After working as an apprentice on a farm in Lower Saxony, Ziemann studied History and Philosophy at Free University Berlin, graduating with a master's degree in 1991. From 1992 to 1995, he was a member of the Graduate School on Social History at the University of Bielefeld, gaining his PhD in 1996. From 1996 to 2004, Ziemann worked as an assistant professor at the Institute for Social Movements at Ruhr University Bochum. In 2004-2005, he was Visiting Lecturer at International University Bremen. In 2005, Ziemann joined the Department of History at the University of Sheffield as a Lecturer. In 2010-2011, he was a Visiting Professor at the University of Tübingen. Ziemann has been a Visiting Scholar at the Forum for Contemporary History at Oslo University, at the University of Bielefeld and from 2013 to 2015 at Berlin, funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation.
Research
Ziemann's main field of expertise is German history from the 1880s to the 1980s. He has published books and articles on military history and the history of violence particularly during and after the First World War. He is also a specialist on the social and political history of the Weimar Republic. Another area of expertise is the history of religion in modern Germany, particularly during the twentieth century. In addition, Ziemann has published widely on the comparative history of pacifism and peace movements especially during the Cold War.
Honours
Two of Ziemann's books have been awarded the prize Geisteswissenschaften International, a joint initiative of the German Booksellers Association, the Collecting society VG Wort and the Fritz Thyssen Foundation to facilitate the translation of German academic books into foreign languages. In 2000, Ziemann was awarded the Bennigsen-Foerder Prize by the Ministry of School, Continuing Education and Science in the state of North-Rhine Westphalia. He used the prize money of 100.000 Deutsche Mark to conduct a research project on the impact of opinion -polling on the political system in the Federal Republic from 1949 to 1990. In 2003, Ziemann was the recipient of a Feodor Lynen Fellowship by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, allowing him to spend the academic year 2003-2004 as a Visiting Scholar at the University of York. In 2007, Ziemann was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
Selected publications
Books
Gewalt im Ersten Weltkrieg. Töten – Überleben – Verweigern, Essen: Klartext, 2013.
Veteranen der Republik. Kriegserinnerung und demokratische Politik 1918–1933, Bonn: J.H.W.Dietz Nachf., 2014.
Contested Commemorations: Republican War Veterans and Weimar Political Culture, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
Sozialgeschichte der Religion. Von der Reformation bis zur Gegenwart, Frankfurt/Main: Campus, 2009.
Encounters with Modernity: The Catholic Church in West Germany, 1945–1975, New York. Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2014.
Katholische Kirche und Sozialwissenschaften 1945-1975, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2007
War Experiences in Rural Germany, 1914–1923, Oxford; New York: Berg, 2007.
Front und Heimat. Ländliche Kriegserfahrungen im südlichen Bayern 1914-1923, Essen: Klartext, 1997
Edited Collections
, Engineering Society. The Role of the Human and Social Sciences in Modern Societies, 1880–1980, Basingstoke: Palgrave
, The German Soldiers of the Great War. Letters and Eyewitness Accounts, Barnsley: Pen & Sword, 2010.
, Reading Primary Sources. The Interpretation of Texts from Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century History, London: Routledge, 2008.
, European Political History 1870-1913, Aldershot: Ashgate 2007.
Peace Movements in Western Europe, Japan and the USA during the Cold War, Essen: Klartext 2007.
Perspektiven der Historischen Friedensforschung, Essen: Klartext 2002
, Untertan in Uniform. Militär und Militarismus im Kaiserreich 1871-1914, Frankfurt/Main: Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag 2001
, Was ist Militärgeschichte?, Paderborn: Schöningh 2000
, Krieg im Frieden. Die umkämpfte Erinnerung an den Ersten Weltkrieg, Frankfurt/Main: Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag 1997
