Table of Contents

1. The Banat Germans from settlement to partial Nazification, 1699–1941; 2. Ethnic Germans and the invasion of Yugoslavia, 1941; 3. Ethnic German administration (1941) and community dynamics; 4. Privileges, economy, and relations with other groups; 5. Police and anti-partisan activity; 6. The Holocaust (1941–2) and Aryanization; 7. Ideology and propaganda; 8. The Waffen-SS division 'Prinz Eugen' and anti-partisan warfare in Yugoslavia, 1942–4.

Promotional Information

A study of the German minority in the Serbian Banat during World War II, its self-perception and its collaboration with the Nazis.

About the Author

Mirna Zakić 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-Universität 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.

Reviews

'Zakić'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 Zakić'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, Zakić'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

'… Zakić 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