There is a remarkable difference between German and British historiography of the post-World-War-II period. In Britain (as well as in other English-speaking countries) voluntary action and volunteering history have developed into a lively discussed field of investigation. German historiography, however, has paid little attention to this field until now. Among other things, this was due to the fact that for a long time it was the prevailing conviction that the expansion of the German welfare state has considerably diminished the significance of the voluntary sector or has even rendered it superfluous. Only in the last years, in face of the crisis of the welfare state, this conviction has been undermined. Furthermore, German historical research was mainly focused on social movements and their political actions. In contrast, organisations providing social welfare and dealing with day-today concerns of people in need, were mostly overlooked. While associations and philanthropy is a common scope for historians interested in 19th century, Contemporary History doesn’t pay much attention to it.

It now seems to be an adequate moment to bring together scholars from English and German speaking countries for a critical discussion of approaches to voluntary action history. Doing this, the workshop aims at a debate of historiographical concepts for the study of voluntary action and of volunteering. Furthermore, its target is to strengthen the transnational and comparative perspective for this field of historiography, which is all the more important as many voluntary organizations became increasingly transnational in their outlook and action during the second half of the twentieth century.

The workshop will set its sights on the development, forms and significance of voluntary action and volunteering since 1945. With this approach it sheds light on how the political and social order was negotiated in different national, societal and political contexts. Its main interest is the changing relationship between the voluntary sector and the state. At the same time it will analyse the transformation of concepts of solidarity and participation. A special focus is on voluntary organizations and on volunteers themselves.

One of the targets of the workshop will be to evaluate the role of the voluntary sector in society. Some key questions are: What consequences did World-War II have on the development of voluntary organisations and the voluntary action after 1945? How did the voluntary sector adjust to the expanding welfare state in the following decades? In what respects and to what extend did it change though or in reaction to the new social movements of the sixties and seventies? And how did the crises of the welfare state and of the labour society since the 1970s shift the balance between statutory and voluntary sectors?

Moreover, the workshop aims to yield insights into how the changes in the voluntary sector influenced the lives of individuals: In how far did the transformation of labour society modify conditions for the social or civic commitment of individuals? Did voluntary work open up new ways of participation or could it also set new boundaries? To what extend did voluntary organisations allow questioning social norms, as for example gender roles, family patterns or concepts of normality and otherness? We will discuss in how far voluntary action organisations are sites of social change allowing historians to study transformation processes within society beyond the political and scientific elite.

We are grateful to the Fritz Thyssen Stiftung for the generous support.