Claudia Koonz | Scholars@Duke

Claudia Koonz
Peabody Family Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History in Trinity College of Arts and Sciences

How does it happen that citizens who consider themselves deeply moral can believe that some of their fellow citizens embody a danger so lethal that they must be eliminated? In "The Nazi Conscience," I examined public culture during the so-called normal years of the Third Reich (1933-1939) and identified the key role of popular racial science and expert opinion in convincing mainstream Germans that Jews, homosexuals, Roma (Gypsies) were so "alien" that they scarcely counted as human at all. In my current research I ask similar questions about contemporary Europeans' reactions to Muslim women who wear the headscarf, or "hijab." I am less concerned with fanatics' hate speech than with the subtle prejudices common in generally liberal milieus. Identifying visual and textual representations of the "hijab" in mass-market media, I analyze the production of ethnic panic in countries where immigration is economically essential, but immigrants are culturally marginalized. In my research and courses, I examine the formation of ethnic fears that endow the "us" with the conviction they have been summoned to rid the world of an evil "them."

Current Appointments & Affiliations

Peabody Family Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History in Trinity College of Arts and Sciences, History, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2012
Professor Emeritus of History, History, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2012

Contact Information

226 Classroom Bldg, Durham, NC 27708
Dept of History, Box 90719, Durham, NC 27708-0719
ckoonz@duke.edu (919) 684-3014

Background
Education, Training, & Certifications
- Ph.D., Rutgers University 1969
- M.A., Columbia University 1964
- B.A., University of Wisconsin - Madison 1962
Previous Appointments & Affiliations
- Professor with Tenure, History, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 1994 - 2012
- Peabody Family Distinguished Professor of History, History, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2007 - 2012
- Professor in Women's Studies, Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2002 - 2005
- Associate Professor with Tenure, History, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 1988 - 1994
Recognition
In the News
- JUL 21, 2021 The Washington Post
  
  Gen. Milley, Mr. Trump and lessons from the past
- JUL 21, 2021 The Noiser
  
  Podcast Real Dictators: Hitler, parts 1-4.
- JUN 24, 2020 History News Network
  
  “No more Business as Usual
- SEP 15, 2019 History News Network
  
  “Autocrats do not need a majority to destroy democracy. A divided opposition helps them.”
- MAR 17, 2016 The News & Observer
  
  Claudia Koonz: When it comes to settling migrants, the Mideast must do it
- OCT 2, 2015 The Cleveland Plain Dealer
  
  Claudia Koonz: Serbia's civil sector sets the standard for humane treatment of refugees
- OCT 2, 2015 the Cleveland Plain Dealer
  
  Serbia's Humane Treatment of Refugees
Awards & Honors
Expertise
Global Scholarship
- Expertise
  - Europe (Continent)
  - Germany (Country)
- Research
  - Germany (Country)
- Teaching
  - Serbia (Country)
Research
Selected Grants
- What happens to Their Children? Policy and Research Related to the Children of Parents in Detention Facilities awarded by Josiah Charles Trent Memorial Foundation 2012
- Gender and Ethnic Conflict awarded by Josiah Charles Trent Memorial Foundation 2005
- Gender, Ethnicity and Community Among Refugess in Croatian Camps awarded by Josiah Charles Trent Memorial Foundation 1995 - 1996
Publications & Artistic Works
Selected Publications
- Books
  - Koonz, C. Mothers in the Fatherland: Women, the family and Nazi politics. Vol. 24, 2013. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203095447.
    Full Text
  - Koonz, Professor of History Claudia, and Claudia Koonz. The Nazi Conscience. Harvard University Press, 2003.
  - Koonz, Claudia. Mütter im Vaterland Frauen im Dritten Reich, 1994.
  - Ed, Renate Bridenthal. Becoming Visible Women in European History, 1987.
  - Bridenthal, Renate, and Claudia Koonz. Becoming Visible Women in European History. Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1977.
- Academic Articles
  - Koonz, Claudia. “The Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial, 1963–1965: Genocide, History, and the Limits of the Law. By Devin O. Pendas. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Pp. xx+340. $65.00.” The Journal of Modern History 80, no. 2 (June 2008): 467–70. https://doi.org/10.1086/591597.
    Full Text
  - Claudia Koonz, Peter. “Unmasking Multiculturalism: Muslim Memoirs Probe the Limits of Tolerance.” Berlin Journal 12, no. spring, 2006 (March 2006): 5–8.
    Link to Item
  - Koonz, C. “Women and the Nazi east: Agents and witnesses of Germanization.” Social History 30, no. 3 (August 2005): 375–77.
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  - Claudia Koonz, Peter. “More Masculine Men. More Feminine Women. Gender and Race in Nazi Popular Culture.” Idea (Japanese Language), 2003.
  - KOONZ, C. “TRIED FOR THEIR CRIMES + KOONZ REVIEW OF SERENY - REPLY.” New York Times Book Review, November 26, 1995, 31–31.
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  - KOONZ, C. “SPEER,ALBERT - HIS BATTLE WITH TRUTH - SERENY,G.” New York Times Book Review, October 8, 1995, 11–12.
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  - KOONZ, C. “GOEBBELS - REUTH,RG.” New York Times Book Review, January 16, 1994, 14–14.
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  - KOONZ, C. “WHEN WINTER COMES.” Nation 258, no. 1 (January 3, 1994): 2–2.
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  - KOONZ, C. “A HISTORY OF FOREIGN-LABOR IN GERMANY, 1880-1980 - SEASONAL WORKERS FORCED LABORERS GUEST WORKERS - HERBERT,U.” International Labor and Working Class History, no. 43 (1993): 127–29.
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  - Koonz, Claudia. “Ethical Dilemmas and Nazi Eugenics: Single-Issue Dissent in Religious Contexts.” The Journal of Modern History 64 (December 1992): S8–31. https://doi.org/10.1086/244425.
    Full Text
  - KOONZ, C. “WOMEN OF THE KLAN - RACISM AND GENDER IN THE 1920S - BLEE,KM.” New York Times Book Review, January 5, 1992, 22–22.
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  - KOONZ, C. “RESPONSE TO BOCK,GISELA, REVIEW OF MOTHERS-IN-THE-FATHERLAND.” Geschichte Und Gesellschaft 18, no. 3 (January 1, 1992): 394–99.
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  - Koonz, Claudia. “Health, Race and German Politics Between National Unification and Nazism, 1870-1945.Paul Weindling.” American Journal of Sociology 97, no. 3 (November 1991): 899–901. https://doi.org/10.1086/229851.
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  - Koonz, Claudia, and Andreas Lixl-Purcell. “Women of Exile: German-Jewish Autobiographies since 1933.” The American Historical Review 96, no. 2 (April 1991): 544–544. https://doi.org/10.2307/2163326.
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  - KOONZ, C. “FROM HITLER TO HEIMAT - THE RETURN OF HISTORY AS FILM - KAES,A.” New York Times Book Review, January 14, 1990, 22–22.
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  - Chartier, Renée. “Claudia Koonz, Les Mères-Patrie du IIIe Reich, les femmes et le nazisme.” Recherches Féministes 3, no. 1 (1990): 140–140. https://doi.org/10.7202/057593ar.
    Full Text
  - KOONZ, C. “FASCISM IN POPULAR MEMORY - THE CULTURAL EXPERIENCE OF THE TURIN WORKING-CLASS - PASSERINI,L.” International Labor and Working Class History, no. 36 (1989): 131–34.
    Link to Item
  - Koonz, C. “Social Life, Local Politics, and Nazism. Marburg, 1880-1935. By Rudy Koshar (Chapel Hill and London: The University of North Carolina Press, 1986. xviii plus 395 pp. $35.00).” Journal of Social History 21, no. 4 (June 1, 1988): 821–24. https://doi.org/10.1353/jsh/21.4.821.
    Full Text
  - Koonz, C. “At the Very Least She Pays the Rent. Women and German Industrialization, 1871-1914. By Barbara Franzoi. (Westport, Connecticut, London, England: Greenwood, 1985. xi plus 206 pp. $29.95).” Journal of Social History 20, no. 2 (December 1, 1986): 415–17. https://doi.org/10.1353/jsh/20.2.415.
    Full Text
  - Koonz, Claudia. “Das ,zweite' Geschlecht im ,Dritten Reich'.” Feministische Studien 5, no. 2 (November 1, 1986): 14–33. https://doi.org/10.1515/fs-1986-0204.
    Full Text
  - KOONZ, C. “HIDDEN FROM HISTORY - REDISCOVERING WOMEN IN HISTORY FROM 17TH CENTURY TO PRESENT - ROWBOTHAM,S.” Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences 14, no. 1 (January 1, 1978): 86–88.
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  - Koonz, Claudia. “Conflicting Allegiances: Political Ideology and Women Legislators in Weimar Germany.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 1, no. 3, Part 1 (April 1976): 663–83. https://doi.org/10.1086/493248.
    Full Text
  - KOONZ, C. “NAZI WOMEN BEFORE 1933 - REBELS AGAINST EMANCIPATION.” Social Science Quarterly 56, no. 4 (January 1, 1976): 553–83.
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  - Koonz, Claudia. “Moral Exemplars in the Service of Evil. Hitler Normalizes National Socialism 1923-1933,” n.d.
- Book Sections
  - Koonz, C. “Women between God and Führer.” In The Rise Of The Nazi Regime: Historical Reassessments, edited by Charles Maier, Stanley Hoffmann, and Andrew Gould, 79–87. routledge, 2019.
    Link to Item
  - Koonz, Claudia. “Consensus Formation, Race, and Gender in Histories of National Socialist Germany.” In Gender Politics and Mass Dictatorship: Global Perspectives, edited by Karen Petrone and Jie Hyun Lim. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2010.
  - Koonz, Claudia. “'Hijāb’ A Word That Moves.” In Words In Motion: Toward a Global Lexicon, edited by Carol N. Gluck and Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2009.
  - Koonz, C. A. “A tributary and a mainstream: Gender, public memory, and the historiography of Nazi Germany.” In Gendering Modern German History: Rewriting Historiography, 147–68, 2007.
  - Koonz, Claudia. “Between Memory and Oblivion: Concentration Camps and Public Controversy.” In Commemorations: The Politics of National Memory, 258–81. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1993.
  - Koonz, Claudia. “Eugenics, Gender and Ethics in Nazi Germany: The Debate about Involuntary Sterilization 1933-1936.” In Reevaluating the Third Reich, edited by Jane Caplan and thomas Childers, 66–85. New York, N.Y.: Holmes and Meier, 1993.
  - Koonz, Claudia. “Genocide and Eugenics: The Language of Power.” In Lessons and Legacies: The Meaning of the Holocaust in a Changing World., edited by Peter Hayes,. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 1991.
    Link to Item
  - Koonz, Claudia. “Eugenische Revolution und Nationalsozialistische Macht: Katholische und Evangelische Reaktionen.” In Frauen Und Faschismus in Europa : Der Faschistische Körper, edited by Leonore Siegele-Wenschkewitz and Gerda Stutchlik, 6:156–71. Pfaffenweiler: Centaurus, 1987.
Scholarly, Clinical, & Service Activities
Presentations & Appearances
Outreach & Engaged Scholarship

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Education, Training, & Certifications

Previous Appointments & Affiliations

In the News

Awards & Honors

Global Scholarship

Expertise

Research

Teaching

Selected Grants

Selected Publications

Books

Academic Articles

Book Sections

Presentations & Appearances

Outreach & Engaged Scholarship