Shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize 2018
Jan Ruger is Professor of History at Birkbeck, University of London. He is the author of The Great Naval Game: Britain and Germany in the Age of Empire and joint editor of Rewriting German History.
On Heligoland: Britain, Germany and the Struggle for the North Sea:
How to write the history of two nations divided but also inextricably linked by their shared past was at the heart of my interest in Heligoland. From early on I thought of this outpost in the North Sea as a prism through which to view the long history of Anglo-German rivalry, conflict and, eventually, reconciliation. In making a small island the main character of the book, I tried to engage with both the large-scale conflict between the two nations and the small-scale history of how this relationship manifested itself in the everyday lives of people and their places.
For generations this cliff-bound island expressed a German will to battle Britain; and it mirrored a British determination to prevent Germany from establishing hegemony on the Continent. I wanted to explain this struggle while not losing sight of those caught in between, amongst them the Heligolanders.
I am delighted to see that this approach was seen as persuasive enough for the book to be shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize. It is a tremendous honour to be in the running for a prize that has been awarded to so many historians whom I greatly admire. And it is hugely encouraging to see that books based on a close reading of the sources and a critical dialogue with fellow historians can find a broader audience.
