Wolfgang G. Schwanitz

This article is about the German-American Middle East historian. For other uses of Schwanitz, see Schwanitz (disambiguation).
Wolfgang G. Schwanitz

Wolfgang G. Schwanitz, 2008.
Born Wolfgang Georg Schwanitz
(1955-12-08) December 8, 1955
Magdeburg, Germany
Residence New Jersey
Nationality German
Alma mater Leipzig University (Ph.D.), Free University of Berlin
Occupation Arabist, Economist, Historian of the Middle East
Known for Publications about America, the Middle East and Germany
Notable work Islam in Europe, Revolts in the Middle East
Website www.trafoberlin.de

Wolfgang G. Schwanitz is a German-American Middle East historian. He is a specialist in comparative studies of modern international relations between the United States, the Middle East, and Europe. Schwanitz is known for his research on relations between Arabs, Jews, and Germans, and on the history of German relations with the Middle East.

Background

Born in 1955, Schwanitz lived for seven years in Cairo, Egypt, as his parents were diplomats. Back in East Germany, he attended the Max Planck high school of Berlin. In 1982 he finished five years of Middle Eastern studies as Arabist/Economist at Leipzig University. In 1985 he completed his Ph.D. at Leipzig, on Egypt's open-door policy.

Career

In Berlin he headed the research group on Middle Eastern history at the Academy of Sciences. He has taught at Humboldt University, University of Potsdam, and Free University of Berlin. After German reunification, he worked (1990–95) at the Modern Orient Center — founded by the Max Planck Society of Munich — and published books on relations between Germany and the Middle East. In the 1990s he was visiting fellow at CEDEJ, Cairo (1992–93), at Princeton University (1995–97), and at the German-American Center for Visiting Scholars[1] of the German Historical Institute in Washington, D.C. (1998). In Princeton, he finished two volumes on the history of Germans in the Middle East after World War II.

In his history of the German Orient Bank he showed by records from American and German archives how Jewish gold looted by Nazis[2] in occupied Europe was sold in Turkey via the German Orient Bank. This bank was founded in 1906 by Dresdner Bank in Berlin, the second-largest German bank, and served 40 years in the Middle East.

In 2000, he settled near Princeton, USA. He researches and teaches Arabic, world history, and Middle Eastern history at local colleges, among them Burlington County College in Pemberton, New Jersey, and Rider University in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, (2004–08). He edits a book series of comparative studies on America-Mideast-Europe, he is visiting professor at the Rubin Center for Research in International Affairs at the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya, Israel,[3] and Hochberg Family Writing Fellow at the Middle East Forum of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

His works on the German and American Islam policy met a wide response. Schwanitz authored five and edited ten books. He authored 70 book chapters on history and politics of the Middle East in international relations since 1798, as modernity came to the Middle East.

Selected bibliography

Books

Islam in Europe, Revolts in the Middle East.

Audios and Videos with W.G. Schwanitz

Gold, Bankers and Diplomats: A History Of The German Orient Bank 1906–1946.

Contributions

Literature on W.G. Schwanitz

References

  1. ↑ German-American Center for Visiting Scholars.
  2. ↑ http://www.trafoberlin.de/pdf-dateien/Wege%20des%20Raubgoldes%20Berlin%20%202002.pdf
  3. ↑ .

External links

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