Klaus Weinhauer, born in Minden, Germany, in 1958. Ph.D. from the University of Hamburg. Senior Lecturer of Modern History at Bielefeld University.
Fellow (1 September 2010 – 30 June 2011)
The role of the police in trials against leftwing terrorists in Western Germany during the 1970s
Seen from a historical perspective, our knowledge about the role of the police in trials against West German leftwing terrorists during the 1970s is very basic. In focusing on selected trials in different West German Bundesländer, or federal states, I will mainly analyse the norms and values held by those policemen: 1) concerning the West German state and society; and 2) towards the positioning of the police in the rapidly changing society of the 1970s. Moreover, I will ask whether policemen viewed terrorism as a ‘normal’ or as a political crime? In their eyes were they protecting society or protecting the state of West Germany against terrorism? Were any historical parallels drawn between police work and acts of political violence during the Nazi years, the Weimar Republic or in foreign countries? Did any differences occur in the attitudes of uniformed policemen on the one hand and of criminal policemen on the other hand?
Klaus Weinhauer, S. Davies (eds.), Dock Workers. International Explorations in Comparative Labour History, 1790-1970, (Aldershot etc: Ashgate), 2000 (2 Vols).
Weinhauer, K., Schutzpolizei in der Bundesrepublik. Zwischen Bürgerkrieg und Innerer Sicherheit: Die turbulenten sechziger Jahre, (Paderborn etc: Schoeningh, 2003).
Weinhauer, K. et al (eds), Terrorismus in der Bundesrepublik. Medien, Staat und Subkulturen in den 1970er Jahren, (Frankfurt/New York: Campus, 2006).