In the “total” First World War, civilian “enemy aliens” became targets of stringent state control and internment, frequently in the name of “national security”. On the other hand, national and international humanitarian organisations supported these helpless victims of the war. To what extent and how did debates and conflicts about the relationship between security and humanity impact on the changing balance?
The Gerda Henkel Visiting Professorship is a co-operation of the Department of International History at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), the Gerda Henkel Foundation, the German Historical Institute London (GHIL), and the Gerda Henkel Professor’s home university. Its purpose is to promote awareness in Britain of German research on the history of the German Federal Republic and the German Democratic Republic, and to stimulate comparative work on German history in a European context. The first professorship was awarded in 2009.