Internationale Tagung „Confronting Decline (CONDE) – Challenges of Deindustrialization in European Societies since the 1970s“ in Esch-Belval

Since the 1970s, deindustrialization has led to a profound restructuring of Western industrial societies, redefining economic landscapes and social frameworks. The decline of traditional sectors such as textiles, coal mining, iron and steel, and shipbuilding reflects a broader process of transformation that extends beyond mere job losses. As one of the most far-reaching shifts in contemporary history, deindustrialization has reconfigured spatial, economic, and cultural realities. This conference seeks to expand perspectives on its complex dynamics and multifaceted impact on European politics and societies.

Veranstalter Stefan Krebs, C2DH / University of Luxembourg; Christian Marx / Martina Steber, Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History, Munich

University of Luxembourg
MSH building, Black Box
PLZ 4365
Ort Esch-Belval

25.06.2025 – 27.06.2025

Since the 1970s, deindustrialization has fundamentally changed Western industrial societies. In North America and Europe, traditional industrial regions lost thousands of jobs – in particular the textile industry, coal mining, the iron and steel industry and shipbuilding. Even in the production of electronic consumer goods or in the watch and photography industries many millions of jobs were cut or relocated to other regions of the world. In fact, deindustrialization needs to be conceived of as one of the most far-reaching transformation processes in contemporary history, fundamentally changing landscapes, economic structures and socio-cultural environments. Starting from this observation, the conference, organized by the CONDE research group, will reflect on the impact and wider historical reverberations of deindustrialization in Europe from the 1970s. While deindustrialization was initially addressed mainly by the social sciences, in recent years historians have increasingly come in and pointed out the complexity of the historical phenomenon. In contrast to economic concepts such as „restructuring“ or „downsizing“, which could not adequately capture societal and social change, a historical approach to deindustrialization allows to cover, first, the economic development of production, turnover and sales, second, the political shaping of the policy field, third, the cultural ramifications and, forth, a perspective from below, which takes into account personal memories of workers, the dissolution of traditional social and cultural communities or changes in social spaces. The conference will focus on the European particularities of deindustrialization since the 1970s – in Western and Eastern Europe, in an East-West comparison over the epochal year 1989/90 and in terms of entanglements among European states and beyond. What distinguished Europe from the US and Canada, from the North American experience of deindustrialization? In how far differed the variety of European reactions to deindustrialization from each other? Did the Cold War resonate in deindustrialization policies, in the ensuing political mobilization or in personal experiences? In which way did deindustrialization leave its mark on the co-transformation process after 1989/90 both in the former East and West? Last but not least: is it possible at all to conceive of ‘European’ deindustrialization? The conference aims at widening our understanding of deindustrialization and its multidimensional impact on European politics and societies in the period of its most recent history.

Guests are invited to attend the conference at their own expense; they should register in advance with Tessy Delledera (tessy.delledera@uni.lu).

Zur Projektwebsite: Confronting Decline: Challenges of Deindustrialisation in Western Societies since the 1970s | C2DH | Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History

Programm

Wednesday, 25 June

13.30-14.00 Arrival of participants (coffee and tea)

14.00-14.10 Welcome Andreas Fickers (Luxembourg), Andreas Wirsching (Munich)

14.10-14.30 Introduction
Stefan Krebs (Luxembourg), Christian Marx (Munich) and Martina Steber (Munich)

14.30-16.00 Panel 1: Industrial Production in Deindustrializing Economies
Chair: Christian Kleinschmidt (Marburg)

Christian Marx (Munich): Diverging Paths after the Boom: Deindustrialization in the German Household Appliance Industry (1960–2000s)
Anna Calori (Glasgow): The Steady Stream? De-industrialization and Re-industrialization in the Petro-Chemical Industry in Yugoslavia and Italy
Nicolas Arendt (Luxembourg): ARBED’s Takeover of the former VEB Maxhütte Unterwellenborn 1992-2001: The „last remaining island of socialism“?

16.00-16.30 Coffee and Tea

16.30-18.00 Panel 2: Deindustrialization and the Environment
Chair: Sabine Pitteloud (Brig)

Mauro Elli (Milan): Nuclear Deindustrialization? Italy’s Experience in the Long Decommissioning (1970s–1990s)
Riyoko Shibe (Glasgow): Deindustrialization of the Scottish Petrochemical Industry and the Experience of Noxiousness: BP Chemicals in Grangemouth from 1970 to 2000
Philipp Kröger (Siegen): From Fordist to Post-Fordist Nature? Landscape Planning and the Management of Urban Nature in Hamburg, 1960s–1980s

18.00-19.00 Keynote Lecture
Chair: Martina Steber (Munich) Dietmar Süß (Augsburg): „Barbarisation of Social Conflict“? Work, Recognition, and Vulnerability in the History of Deindustrialization

19.30 Conference Dinner

Thursday, 26 June

08.45-09.45 Kick-off Lecture
Stefan Berger (Bochum): Deindustrialization in a Global Perspective

09.45-10.45 Panel 3: Spaces of Deindustrialization
Chair: Emmanuel Droit (Strasbourg)

Pascal Raggi (Nancy): The Deindustrialization of the Lorraine du fer and Luxembourg from a Comparative Perspective
Jan Kellershohn (Halle): Contested Spaces of Decline: Deindustrialization in the Ruhr and in the Central German Industrial Region

10.45-11.15 Coffee and Tea

11.15-12.15 Panel 4: The International Politics of Deindustrialization
Chair: Benoît Majerus (Luxembourg)

Maria Adamopoulou (Bucharest): ‘Ceilings of Tolerance’: Deindustrialization and Labour Migration in the EEC in the 1970s
Mathieu Dubois (Rennes): European Trade Act or open Single Market? Devising a European Response to Deindustrialization in the early 1980s

12.15-13.15: Lunch

13.15-15.00: Visit of blast furnace A on the campus of the University of Luxembourg

15.00-16.30

Panel 5: Deindustrialization and Gender Orders
Chair: Jackie Clarke (Glasgow)

Helena Schwinghammer (Munich): A Silent Farewell: The Deindustrialization of a German Textile Region (1970-2008)
Stefan Hördler (Göttingen): The Intertwined History of Male Unemployment and Women’s Initiatives: Scenarios of Decline and Socio-Economic Consequences in the Steel Industry since the 1980s
Nora Küttel (Bremen): Shifting Tides: Gendered Impacts of Deindustrialization of East German Shipbuilding

16.30-17.00 Coffee and Tea

17.00-18.30 Memories of Deindustrialization: Film Screening and Round Table Discussion
Film Screening: “Identity Disputes. The Image of Life in the Minett”, Boretska/Schönfelder 2022

Round Table Discussion with Denis Scuto (Luxembourg), Jörg Arnold (Munich) and Joanna Wawrzyniak (Warsaw)

18.30 Reception (food and drinks)

Friday, 27 June

08.30-09.30

Panel 6: Deindustrialization and the European Welfare State
Chair: Christoph Brüll (Luxembourg)

Jonas Fey (Bonn): Deindustrialization and Adult Education in Germany since the 1970s: Politics, Participation and Effects
Zoé Konsbruck (Luxembourg): Steel Towns and Crisis Management: The Dynamics between Industrial Towns and the ‘Luxembourg Model’ during the 1975-1985 Steel Crisis

09.30-10.00 Coffee and Tea

10.00-11.30

Panel 7: Migration and Race in Deindustrializing Societies
Chair: Machteld Venken (Luxembourg)

Christopher Lawson (Berkeley): No Going Back: Deindustrialization, Decolonisation, and the Remaking of Urban Communities in Western Europe
Paroma Ghose (Munich): “Quand la justice slalome”: Sounding Deindustrialization through French Rap Narratives (1981-Present)
Herrick Chapman (New York) & Lizabeth Cohen (Cambridge/MA): Surviving Deindustrialization as Ethnic and Racial Minorities

11.30-12.00 Concluding Remarks
Chair: Stefan Krebs (Luxembourg) and Christian Marx (Munich)