Occupation in the East

Stephan Lehnstaedt is Professor for Holocaust Studies and Jewish Studies at Touro College Berlin. After receiving his Ph.D. from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich, he worked at the German Historical Institute Warsaw and taught at Humboldt University Berlin and the London School of Economics. For his research, he was awarded the medal “Powstania w Getcie Warszawskim” and the commander’s cross of the order “Missio Reconciliationis” in Poland.

“Lehnstaedt’s powerful work should inspire additional research… Highly Recommended.” • Choice“Lehnstaedt’s study provides valuable new insights into the nuanced nature of the German-Nazi occupations in Warsaw and Minsk.” • Slavic and East European Review“Lehnstaedt’s [carefully researched study and detailed] account of the daily lives of German  occupiers in Warsaw and Minsk is highly informative and his explanations of why these men became engaged in extreme acts of violence is convincing. Violence and the murder of Poles, Russians, and Jews became a normal part of their daily routines. Martin Dean’s masterful English translation of Lehnstaedt’s book, first published in Ger- man in 2010, thus adds an important layer to our understanding of how ‘ordinary men’ could become mass murderers without any feeling of guilt or regret.” • Journal of Military History“This book expands our knowledge about the daily lived experience of the occupation in the East, and should spur others to write an Alltagsgeschichte of the German occupation in smaller towns and villages. This is clearly a book that scholars of Eastern Europe and the Holocaust should read with interest, not least because of Lehnstaedt’s arresting conclusion that the Volksgemeinschaft was not created in the East, in the end, but that ‘it was possible there to get much closer to the intended goal than [it was] in the Reich.” • Central European History“Beyond the deft use of social history and original perspective, Lehnstaedt’s contribution is a model of scholarly erudition. It is scrupulous with the use of evidence and painstaking in the presentation of claims. Martin Dean’s English translation is not only free of error, but smooth and concise.” • H-Net

• List of Tables and FiguresList of AbbreviationsIntroductionChaprter 1. Germans on Duty in the East in Warsaw and MinskChapter 2. Prescribed Daily ActivitiesChapter 3. Transgression of NormsChapter 4. The Attitude of the “Overlords”Chapter 5. Violence in Everyday Life: The German Occupiers and the Local PopulationConclusionsBibliography