Institute of Modern History

Christopher Landes

Former Research Assistant

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E-mail: chlandesspam prevention@gmail.com


CV Publications


Dissertation Project

The Significance of International Entanglements for the “Culture of Poor Relief” (1880-1914)

At the beginning of the 20th century, the complex and increasingly differentiated system of public and private poor relief underwent a transformation. As part of this process, traditional forms of support and innovative welfare concepts stood at odds with one another, but those involved in poor relief as well as welfare experts and social reformers sought to resolve this tension in their administrative offices, associations and day-to-day work with the poor. Cross-border exchanges and networking played a decisive role when it came to deciding how to organize poor relief most effectively and how best to combat poverty on the whole. International conferences, study abroad and the intensive review of specialist literature indicate that there was a dense network of productive relationships. This dissertation systematically examines these international relationships and networks that have often been ignored in scholarship on poor relief to distill their significance for social welfare in Germany.

Research Interests