Associated research project
Subproject of the VolkswagenStiftung-project: The Other Global Germany: Transnational Criminality and Deviant Globalization in the 20th Century at the University of Erfurt

This project explores the role of Germany in the rise of global arms and narcotics trafficking and the efforts to contain these illicit trades from the Kaiserreich to the Nazi Era.This project explores the role of Germany in the rise of global arms and narcotics trafficking and the efforts to contain these illicit trades from the Kaiserreich to the Nazi Era. In the late 19th century, the proliferation of new avenues of global trade created a wave of moral panics and fears from state officials that uncontrolled cross-border flows threated the social order within Europe and the colonial order in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The two leading commodities that generated the greatest concern from state officials and moral crusaders were arms and drugs. A secondary market in the colonial world had exploded as European armies modernized and sought to profit from their obsolete arsenals while the global traffic in addictive medications such as cocaine, heroin and other opiate products raised the specter of the subversion of the colonial order through violent uprisings and social collapse. Through the lens of the emergence of international crime, this project aims to rethink the place of Germany in a globalizing world order as it transitioned from an Empire to a democratic republic and finally to the tyranny of the Third Reich. The history of arms and drug trafficking provides a window into shifting cultural understandings of crime at home and how they were linked to international affairs, but also illuminates ambiguous boundaries of "Germany" as an entity in an interconnected world.