Ethnic Minorities in 19th and 20th Century Germany

Ethnic Minorities in Nineteenth and Twentieth-Century GermanyJews, Gypsies, Poles, Turks and OthersPanikos PanayiThis is the first book to trace the history of all ethnic minorities in Germany during the nineteenth and twentieth-centuries. It argues that all of the different types of states in Germany since 1800 have displayed some level of hostility towards ethnic minorities. While this reached its peak under the Nazis, the book suggests a continuity of intolerance towards ethnic minorities from 1800 that continued into the Federal Republic.During this long period German states were home to three different types of ethnic minorities in the form of: dispersed Jews and Gypsies; localised minorities such as Serbs, Poles and Danes; and immigrants from the 1880s. Taking a chronological approach that runs into the new Millennium, the author traces the history of all of these ethnic groups, illustrating their relationship with the German government and with the rest of the German populace. He demonstrates that Germany provides a perfect testing ground for examining how different forms of rule deal with minorities, including monarchy, liberal democracy, fascism and communism.Its breadth of coverage and chronology will make this book essential reading for students of nineteenth and twentieth-century Germany in particular and of Europe in general.
Panikos Panayi is Professor of European History at De Montfort University, Leicester, Fellow at the University of Osnabruck, Germany and General Editor of the Longman Themes in Modern German History Series. He has published widely on the history of Germany, and on the history of minorities in Germany and in Europe, including the Longman book An Ethnic History of Europe Since 1945, published in 2000.

Author Biography

Panikos Panayi is Professor of European History at De Montfort University and a leading authority on the history of immigration and ethnicity. His most recent book is the widely acclaimed Spicing Up Britain: The Multicultural History of British Food (2008, 2010).