Sascha Ohlenforst

Scientific career

Core research areas

• Environmental, economic and energy history
• Legal history
• National and regional history
• German literary history

Publications

Essays:

• Between the systems. Hans Reichelt as ex-GDR Minister of the Environment in reunified Germany, in: Anna Hesse/Kristina Gunne/Marieluise Labry/Felix Schneider (eds.), Begegnungsräume, Berlin 2026 [working title, in preparation].
• A toxic waste grave for the industrialized nations. The cross-border shipment of waste to the Herfa-Neurode underground landfill in the 1970s and 1980s, in: Hessisches Jahrbuch für Landesgeschichte 75 (2025) [accepted for publication].
• The foundation of the Federal Environment Ministry. Turning point after Chernobyl, a key decision and its political path dependencies, in: INDES. Journal for Politics and Society 1/2025 [forthcoming].
• In the shadow of the economic miracle? An environmental and social history of wastewater disposal in the district of Höxter from the 1950s to the 1970s, in: Peter Fäßler/Matthias Frese/Christoph Lorke (eds.), Eine periphere Region im Wandel. Städte und ländliche Räume in Ostwestfalen-Lippe seit 1945 (= Forschungen zur Regionalgeschichte, vol. 91), Paderborn 2025 [forthcoming].
• Struggles over the interpretation of the "Volksgemeinschaft". Franz Laumen as a right-wing Catholic, administrative official and NSDAP district leader in a Rhenish border region (1924-1934), in: Rheinische Vierteljahrsblätter 88 (2024), pp. 150-185.
• Bremen and the potash industry in conflict (1918-1933). Political, economic and legal aspects of a dispute, in: Der Anschnitt 76 (2024), pp. 23-37.
• Expertise as a resource of power. Die Epistemisierung von Rechtskonflikten zwischen Kalibergbau und Gewässerschutz, in: Luca von Bogdandy/Christoph Resch/Julius Schumann (eds.), Konflikte um Wahrheit (= Junges Netzwerk Rechtsgeschichte, vol. 1), Baden-Baden 2024, pp. 69-89.
• Progressive skepticism and criticism of capitalism. On the decline of the bourgeoisie in Bernhard Kellermann's social novel "Die Stadt Anatol" (1932), in: Euphorion 117 (2023), pp. 79-105.
• The Sense and Use of Environmental Legal History. Methodological considerations based on the jurisprudence of interests and values, in: Zeitschrift für Neuere Rechtsgeschichte 44 (2022), pp. 68-98.
• Renaissance of hard coal? Technology-based structural and energy policy as a North Rhine-Westphalian reaction to the 1973/74 oil price crisis, in: Geschichte im Westen 36 (2021), pp. 221-246.
• Environmental law in the GDR: The State Culture Act as a means of recognition under international law?, in: Natur und Recht 41 (2019), pp. 530-537.

Encyclopedia article:

• Franz Laumen, in: Internetportal Rheinische Geschichte, available at: https://www.rheinische-geschichte.lvr.de/Persoenlichkeiten/franz-laumen/DE-2086/lido/67c6fde08e8752.47586228 (accessed on 05.03.2025).

Reviews:

• Review of: Blaschke, Olaf; Hitze, Guido; Körber, Manfred; Köster, Markus; Mölich, Georg; Paulus, Julia (eds.): Gefährdete Demokratie. Right-wing Catholicism in the Weimar Republic. Paderborn 2024, ISBN 978-3-506-79483-3, in: H-Soz-Kult, 03.02.2025, https://www.hsozkult.de/publicationreview/id/reb-152331.

Conference reports:

• Coal phase-out and Hambach Forest - the 19th Colloquium on Economics and Environmental Law (KBU) in retrospect, in: Zeitschrift für Neues Energierecht 2019, pp. 18-20.
• 19th KBU in February 2019 at RWTH Aachen University - constructive discussion on the coal phase-out, in: GeoResources 2019, pp. 60-61.
• Geothermal energy and nuclear waste disposal - the Site Selection Act under discussion, in: Zeitschrift für Neues Energierecht 2018, pp. 309-312.
• Grubenwasseranstieg und Gewässerschutz - 18. KBU - Kolloquium zu Wirtschaft und Umweltrecht des LuF Berg-, Umwelt- und Europarecht der RWTH Aachen, des Instituts für Markscheidewesen, Bergschadenkunde und Geophysik im Bergbau der RWTH Aachen und der GDMB Gesellschaft und Bergleute e.V. am 23. Januar 2018 in Aachen, in: World of Mining 2018, S. 128-130.

Science communication:

• Art. "How a Gangelt mayor helped the Nazis to rise", in: Heinsberger Zeitung from 25.9.2024.

Awards

• HistoriAquis Prize for outstanding final theses in history 2018/2019 (title of the thesis: "Environmental law policy caesura 1970/71 - environmental precautions and environmental awareness promotion in both German states").