Christoph Rass

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Christoph A. Rass
Born1969 (age 56–57)
Saarlouis, Germany
OccupationHistorian
AwardsKalliope Prize (2017)
LASA Best Article Award (2025)
Academic background
Alma materSaarland University
RWTH Aachen University
Academic work
DisciplineHistory
Sub-discipline
Migration studies, Modern History
InstitutionsOsnabrück University
Main interests
Historical migration studies
German military history
Notable works
Germany and the Second World War

Christoph A. Rass (born 1969 in Saarlouis)[1][2] is a German historian and professor of Modern History and Historical Migration Studies at Osnabrück University. His research focuses on migration history, the social history of organized violence, and conflict landscape studies.[3]

Education and career

Rass studied economic and social history, modern history, and information science at Saarland University in Saarbrücken from 1990 to 1996.[4] He completed his doctorate at RWTH Aachen University in 2001 with a dissertation titled Menschenmaterial: Sozialprofil, Machtstrukturen und Handlungsmuster einer Infanteriedivision der Wehrmacht im Zweiten Weltkrieg (Human Material: Social Profile, Power Structures and Patterns of Action of a Wehrmacht Infantry Division in the Second World War).[5] He completed his habilitation at RWTH Aachen University in 2007 with the work Institutionalisierungsprozesse auf einem internationalen Arbeitsmarkt: Bilaterale Wanderungsverträge in Europa zwischen 1919 und 1974 (Institutionalization Processes in an International Labor Market: Bilateral Migration Agreements in Europe, 1919–1974), published in 2010.[6][3]

From 1996 to 2011, Rass worked at the Department of Economic and Social History at RWTH Aachen University, initially as a research associate (Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter), then as Lecturer (Akademischer Rat) from 2001 following his doctorate, and as Senior Lecturer (Akademischer Oberrat) from 2007 following his habilitation.[3]

Rass moved to Osnabrück University in 2011 as Acting Professor of Modern History. In 2015, he was appointed full professor (W3) of Modern History and Historical Migration Studies.[3] Since 2011, he has been a member of the Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies (IMIS), and since 2021 he has served on its board.[7]

Since April 2024, Rass serves as Principal Investigator in the German Research Foundation (DFG)-funded Collaborative Research Centre (Sonderforschungsbereich) 1604 "Production of Migration" at Osnabrück University. The research center, which received €8.3 million for its first funding phase through 2027, is the first SFB in Germany dedicated to migration studies.[8][9][10]

Research

His research focuses on three main areas: historical migration studies, the social history of organized violence (particularly the Wehrmacht), and conflict landscape studies combining historical research with archaeological methods.[3] He has been interviewed on military history and migration by German media, including the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung.[11]

German military history

His dissertation, published as Menschenmaterial (2003), is a social-historical study of an average Wehrmacht infantry division during the Eastern Front campaign. Based on 2,300 personnel files from the 253rd Infantry Division, the study was the first to comprehensively analyze the social structures, behavioral patterns, and conditions of everyday life in a typical Wehrmacht infantry division on the Eastern Front.[5][12] Historian Christian Hartmann, reviewing the book for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, praised it as "Grundlagenforschung im besten Sinne" (foundational research in the best sense).[13][14] Johannes Klotz, writing in the Süddeutsche Zeitung, noted that the study definitively answered questions about Wehrmacht soldiers' participation in the war of annihilation.[15]

History of German Federal Intelligence Service

As part of the Independent Historians Commission (Unabhängige Historikerkommission) for the History of the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) 1945–1968, Rass authored Das Sozialprofil des Bundesnachrichtendienstes (The Social Profile of the German Federal Intelligence Service, 2016). Based on 3,650 biographical records from a random sample of all full-time BND employees, the study analyzed the social composition of the intelligence service and the extent of Nazi-era continuities in its personnel. It was the first volume of the commission's 15-volume publication series.[16][17][18]

Migration studies

Rass has published extensively on European labor migration systems, the history of migration categories, and the conceptual history of migration terminology. His habilitation thesis examined bilateral migration agreements across eighteen European countries from 1919 to 1974, offering the first comparative long-term study of the "guest worker" system.[6][19]

His 2024 article "Migrating Concepts: The Transatlantic Origins of the Bracero Program, 1919–1942," co-authored with Julie M. Weise (University of Oregon), was published in the American Historical Review and awarded the 2025 Best Article in Social Sciences prize by the Mexico Section of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA).[20][21]

Awards and honors

  • 2017: Kalliope Prize for Practice-Oriented Migration Research, German Emigration Center Bremerhaven[22][23]
  • 2025: Best Article in Social Sciences, LASA Mexico Section (with Julie M. Weise)[21]

Selected publications

Monographs

  • Menschenmaterial: Deutsche Soldaten an der Ostfront. Innenansichten einer Infanteriedivision 1939–1945 (Schöningh, 2003) ISBN 3-506-74486-0
  • Institutionalisierungsprozesse auf einem internationalen Arbeitsmarkt. Bilaterale Wanderungsverträge in Europa zwischen 1919 und 1974 (Schöningh, 2010) ISBN 978-3-506-77068-4
  • Das Sozialprofil des Bundesnachrichtendienstes: Von den Anfängen bis 1968 (Ch. Links Verlag, 2016) ISBN 978-3-86153-920-9

Edited volumes

  • (editor) Militärische Migration vom Altertum bis zur Gegenwart (Schöningh, 2016) ISBN 978-3-506-78109-3
  • (with Andreas Pott and Frank Wolff, eds.) Was ist ein Migrationsregime? What Is a Migration Regime? (Springer VS, 2018) ISBN 978-3-658-20531-7

Contributions

References

  1. "Rass, Christoph". WorldCat Identities. Retrieved 7 December 2025. Rass, Christoph 1969-
  2. "Christoph Rass". Wikidata. Retrieved 7 December 2025. place of birth: Saarlouis; date of birth: 1969 (stated in: Catalog of the German National Library)
  3. "Prof. Dr. Christoph A. Rass". Institut für Migrationsforschung und Interkulturelle Studien, Universität Osnabrück (in German). Retrieved 7 December 2025.
  4. "Werdegang". Historisches Seminar, Universität Osnabrück (in German). Retrieved 7 December 2025. 1990 bis 1996 Studium der Wirtschafts- und Sozialgeschichte, Neueren Geschichte, Informationswissenschaft an der Universität des Saarlandes, Saarbrücken
  5. von Prollius, Michael (6 August 2003). "Rezension zu: Rass, Christoph: "Menschenmaterial"". H-Soz-Kult. Retrieved 7 December 2025.
  6. Pleinen, Jenny (2 June 2011). "Rezension zu: Rass, Christoph: Institutionalisierungsprozesse auf einem internationalen Arbeitsmarkt". H-Soz-Kult. Retrieved 7 December 2025. Die Habilitationsschrift des Aachener Historikers Christoph Rass beschäftigt sich mit der Entstehung und Ausgestaltung eines staatlich regulierten Migrationssystems in (West-)Europa.
  7. "Ältere Meldungen". IMIS Universität Osnabrück (in German). Retrieved 7 December 2025. Dem neuen, für die Jahre 2021-2023 gewählten IMIS-Vorstand gehören außerdem die beiden Historiker Apl. Prof. Dr. Jochen Oltmer und Prof. Dr. Christoph Rass
  8. "Sonderforschungsbereich der Migrationsforschung startet: Ein neuer Wissenschafts-Leuchtturm für Osnabrück". idw - Informationsdienst Wissenschaft. 10 May 2024. Retrieved 7 December 2025. Der Osnabrücker SFB ist der bundesweit erste Sonderforschungsbereich, der sich dem...Zusammenhang von Migration und gesellschaftlichem Wandel widmet.
  9. "SFB startet: Ein neuer Wissenschafts-Leuchtturm für Osnabrück". Presseportal. 10 May 2024. Retrieved 7 December 2025. Bundesweit erster Sonderforschungsbereich zu Migration startet
  10. "SFB 1604: Produktion von Migration". DFG GEPRIS. Retrieved 7 December 2025.
  11. "Osnabrücker Historiker: Phänomen der Kriegsbegeisterung 1914 neu bewerten" (Press release) (in German). Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung. 17 March 2014. Retrieved 7 December 2025 – via Presseportal. Der Historiker und Weltkriegs-Spezialist Christoph Rass fordert eine Neubewertung der Kriegsbegeisterung im Deutschland des Jahres 1914.
  12. Fritz, Stephen G. (April 2005). "Review of Rass, Christoph, "Menschenmaterial": Deutsche Soldaten an der Ostfront". H-Net Reviews. H-German. Retrieved 7 December 2025. until now a comprehensive quantitative examination of war at the level of its most basic actors was lacking
  13. Hartmann, Christian (8 August 2003). "Auf Profilsuche. Eine deutsche Infanteriedivision im Spiegel von Karteikarten". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German).
  14. "Christoph Rass: Menschenmaterial. Deutsche Soldaten an der Ostfront". Perlentaucher (in German). Retrieved 7 December 2025. Hartmann wertet das als 'Grundlagenforschung im besten Sinne'.
  15. Klotz, Johannes (23 June 2003). "Hochdekorierte Täter". Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German).
  16. Stange, Irina (14 June 2018). "Rezension zu: Sozialprofil und Personalüberprüfungen des Bundesnachrichtendienstes". H-Soz-Kult. Retrieved 7 December 2025. Die Angaben basieren auf einer Zufallsstichprobe im Umfang von 3.650 von insgesamt 11.567 hauptamtlichen BND-Mitarbeitern.
  17. "Nazi-Verstrickungen beim Geheimdienst: Die braunen Wurzeln des BND". taz (in German). 9 December 2016. Retrieved 7 December 2025.
  18. Rass, Christoph (2016). Das Sozialprofil des Bundesnachrichtendienstes: Von den Anfängen bis 1968. Veröffentlichungen der Unabhängigen Historikerkommission zur Erforschung der Geschichte des Bundesnachrichtendienstes 1945–1968, Band 1. Berlin: Ch. Links Verlag. ISBN 978-3-86153-920-9.
  19. "Institutionalisierungsprozesse auf einem internationalen Arbeitsmarkt". Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh (in German). Retrieved 7 December 2025. Die erste komparative Langzeitstudie zu bilateralen Wanderungsverträgen... Das vorliegende Buch verbindet die Migrationsgeschichte der achtzehn wichtigsten Zu- und Abwanderungsländer des europäischen Arbeitswanderungssystems
  20. Weise, Julie M.; Rass, Christoph (March 2024). "Migrating Concepts: The Transatlantic Origins of the Bracero Program, 1919–42". The American Historical Review. 129 (1): 22–52. doi:10.1093/ahr/rhad500.
  21. "Award-Winning AHR Articles". American Historical Association. Retrieved 7 December 2025. The March 2024 article "Migrating Concepts: The Transatlantic Origins of the Bracero Program, 1919-42" was awarded the 2025 Premio al Mejor Artículo en Ciencias Sociales by the Latin American Studies Association.
  22. "Kalliope-Preis für praxisnahe Migrationsforschung für Prof. Dr. Christoph A. Rass". idw - Informationsdienst Wissenschaft. 3 November 2017. Retrieved 7 December 2025.
  23. "Deutsches Auswandererhaus: "Kalliope-Preis für praxisnahe Migrationsforschung" für Prof. Dr. Christoph A. Rass". Bremerhaven.de. 3 November 2017. Retrieved 7 December 2025.