Iran and the Third Reich, 1933-1943. Political Conceptions between ideology and Realpolitik

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The subject of the planned research project will be an analysis of the political and cultural relations between Iran and Germany between 1933 and 1943. This analysis will be based on hitherto unused, or only recently published source material. The project is aimed at a better understanding of a number of developments and phenomena that have determined politics and society in Iran up to the present.The project is focused to acquire a comprehensive understanding of the German role in Iranian politics and society from the National Socialist seizure of power right into World War II, as well as of German politics towards Iran during this period by means of new methods and questions adapted both from historiography and social sciences. Within the framework of the project, the respective interests and perspectives of the both the Iranian and the German side. In order to identify the national interests which both sides did pursue, and in which way and on which fields this did lead to an interaction between Iran and Germany. Methodologically the project is designed as a case study on transnational political and social history by the example of the relations and mutual influences between European and Middle Eastern states, in this case Iran and Germany. The aim is the analysis of power structures, elite mentalities and political decision processes in a comparative perspective that goes beyond the limits of the respective national perspective. In this project, the respective political interests and points of view of both the Iranian and German side will be examined within the methodological frame of a transnational historiography. It will be the aim of the analysis to work out which political interests both sides did pursue, and in which way this policy did lead to an interaction between Iran and Germany. Based on the analysis of Iran's relations with Germany one aim of investigation is the development of Iran into a modern state in the age of totalitarian ideologies. Besides this, the project will examine the attitudes of the elites and the public opinion in Iran towards National-Socialism and, on the basis of those findings, define how far the development of a modern administration and society in Iran was still oriented towards models and ideas from the 19th century, or towards coeval authoritarian concepts. Regarding the research on the modern history of Germany, the project will examine the significance of non-European states and regions for German foreign, economic and military politics, and the ministries, institutions and organizations involved. Finally, the project offers the perspective to extend the prevalent and still strongly Eurocentric perspective on Nazi Germany on other regions.