This thesis examines German memories of the Vertriebene, the twelve million Germans who fled their homeland in the face of Russian invasion in the closing days of World War II. I explore the acceptable limits of victim discourse and consider the validity of arguments about German victimization in light of the atrocities committed by Germans during the war. Three chapters discuss diaspora, discourse and commemoration. I relate diaspora historiography to the Vertriebene and then dissect the discourse of the Bund der Vertriebenen and its construction of a German "victim mythos" that undermined more acceptable claims for the recognition of Germans victimhood. I then analyze debates over the suitable commemoration of German victims in academic discourse, fiction, and efforts to build a memorial to the Vertriebene. I conclude that some Germans can be considered legitimate victims of the war, but only when one also remembers the victims of Germans.

Thesis (doctoral)--Ruprecht Karl-Universität zu Heidelberg, 1935. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 68-70).

Inaug.-diss.--Greifswald. / At head of title: Deutsche geschichte. Lebenslauf. "Literatur": p. [6]-7.

Inaug.-Diss.--Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen. / Vita. Bibliography: p. 321-332.

Inaugural-Dissertation--Universität zu Köln, 1985. / Five folded maps in pocket. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 361-380).

Thesis (doctoral)--Vereinigte Friedrichs-Universität Halle-Wittenberg. / Issued also in the Mitteilungen des Vereins für Anhaltische Geschichte und Altertumskunde. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. [177]-199).

Thesis--Erlangen. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. [103]-105).

Originally presented as the author's Thesis (doctoral)--Universität Bielefeld, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 393-417) and indexes.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 1973. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 294-301). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center.

This dissertation examines the operation of Hohenzollern government in the distant but crucial territory of East Prussia during the reign of Frederick William I, 1713-40 to determine what impact the establishment of the General Directory in late 1722 and early 1723 had upon day-to-day administration within the Kingdom of East Prussia. Particular attention is given to the role and operation of provincial and local government in East Prussia during the decades before and after the setting up of the General Directory (General-Ober-Finanz-Kriegs-und Domänen-Direktorium). This study is part of a broader historiographical tendency which questions both the extent and success of Hohenzollern state building and calls into question the validity of the traditional view which gives most attention to the positive role of central state structures and considers the establishment of the General Directory as the apex of the much-admired and widely-emulated Prussian administrative system. This study demonstrates that further governmental modifications were needed in the Kingdom before and after the General Directory's successful operation in the Kingdom in the 1720s and 1730s. The territorial and local levels were where the Hohenzollern rulers would find it crucial to establish their absolutist power. One difficulty Frederick William I faced was that a large corps of loyal officials was lacking in the Kingdom which was only partially remedied by the end of his reign. In addition, critical administrative disputes continued and new ones arose between the King's administrative agencies. Moreover, the powerful native elites who lived in the Kingdom retained significant authority at the provincial and local levels and resisted many reform attempts by a king who they saw as foreign. Their enduring importance helps to explain the distinctive manner in which absolutism developed over these decades. As a result, authority in the Kingdom still was less than securely established by the final decade of Frederick William I's reign.