Ethnic Germans and National Socialism in Yugoslavia in World War II

Description

This is an in-depth study of the ethnic German minority in the Serbian Banat (Southeast Europe) and its experiences under German occupation in World War II. Mirna Zakic argues that the Banat Germans exercised great agency within the constraints imposed on them by Nazi ideology, with its expectations that ethnic Germans would collaborate with the invading Nazis. The book examines the incentives that the Nazis offered to collaboration and social dynamics within the Banat German community - between their Nazified leadership and the rank and file - as well as the various and ever-more damning forms collaboration took. The Banat Germans provided administrative and economic aid to the Nazi war effort, and took part in Nazi military operations in Yugoslav lands, the Holocaust and Aryanization. They ruled the Banat on the Nazis' behalf between 1941 and 1944, yet their wartime choices led ultimately to their disenfranchisement and persecution following the Nazis' defeat.

Mirna Zakic received her Ph.D. in Modern European History from the University of Maryland in 2011, and won the University's Distinguished Dissertation Award in 2012. She has been Assistant Professor of German History at Ohio University since 2011. In 2013-14 she completed a postdoctoral fellowship from the Volkswagen Foundation in residence at Albert-Ludwigs-Universitat Freiburg, Germany. Her article 'The Price of Belonging to the Volk: Volksdeutsche, Land Redistribution and Aryanization in the Serbian Banat, 1941-1944' was published in the Journal of Contemporary History in 2014.

'Zakic's well-argued microhistory shows how Banat Germans used Nazism for local purposes, even as it implicated them in Nazi atrocities. It lays bare how Nazi ideology bent to wartime practicalities in this politically-charged region of Europe.' John Eicher, German Historical Institute, Washington DC 'Mirna Zakic's compelling and often surprising account of the ethnic Germans of Yugoslavia proves how much there still is to learn about World War II. Energetically researched and written with verve, this remarkable book reveals the cynical pragmatism and contagious brutality at the heart of Nazi population policies.' Doris L. Bergen, University of Toronto and author of War and Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust 'By reframing the place of Volksdeutsche in the complex Nazi paradigm of Europe and teasing out how collaborative arrangements evolved over time, Zakic's study successfully counters the antiquated German diasporic narrative that sought to vindicate ethnic Germans ... an admirable case study, beautifully researched and filled with rich detail.' Emily Greble, Slavic Review '... Zakic has written a fascinating book ... broadens our perspective and makes for illuminating reading, not just for specialists of Southeast Europe but for everybody interested in the many faces of German occupation policies.' Gerhard Wolf, The American Historical Review