Dr. David Franz

Research Project

Die USA und die UdSSR in den Modernitätsdiskursen der Weimarer Republik — abgeschlossen

The USA and USSR in discourses of modernity in the Weimar Republic — completed

Debates on social modernization processes determined the public discourse of the Weimar Republic. A special role was played by the images of the USA and the Soviet Union, which in German newspapers and magazines were perceived as modernity projects. This is where this study begins, comparing conflicting representations of both countries in the leading German print media of the time and embedding them in the social conditions of the inter-war period. In addition to journalistic texts, pictorial representations were also examined. Thus, the study takes special account of the leading role of the Soviet Union, which has so far received little attention, as well as the power of pictorial representations in the debates of the Weimar Republic. In doing so, it traces more broadly than before the lines of the struggles over modernization processes in society, business and politics, which were characteristic of the public debate in the Weimar Republic.

Published as:

USA oder Sowjetunion? Konkurrierende Modernitätsentwürfe in den Massenmedien der Weimarer Republik. (= Schnittstellen. Studien zum östlichen und südöstlichen Europa; 12). Göttingen 2019.

Curriculum Vitae

Born in Wiesbaden. Abitur in Viechtach. Compulsory military service in Regen. 2006-2012, Franz completed
his teacher training at the Universität Regensburg and the University of Colorado Boulder, where he studied English, Historical Studies and Political Science. After completing his first Staatsexamen in 2012, Franz started his doctoral studies at the Institute for English and American Studies of the Universität Regensburg and became an associated doctoral student of the Graduate School. He defended his doctoral thesis in 2016. Since autumn 2016, he has been working as grammar school teacher for English, History and Politics in Munich. He completed his second Staatsexamen in 2018.

Awards

• Dr.-Katharina-Sailer-Preis 2017 of the Universität Regensburg and the Dr.-Katharina-Sailer-Foundation [Doctoral Thesis Award]

Publications

Monograph

USA oder Sowjetunion? Konkurrierende Modernitätsentwürfe in den Massenmedien der Weimarer Republik. (= Schnittstellen. Studien zum östlichen und südöstlichen Europa; 12). Göttingen 2019.

Reviews

Melanie Ilič, Life Stories of Soviet Women. The Interwar Generation, London: Routledge, 2013. In: Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas / jgo.e-reviews, jgo.e-reviews 2014, 4, S. 36-37. URL: https://www.recensio.net/r/76ba5a491e9043a9b7c35838dec0791a.

Further Publications

Angewandte Geschichte und Public History: Chancen und Herausforderungen für die Geschichtswissenschaft, in: Erinnerungskulturen. Erinnerung und Geschichtspolitik im östlichen und südöstlichen Europa, 16.07.2015. URL: https://erinnerung.hypotheses.org/371.