Most of Matthias’ research focuses on the life and struggle of outsider groups in nineteenth and twentieth-century Britain, the United States, and Germany. He is particularly interested in the social movements and cultural history of the unemployed, the visually impaired, and people of African descent. Another area of his expertise is military history and the cultural impact of war on modern society. His work focuses especially on the experiences of prisoners of war and their interaction with civilians, and he has published extensively on German prisoners of war in the United States during the Second World War. Matthias has also published and organised conferences on political cartoons and on social stereotypes and has a strong interest in the history of advertising.

Biography:

Matthias was born in Hamburg, Germany, where he also began his academic career in 1989. After studying Modern and Medieval History, Political Science, and Economics, he transferred to the University of Cincinnati, Ohio, where he worked as Graduate Teaching Assistant and studied U.S. History under the supervision of Prof. Roger Daniels. He was awarded an M.A. ‘with distinction’ in 1995 and returned to the University of Hamburg for his Ph.D. After a five-month research fellowship at the German Historical Institute in Washington, DC, he joined the University of the Federal Armed Forces / Helmut-Schmidt-University as Research Assistant at the Chair for Modern Western European History in 1997. Matthias graduated from the University of Hamburg with ‘summa cum laude’ in 2001 and was appointed Research Fellow at the German Historical Institute London in February 2002. He joined the University of Exeter in March 2007 and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in March 2012. He lives in Exmouth, only a short stroll from its beautiful beach.

Research supervision:

Matthias is happy to supervise research projects on street protest, social movements, prisoners of war, unemployment and the welfare state, or African American History.

Qualifications:
MA (Cincinnati, Ohio) PhD (Hamburg), FRHistS