racial prejudice among groups of Christians based on geographic location (North or South) in the United States after the 2016 presidential elections. The research will be quantitative in nature but will incorporate qualitative techniques of historical document analysis to examine how racism in the country has changed since the Civil Rights Era of the United States.

Topic 4: The historical development and impact of public transportation in Shanghai, China, 1843-1937.

Research Aim: The research will analyze the impact of public transportation on the development of Shanghai’s urban landscape using the variables of tradition vs modernity, state and social relationships, and technology and society relations. The research will provide a historical analysis of the city from the British and the Opium Wars’ colonization to the 20th century. The study will use qualitative document analysis and quantitative techniques as research methods.

Topic 5: The impact of water resource management, technological solutions, and urban growth after World War II on Atlanta, Georgia.

Research Aim: The purpose of the dissertation is to examine the origins of water-related issues in Atlanta by discovering the challenges that public officials, activists, and engineers faced in the area in terms of planning and enacting an effective environmental policy after World War II in the metropolitan area of Atlanta. The research will use historical document analysis as its methodology.

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ResearchProspect writers can send several custom topic ideas to your email address. Once you have chosen a topic that suits your needs and interests, you can order for our dissertation outline service which will include a brief introduction to the topic, research questions , literature review , methodology , expected results , and conclusion . The dissertation outline will enable you to review the quality of our work before placing the order for our full dissertation writing service !

Historical People and Events Dissertation Topics

Topic 1: examining the events and people giving rise to winston churchill.

Research Aim: The research examines the network of friends and colleagues of former Prime Minister Winston Churchill on how they influenced the primer’s reputation after his retirement and death. The study will analyze the history of the Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge, and the influence that Sir John Colville had on shaping Churchill’s image.

Topic 2: The rise of the right-wing woman in 20th-century Britain- Analysing Margaret Thatcher and Mary Whitehouse

Research Aim: The relationship between conservative powerhouses Margaret Thatcher and Mary Whitehouse was well known to the public for its traditional undertones. The research will examine the relationship between the two women using document analysis, particularly the public presentation relationship, to better understand the importance of conservative women in Britain. The research will analyze the twentieth-century political and cultural contexts that gave rise to these two women.

Topic 3: Examining the cooperative transformational leadership of Nelson Mandela and F. W. de Klerk.

Research Aim: The research will study the transfer of power in South Africa by focusing on the cooperative leadership strategies, policies, and personal characteristics of leaders such as Nelson Mandela and F. W. de Klerk. The research will examine how these two leaders could bring systematic revolution through democratic and peaceful means.

Topic 4: Pablo Picasso- The making of “Guernica” and its historical context.

Research Aim: The research will analyze the history of paintings of people suffering from convulsion of war, explicitly focusing on Goya. The paper will examine the factors and influences on Pablo Picasso that lead to the development of “Guernica.” The research will analyze how Picasso depicted real history snatches with symbolism that resonated with people.

Topic 5: Analysing the role of women in the Crusade Movement.

Research Aim: The research examines women’s contribution to the Crusades and its impact on propaganda, recruitment, organization of the crusades, and financing of the campaigns. The study will also survey their roles in looking after families and properties while also giving liturgical support at home for those on the crusade campaigns.

Topic 6: The impact of the Harlem Renaissance on urban landscaping, Jazz music, and literature.

Research Aim: The research will examine the Great Migration of the 1910s in the United States, where a concentration of African American population moved North causing demographic shifts. The study will analyse Toni Morrison’s Jazz, Persia Walker’s Black Orchid Blues, and other works regarding music and urbanization.

Topic 23: John F. Kennedy- Rise of American foreign power and South Vietnam.

Research Aim: The research will analyze John F. Kennedy’s foreign policy strategies’ central themes. The paper examines the themes of counterinsurgency, credibility, and commitment in South Asia, particularly South Vietnam, to improve his credibility after the Bay of Pigs incident. The paper will observe the president’s fascination regarding psychological warfare, military forces, and countering ‘communism’ aggression in Southeast Asia.

Italian Unification History Dissertation Topics

Topic 1: the preservation of italy- analysing the fragility of italian unity 1866-68..

Research Aim: The research analyses the impact of the Austro-Prussian War at its conclusion in July 1866. The paper analyses factors such as the fall of the Liberal government in Britain that impacted the fragility of the Italian Unification. The paper examines the historical event through the bilateral relationship between a newly rising Italy and Britain.

Topic 2: Analysing the Italian post-unification period- Racial and colonial factors influencing modern Italians.

Research Aim: The research will analyse the rise of Italian fascism with the premise that it rose from the failures of previous liberal governments. The study particularly examines the first Liberal period after unification which led to the explosion of civil war in the South of Italy. The study will analyse the racial and colonial factors that influenced the competition with Western European nations for imperialistic endeavours.

Topic 3: Prison system management in 19th-century Italian prisons after unification.

Research Aim: The research analyses accounting practices in prisons using documentation analysis of the prison management system of major Italian States in the early 19th century. The study aims to use various accounting methods to uncover the potentially socially damaging tools of accounting in prison reforms to discipline individuals of lesser status.

Topic 4: The impact of the mafia on Italian education after unification.

Research Aim: The research will use historical point data to analyse the impact the Mafia had on the level of education between 1874 to 1913. The particular geographic constraint of the study will be restricted to Sicily, Italy, after the unification of the Italian Kingdom in 1861.

German Unification History Dissertation Topics

Topic 1: examining the parties and problems of governance in the german empire..

Research Aim: The research will examine using document analysis the various processes for political restructuring that caused the founding of many political parties, interest groups, and civic associations. The research analyses how the Federal Republic strategized to transfer German Democratic Republic citizens’ sovereign rights to international institutions and the Federal Republic institutions.

Topic 2: Analysing the collapse of the GDR and the re-unification of Germany.

Research Aim: The research will analyse the factors and influences surrounding the collapse of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 1898 to 1990 and the reunifications of East and West Germany. The research will also analyse the role of businesses with regards to the collapse, particularly the German business elites and their relationship with the Soviet Union.

Topic 3: Analysing the impact of Bismarck on the capitulation of German liberalism.

Research Aim: The research will analyse the impact the German National Liberal party of 1866 to 1867 had to support Otto von Bismarck’s policy of German unification. The study will examine the political stakes involved and the philosophy of Realpolitik on the Unification of the German Empire.

Topic 4: The impact of radical nationalism and political change after Bismarck.

Research Aim: The research will examine the factors that gave rise to the radicalization of the German right under the politics of Otto von Bismarck. The study looks to find evidence of German fascism prior to World War II. To conduct the research, a thorough document analysis will be done with an extensive literature review.

World War I Dissertation Topics

Topic 1: the response of german immigrants to discrimination in the usa during world war i.

Research Aim: The research will examine the impact of caste-based discrimination on assimilation patterns of immigrant minorities, specifically German immigrants in the United States during WWI. The study will understand if discriminated minority groups increase their assimilation efforts to avoid discrimination and public harassment. The research will use naming patterns of children and records of petitions of naturalisations to conduct the study empirically.

Topic 2: Analysing the impact of affective experience and popular emotion on WWI International Relations.

Research Aim: The research will examine the factors of communal emotion and mass emotion during the outbreak of WWI to demonstrate the political significance of widespread sentiment. The research looks to study the factors with regard to contemporary populism.

Topic 3: The impact of military service in WWI on the economic status of American Veterans?

Research Aim: The research will analyse the different registration regimes during the WWI draft to find their impact on economic outcomes. The research will use empirical from 1900 to 1930 United States to study short term impact of military service while the United States census of 1960 is used to determine the long term impacts. The data collected will be of household income and draft population of the time in WW1.

Topic 4: Examining the Impact of Quarrying Companies Royal Engineers in WWI to support British armies on the Western Front.

Research Aim: The research will examine the history of the Quarrying Companies unit within the Royal Engineers in WWI. The study will analyse the impact that the group had on British armies on the Western Front, particularly for the aid of the British Expeditionary Forces until its disbandment in 1919.

The Great Depression (Britain 1918-1939) Dissertation Topics

Topic 1: the impact of the great depression on labour productivity..

Research Aim: The research will examine the labour productivity of the UK manufacturing industry during the Great Depression. The research will be of empirical methodology and collect data of actual hours of work, real output, and employment statistics. The study will prove that during the Great Depression, output per work-hour was counter-cyclical between 1929 and 1932.

Topic 2: Analysing the discourse of British newspapers during the Great Depression.

Research Aim: The research will use document analysis and text analysis to examine the rhetoric of British newspapers when unemployment rises. The study will accurately analyse the Great Depression in Britain by determining how the stigmatisation of poverty changes in the rhetoric of newspapers when discussing unemployment.

Topic 3: The Impact of the Great Depression on British Women Migration 1925-1935.

Research Aim: The research will analyse the impact that the Great Depression had on the migration of women out of Britain to the rest of its empire. The study will use empirical data to analyze the Society for Oversea Settlement of British Women (SOSBW). The research will assess if the society’s training programme influenced the employment and migration of women.

Topic 4: The Great Depression and British industrial growth- Analysing economic factors contributing to the Great Depression in Britain.

Research Aim: The research will analyse the British deceleration of industrial growth and the percentage rate of growth as the cause of the Great Depression in Britain. The research will examine the contribution of the Industrial Revolution and its initial rapid percentage of rate of growth causing ‘retardation.’ The study will be empirical and analyse historical patterns of Britain’s national economy.

Second World War Dissertation Topics

Topic 1: analysing brazilian aviation in world war ii.

Research Aim: The research will analyse the extent to which Brazilians were actively engaged in combat on the Brazilian coast and in the European theatre. The study will primarily focus on the global conflict through the Forca Aerea Brasileira, FAB, or the Brazilian Air Force development before participation in the Second World War.

Topic 2: The impact of invention secrecy in World War II.

Research Aim: The research will examine the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) patent secrecy orders which put over 11,000 US patent applications given secrecy orders. The study will analyse how this policy impacted keeping technology from the public during the war effort, specifically radar, electronics, and synthetic materials.

Topic 3: Analysing aerial photographic intelligence in WWII by British geologists.

Research Aim: The research will examine the period of WWII from 1939 to 1945, when intelligence was collected from aerial photographs by the Allied Central Interpretation Unit. The study will assess the history of aerial photographic information based on geology contributing to the Allied landings in Normandy in 1944.

Topic 4: Analysing British propaganda in the United States during WWII.

Research Aim: The research will analyse the strategies that British propagandists used to understand the American opinion of WWII during the war and for post-war relationships. The study will investigate the policies and factors that contributed to keeping the wartime alliance and creating an acceptable political climate in the United States for post-war cooperation.

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History of Nazi Germany Dissertation Topics

Topic 1: the impact of discrimination against jewish managers on firm performance in nazi germany..

Research Aim: The research will examine the large-scale increase in discrimination in Nazi Germany to cause the dismissal of qualified Jewish managers in large firms. The study will analyse the persistent stock prices of firms, dividend payments, and return on assets after the discriminatory removal of Jewish managers.

Topic 2: Examining children’s literature in Nazi Germany

Research Aim: The research will analyse children’s literature which was propagandised between 1933 and 1945 under the National Socialists party. The paper will examine the various themes, specifically the Nordic German worldview, and how German values were distorted to produce a homogenous folk community.

Topic 3: Shifting from liberal education of the Weimar Republic to Nazi educational reforms- Analysing educational reforms under the Nazi government.

Research Aim: The research will examine education reform that the National Socialist government implemented in elementary education. The research will look to accumulate personal accounts of families and students who experienced the era to better comprehend the educational reforms. The study seems to under how these educational reforms moulded student ideologies.

Topic 4: The effects of antisemitism in film comedy in Nazi Germany,

Research Aim: The research will explore the themes of antisemitism in film comedy produced during the reign of the Nazi party in Germany. The research will study how themes impacted the perceptions of people living in Germany post-war. The research will use document analysis and empirical analysis to document and examine the themes and attitudes.

History of Cinema Dissertation Topics

Topic 1: analysing the history and politics of bollywood..

Research Aim: The research will explore the various events in Indian film history that have allowed it to become a global sensation. The paper will analyse its market-driven triumph against Hollywood imports starting from the 1930s. The paper will also examine the nationalist social views of films produced in Bollywood during the 1950s.

Topic 2: The role of cinematic depictions influencing popular understanding of the Spanish Civil War.

Research Aim: The research will examine the role that cinema played in shaping the understanding of the Spanish Civil War. The study will focus on fictional films that were produced in Spain and Hollywood between the 1940s and the early years of the 21st century.

Topic 3: Analysing distinctive characteristics of Korean films.

Research Aim: The research will analyse the characteristics of Korean films and examine their historical development. The research will focus on the eras of the Japanese colonial period to 1945 when the American army occupied South Korea. The study will analyse the role of censorship throughout this time period in producing Korean films.

Topic 4: Examining the history of cinema in Britain since 1896.

Research Aim: The research will explore the development of cinema exhibitions and cinema-going in Britain in 1896. They will analyse various factors that led to the rapid growth of cinema in Britain just before WWI. The study will examine factors such as the position of cinema, development of modern spaces, artistic respectability, the invention of sound, and cinema as individual entertainment.

History of Racism Dissertation Topics

Topic 1: analysing the factors influencing institutional racism in america..

Research Aim: The research will explore the complicated history of racism in the United States. It will analyse how racism has become embedded throughout American society from land ownership, education, healthcare, employment, and the criminal justice system. The research will use a mixed-methods research approach to gather data.

Topic 2: Examining the relationship between racism and environmental deregulation in the Trump Era.

Research Aim: The research will analyse the possible relationship between environmental deregulation and racism between 2016 and 2017 under the Trump Administration. The study will primarily collect data from executive actions, ecological events, and tweets from the President during this time period. The study will document racist events that were targeted at people of colour, Asians, Arabs, South Asians, Muslims, and indigenous persons.

Topic 3: Analysing the experience of racism in English schools towards Eastern European Migrants.

Research Aim: The research will use qualitative design to analyse the experience of racism faced by students of Eastern European descent. The research will use the framework proposed by the Critical Race Theory and Critical Conceptions of Whiteness to conduct the study. The research will focus on the racism experienced by these students as marginal whiteness for their various linguistic accents.

Topic 4: The impact of racism on Afro-Italian entrepreneurship.

Research Aim: The research will use qualitative data to analyse the participation of Afro-Italian women entrepreneurs in start-ups relating to beauty, style, and hair care lines. The study explores the obstacles that young black women entrepreneurs face in Italian due to racism and how their inclusion in small economies changes the perception of Blackness and Black womanhood related to Italian material culture.

Also Read: Religion, Theology and Philosophy Dissertation Topics

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History of Spanish Civil War Dissertation Topics

Topic 1: examining the role of international nurses during the spanish civil war..

Research Aim: The research will use document analysis, primarily memoirs, to explore the life and work of international nursed participation during the Spanish Civil War. The study will examine their role with regard to contributions made to Spanish nursing during the war.

Topic 2: Examining republican propaganda during the Spanish Civil War.

Research Aim: The research will explore the propaganda used by the Republicans of the Spanish Civil War from 1936 to 1939 to support their ideology of the war. The paper will focus on three primary forms of media – newspapers, cinema, and music. The study will conduct the analysis using historical context to examine its effectiveness in propagating the Republican messages.

Topic 3: The history of British Battalions in the International Brigades of the Spanish Civil War.

Research Aim: The research will examine the role, experiences, and contributions of British volunteers to the Spanish Republic through the British Battalion of the 15th International Brigade. The study will accurately analyse the motivations of the volunteers to join the International Brigades and participate in the Spanish Civil War.

Topic 4: British cultural perspectives on the Spanish Civil War.

Research Aim: The research will explore the cultural perspectives of the political understanding of the British responses to the Spanish Civil War. The study will examine the mass culture and personal experiences of British visitors to Spain in the 1930s.

History of the United States Dissertation Topics

Topic 1: the impact of ‘the frontier’ on american expansion and imperialism..

Research Aim: The research explores the idea of ‘manifest destiny, its connection to the American frontier, and its impact on imperialism. The study focuses on how the American perception of savagery and civilisation is related to expanding the American frontier.

Topic 2: Analysing the American public opinion on the War in Vietnam.

Research Aim: The research uses empirical data to analyse the American public attitude with regard to the Vietnam Wat. The data will be analysed using demographic groups and perception studies. The study will investigate how these perceptions eventually shaped government policy preferences during the Vietnam War.

Topic 3: Analysing the inaugural speeches of re-elected US presidents since WWII.

Research Aim: The research identifies, analyses, and assesses the use of individual style in inaugural speeches of re-elected US presidents since WWII. The research will be conducted using document analysis of lexical and semantic levels. The study will assess how the inaugural addresses are shaped to reflect the public policy of re-elected presidents.

Topic 4: Analysing the rise of white power and paramilitary groups in the United States.

Research Aim: The research analyses the rise and expansion of white nationalists, racist far-right groups using government publications, journalistic accounts, and archival records. The research focuses on the failure in Vietnam, giving rise to white power movements. The study will examine various events to assess the factors and significance that caused an increase in paramilitary groups in the United States.

Topic 5: Examining the rise of new white nationalism in America.

Research Aim: The research will use data acquired from speeches, books, and internet sources written by white nationalists to assess the shift of white nationalist ideas of oppression of other races to a view of victimhood of white nationalists. The research will use an extensive literature review to document the development of white nationalism in American history while also considering the development of social media.

Historic Events of Early Twentieth Century Dissertation Topics

Topic 1: the creation of uniquely american musical sounds; changes in classical music from the 19th to 20th century..

Research Aim: The research explores the changes in American classical music, shifting from its traditional European origins to a more defined American sound. The study will contend that historical events such as the upheaval and shifts of society during the American Civil War were the main factors of the creation of new American classical music.

Topic 2: The influence of political parties on democracy and party-state relations in the 20th-century.

Research Aim: The research will analyse institutional reforms of party-state relations, including constitutions, electoral laws, and party laws in France and Italy during the 20th century. The study will examine the impact of party entanglement on contributing to democratisation in Europe.

Topic 3: The impact of suspicion and distrust on conflict coverage- A case study of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Research Aim: The research will use inductive-qualitative analysis to examine the journalistic narratives of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. To do so, the factors of suspicion of information sources, awareness of being under suspicion, and distrust of peer journalists are used to examine the trust of journalists and the dilemma they face in hostile environments.

Also Read: Project Management Dissertation Topics

Important Notes:

As a student of history looking to get good grades, it is essential to develop new ideas and experiment with existing history theories – i.e., to add value and interest to your research topic.

The field of history is vast and interrelated to so many other academic disciplines like literature , linguistics , politics , international relations , and more. That is why it is imperative to create a history dissertation topic that is particular, sound, and actually solves a practical problem that may be rampant in the field.

We can’t stress how important it is to develop a logical research topic; it is the basis of your entire research. There are several significant downfalls to getting your topic wrong; your supervisor may not be interested in working on it, the topic has no academic creditability, the research may not make logical sense, and there is a possibility that the study is not viable.

This impacts your time and efforts in writing your dissertation as you may end up in the cycle of rejection at the very initial stage of the dissertation. That is why we recommend reviewing existing research to develop a topic, taking advice from your supervisor, and even asking for help in this particular stage of your dissertation.

While developing a research topic, keeping our advice in mind will allow you to pick one of the best history dissertation topics that fulfill your requirement of writing a research paper and add to the body of knowledge.

Therefore, it is recommended that when finalizing your dissertation topic, you read recently published literature to identify gaps in the research that you may help fill.

Remember- dissertation topics need to be unique, solve an identified problem, be logical, and can also be practically implemented. Take a look at some of our sample history dissertation topics to get an idea for your own dissertation.

How to Structure your History Dissertation

A well-structured dissertation can help students to achieve a high overall academic grade.

• A Title Page
• Acknowledgments
• Declaration
• Abstract: A summary of the research completed
• Table of Contents
• Introduction : This chapter includes the project rationale, research background, key research aims and objectives, and the research problems to be addressed. An outline of the structure of a dissertation can also be added to this chapter.
• Literature Review : This chapter presents relevant theories and frameworks by analysing published and unpublished literature available on the chosen research topic, in light of research questions to be addressed. The purpose is to highlight and discuss the relative weaknesses and strengths of the selected research area while identifying any research gaps. Break down of the topic, and key terms can have a positive impact on your dissertation and your tutor.
• Methodology : The data collection and analysis methods and techniques employed by the researcher are presented in the Methodology chapter which usually includes research design , research philosophy, research limitations, code of conduct, ethical consideration, data collection methods, and data analysis strategy .
• Findings and Analysis : Findings of the research are analysed in detail under the Findings and Analysis chapter. All key findings/results are outlined in this chapter without interpreting the data or drawing any conclusions. It can be useful to include graphs, charts, and tables in this chapter to identify meaningful trends and relationships.
• Discussion and Conclusion : The researcher presents his interpretation of the results in this chapter, and states whether the research hypothesis has been verified or not. An essential aspect of this section is to establish the link between the results and evidence from the literature. Recommendations with regards to implications of the findings and directions for the future may also be provided. Finally, a summary of the overall research, along with final judgments, opinions, and comments, must be included in the form of suggestions for improvement.
• References : Make sure to complete this in accordance with your University’s requirements
• Bibliography
• Appendices : Any additional information, diagrams, or graphs that were used to complete the dissertation but not part of the dissertation should be included in the Appendices chapter. Essentially, the purpose is to expand the information/data.

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