Port Cities as Cosmopolitan Places? Hanseatic Cities in the Wake of Nazism

A talk by Dr Jeremy De Waal on post-war reconstruction and local identity in the Hanseatic port cities of Hamburg, Lübeck and Bremen.

Dr Jeremy De Waal of the University of Exeter examines post-war reconstruction and the politics of local identity in three Hanseatic harbour cities: Hamburg, Lübeck and Bremen. The talk considers how residents rebuilt shattered home towns after wartime bombing, a theme relatable to Plymouth, and how they drew on their seafaring history to support internationalist projects and reconciliation. This is contrasted with the Nazi-era framing of these harbour towns as vehicles for projecting German national power onto the world stage. The event lasts 90 minutes and takes place in person at the Levinsky Theatre.