The lecture deals with a hardly researched aspect of the conflict in Northern Ireland and links it to the history of the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR), based in the Federal Republic of Germany. The British Army established several specific training areas for its soldiers during Operation Banner, including one in Sennelager, which had been a major training area for the BAOR since 1945. Rebuilt streets resembling Belfast, moving puppets serving as Northern Irish locals and training scenarios in the surrounding Westphalian landscape soon caught the attention of the West German civil society and led to tensions between British and German authorities. Furthermore, Republican paramilitaries started to attack British soldiers and military facilities in West Germany from 1978 onwards.

The lecture gives an overview over the history of ‘Tin City’ in Sennelager, deals with West German perspectives on the conflict in Northern Ireland and focuses on the question in how far a transnational history of the Troubles might enrich their understanding.  It is part of a broader PhD project titled “Don’t you know there is a war going on?” Northern Ireland and the Federal Republic of Germany: A transnational history of conflict 1968-1998. Further Information: https://zzf-potsdam.de/en/forschung/projekte/dont-you-know-there-war-going-northern-ireland-and-federal-republic-germany .

Juliane Röleke is a PhD candidate at the Leibniz Centre for Contemporary History, at the University of Potsdam.