Theilig, S. Türken, Mohren und Tataren

Muslim (life) worlds in Brandenburg-Prussia in the 18th century. Are Muslims, is Islam part of German identity? This question has been on the minds of many in recent years. This book is the first to approach the topic of Muslim (forced) migrants, cultural translations and social transformations in Brandenburg-Prussia in the late 17th and 18th centuries from a cultural-scientific and interdisciplinary perspective. It thus documents the far longer and mostly unknown tradition of Muslims, their cultures and Islam in this region. While the majority of the often forcibly baptised "Turks, Moors and Tatars" were initially exotic spoils of war, Muslim (life) worlds in Turqueria were culturally and aesthetically reinterpreted in parallel. In contrast, the tradition of Muslim soldiers in the Brandenburg-Prussian armies followed purely pragmatic motives, be it Muslims in the "Long Guys" in Potsdam or the "Bosniaks" and their "Tartar Pulk" in East Prussia.

Stephan Theilig studied history and Spanish philology at the University of Potsdam and earned his doctorate in translatology at the Humboldt University in Berlin. He worked for the Military History Research Office in Potsdam, the Military History Museum Berlin-Gatow and the German Historical Museum in Berlin. His research interests include military history as social history, Islam in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe and the regional history of Brandenburg-Prussia.