Vortrag: 50 Jahre danach – aktuelle Forschungsergebnisse zum deutsch-isländischen Fischereistreit in den Jahren 1973-1975

In the organizer's words:

Lecture by Prof. Dr. Ingo Heidbrink

50 years ago, German-Icelandic relations were dominated by the dispute over the introduction of a 50 nautical mile fishing zone by Iceland. After Great Britain had reached an agreement with Iceland in 1973, the Federal Republic of Germany was the only remaining opponent in the fishing dispute with Iceland and there were fierce disputes at sea and a series of bilateral negotiations at the same time. While previous historical research has largely focused on the actual course of the conflict and the negotiations, more recent research projects have focused on the German motives during these negotiations, which have so far only been analyzed to a limited extent.
Prof. Dr. Heidbrink will give an overview of this recent research and at the same time ask whether the history of German-Icelandic relations during the so-called Cod Wars may need to be completely reassessed.

Prof. Dr. Ingo Heidbrink is Head of the History Department at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA (USA) and President of the International Maritime History Association. He is an internationally renowned fisheries historian and one of the world's few experts on Germany's involvement in the Cod Wars with Iceland. He worked in Bremerhaven from 1996 to 2008 and his book "Germany's only colony is the sea" is still considered a standard work on recent German fishing history. He is currently working again in Icelandic and German archives on the history of the Cod War and will present his latest findings from this research.

Free admission

A cooperation with the Deutsch-Isländische Gesellschaft e. V.