@mjgronau
Historian of European History, 19-20th Century, Migration History. My book "Deutsche Minderheiten in Frankreich und Großbritannien: Im Niemandsland der Identität 1914-1924" will come out in April 2025 with DeGruyter
I am immensely grateful for such an amazing review from such an esteemed scholar in the field! It is wonderful to see how well the book has been received so far:
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Really looking forward to performing stand-up on the French Revolution at this event!
There were instances where I had to show my ID for people to believe me
It's crazy that I had to wait 32 years and go to a tiny Pizza place in rural France to have someone ask for my first name and immediately write it down correctly without asking or trying to tell me that I'm not indeed named Matthias
I know that feel :/
Happy holidays to all my followers! May these holidays be calm and meeting/e-mail-free
Proud former PhD supervisor moment: I've just read the first review of @mjgronau.bsky.social's book 'Deutsche Minderheiten in Frankreich und Großbritannien: Im Niemandsland der Identität zwischen 1914 und 1924'!
Found here: B.Braber (2025). Immigrants & Minorities 43(3): 568–570. (Link not working)
Thanks to Stefan Berger for writing for our blog! Please take a look 😊
If you'd like to see an amateur comedy routine vaguely on the subject of peer review involving lots of puns and me forgetting a line, look no further! Credit and thanks to @drstevex.bsky.social for the video and, as always, being a very funny, supportive compere!
youtube.com/watch?v=D4ll...
One thing I learned from studying history: No matter how horrible something is or was, there will always be people that defend it as necessary or tradition
I'll be performing at this - really looking forward to it! It'll be my sixth time doing stand-up, almost a year exactly since I first tried it. Also my fifth different set, which is admittedly a slightly abnormal way of approaching things.
Der Bericht von @mjgronau.bsky.social zur rechtsgeschichtlichen Sektion auf dem @historikertag.bsky.social in Bonn mit @dinalog.bsky.social @sebastiangehrig.bsky.social und unserer Direktorin Kim Wünschmann ist erschienen 👇
t1p.de/eroa7
On Monday we launched our latest special issue. Thanks to @wienerlibrary.bsky.social, Barbara Warnock, and to our panel contributors Professor Heather Jones, Dr Andre Keil, and Dr Rachel Pistol.
This is a screenshot from a Word document showing the words "Landesverreit, folgte". Landesverreit does not exist, it is supposed to be Landesverrat.
#writing problems: When Word marks your first name as an error, but then turns a blind eye on this (I even checked and I did not add it to my custom word list either).
I received a newsletter from thesciencematters(.org) asking me to submit a shortened version of one of my articles. I hadn't heard of them before and could not find much about them outside of their own website. Does anyone in this bubble have more information about them?
I was just scolded for standing on a freshly mopped floor. Said floor? The pavement outside of a pub. I don't think that has happened to me before.
My colleague Raphaël Pernoud just published a report of two wonderful conferences (one of which I was lucky enough to attend) about #deindustrialisation. If you were there, enjoy the nostalgia. If you weren't there, get a glimpse into the events!
dessine.hypotheses.org/500
Currently reading up on Joseph Goebbels' for a small project:
"Oh, he was really active in a fraternity? I wonder if that still...yes, it exists. I wonder if they...no, they don't mention him on their website at all."
Having the same last name as a city is usually just a novelty. When you research the area, however, you suddenly start to see you last name in most interesting contexts:
"Gronau shows strength"
"Gronau takes responsibility"
Is it about me? No. Do I still feel addressed? Weirdly, yes.
There are two texts in this image, both originally in German. The first one is a screenshot that reads the quote from the tweet, the second one, below the first one, reads: Gerd Stork, Yearbook of the Landkreis Borken, 1961, as quoted in the Heimatbrief Borken March 1995, page 4.
"We are living in a time of deeprooted changes in which a lot—in some cases too much—is expected from us." This quote from 1961 could be a statement about today. I think it can bring solace to know how people in the past also felt overwhelmed by the changes of their times.
Three articles from #DerSpiegel I came across in my research:
1. German military ships to help with the defense of #Taiwan
2. #Franco-German calls for a joint #European army
3. Local German politicians mobilize against refugee centres
All taken from #DerSpiegel issue 43, 1991.
100% yes! I experienced both those scenarios within the last month alone
One of the best things about working with #history is the connectedness of everything. I'm researching #deindustrialisation, and a text I am reading talks about witch trials in 17th century Germany. Yet, the text still fits my research somehow
That's what I love about academia: I am currently reading Andreas Reckwitz' book on loss ("Verlust") and the connections he makes between loss in its current form and modernity are so simple yet so genius. #mindblowfriday
The fact that the #Ruhr valley deals with "eternal costs" of mining will always be fascinating. One of the most populated regions in Europe needs pumps running FOR ETERNITY lest most of the Ruhr valley becomes a PCB-contaminated salt lake district. That's what I call a "Watt willse machen" scenario.
This is a screenshot of a google search result. The link is from the official Quality and Support Agency – State Institute for Schools of Northrhine-Westphalia and entitled "What does honour even mean?". It is a link to a PDF, but the short text underneath the title only reads: "A woman is honourable when she is chaste, abstinent until marriage and her sexuality is confined only to her marraige. What is honour in the context of..."
Is it just me or does this #google result make it look like the NRW State Institute for Schools #qualisnrw is arguing that "a woman is honourable when she is chaste, abstinent until marriage and her sexuality is confined to the marriage"?
Just a screenshot of a text that reads: "Closely related to tedium was a general laziness or refusal to work, a temptation that frequently befell the monastic at rest. Another characteristic of acedia was the lack of the desire to read or pray."
That feeling when there is a domesday book to read and scrolls available, but doomscrolling hasn't been invented yet.
(Source: Ute Frevert, Emotions in History - Lost and Found, 2011, p. 31)
colourful, but sombre painting of a night in the forrest, with a blond women in light clothing sleeping at the bottom centre of the image, while a man slightly behind her is sitting next to a tree with his head in his hands. He is more in the shadows than her with his face obfuscated under his long dark hair while her sleeping face is clearly visible. Behind them, you can see trees and hills as well as a dark sky with only a few stars.
I came across this absolutely gorgeous illustration of "Old French Fairy Tales by Comtesse De Segur" painted by Virginia Frances Sterrett in 1920. An image both timeless and still very 20s. You can find this and other images on the Public Domain Image Archive (pdimagearchive.org/images/f330d...)
Talked to a friend of mine, who excitedly told me about an online platform her teacher told her about. It's about uploading personal documents to make them accessible to researchers: "So normal people can become part of history too!" Data privacy in mind, this is indeed important!
As a former international student (UK), I feel for all those students affected. I can only imagine the stress, uncertainty, fear, and frustration they must be dealing with right now.