The issue of ethnicity has been largely neglected in studies on the history of crime in nineteenth-century Germany and Austria. Given that the ethnic background of delinquents is a familiar and controversial argument in current debates on crime, this is quite surprising. By turning their attention to this issue, historical studies can help us to understand how stereotypes about allegedly criminal "others" emerge and take root.

Funded initially by the Collegium Carolinum, Volker Zimmermann’s research project examines two multi-ethnic regions in Central Europe with very different historical and demographic backgrounds: the Prussian eastern provinces of the German Empire and the Bohemian Lands of the Habsburg Monarchy. While the Prussian eastern provinces were located in a nationalizing state, the Bohemian lands formed part of a multi-national Empire. In a comparative analysis of both regions, the project investigates similarities and differences in the history of crime and asks to what extent they were determined by state structures and specific political and social identities.

There were a number of noteworthy developments in both regions in the period under examination. High crime rates in the east of the German Empire provoked a discussion about allegedly delinquent Polish segments of the population. At the same time industrial centres in the Bohemian Lands, such as Ostrava with its ethnically diverse population, witnessed a surge in crime. Yet the project is not only concerned with the latter part of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century. It also looks to the decades before and afterwards for evidence of other striking developments in crime in multi-ethnic regions and in contemporary social and academic discourse about crime.

A comparison of both regions on many different levels shows how social participation is essential for integration in multinational societies – regardless of their forms of government. The insights gained can also increase our understanding of mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion in the present.

Volker Zimmermann