In my habilitation project, I focus on the robbery of Europe's Jewish population during the Holocaust. I intend to investigate the mechanisms developed and applied by Nazi Germany and its allies in the occupied and collaborating countries in order to rob, loot and plunder the Jewish population. Likewise, the issue of restitution will be addressed. The study aims at a qualitative rather than a quantitative evaluation, and pursues an integrated history of the Holocaust, focusing in particular on the perspective of the persecuted Jewish population. Hereby, the organised and spontaneous robbery is understood as one element of the various dynamics that led to the physical annihilation of the Jews. The analysis focuses on spatial and temporal developments, as well as institutional and individual actors.
The comprehensive compilation of sources »The Persecution and Murder of the European Jews by Nazi Germany, 1933–1945« (PMJ) enables me to draw on historical documents from both Western and Eastern Europe, and thus, to examine the phenomenon from a transnational perspective.
The project aims to contribute to the contextualisation of the Holocaust as well as to the study of its material aspects that are still relevant today.
