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Claudia Koonz

Peabody Family Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History in Trinity College of Arts and Sciences
History
Dept of History, Box 90719, Durham, NC 27708-0719
226 Classroom Bldg, Durham, NC 27708

Overview


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 · 2012 - Present History, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Professor Emeritus of History · 2012 - Present History, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences

In the News


Published July 21, 2021
Podcast Real Dictators: Hitler, parts 1-4.
Published July 21, 2021
Gen. Milley, Mr. Trump and lessons from the past
Published June 24, 2020
“No more Business as Usual

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Recent Publications


Donald Trump Must Face Federal Charges

Internet Publication · July 19, 2022 A look back at the Weimar Republic should teach us a lesson about bringing insurrectionists to justice ... Open Access Link to item Cite

Mothers in the Fatherland: Women, the family and Nazi politics

Book · January 1, 2013 From extensive research, including a remarkable interview with the unrepentant chief of Hitler’s Women’s Bureau, this book traces the roles played by women - as followers, victims and resisters - in the rise of Nazism. Originally publishing in 1987, it is ... Full text Cite
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Recent Grants


What happens to Their Children? Policy and Research Related to the Children of Parents in Detention Facilities

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Josiah Charles Trent Memorial Foundation · 2012 - 2012

Gender and Ethnic Conflict

ConferencePrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Josiah Charles Trent Memorial Foundation · 2005 - 2005

Gender, Ethnicity and Community Among Refugess in Croatian Camps

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Josiah Charles Trent Memorial Foundation · 1995 - 1996

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Education, Training & Certifications


Rutgers University · 1969 Ph.D.
Columbia University · 1964 M.A.
University of Wisconsin, Madison · 1962 B.A.