Project Description
The project investigates the afterlife of Allied institutions that regulated and organized the sea-dumping of armaments in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War. These dumping operations have left a toxic legacy: war materials discarded in European lakes and seas continue to cause severe environmental damage. Hazardous substances leaking from munitions resting on seabeds and lake floors not only threaten marine ecosystems – contributing to dramatic declines in biodiversity – but also pose risks to coastal communities and consumers of seafood. In recent years, the issue has attracted growing public concern, accompanied by increased media coverage across Europe. The majority of sunken armaments stem from dumping activities carried out between 1945 and the 1970s. The large-scale, systematic practice of sea-dumping armaments was initiated by Allied institutions in the wake of World War II, when they launched the largest dumping program in history to dispose of massive stockpiles of German ammunition. This project uncovers the legacy of these Allied bodies. Though no longer active, they provided both the legitimacy and regulatory frameworks for armaments sea-dumping across Europe in the decades that followed.
Short Biography
Simon Renner studied History, Economics, and German at LMU Munich and recently defended his doctoral thesis at NTNU Trondheim. His PhD project, supervised by Jonas Scherner and Neil Forbes, investigated British resource strategies after the First World War. It focused particularly on how wartime experiences were reflected in interwar policies – such as stockpiling, import duties, and subsidies for domestic production. The project was part of the Fate of Nations research group at NTNU Trondheim, which explored the political economy of natural resources over the past 150 years. In 2020, Renner was a visiting PhD fellow at Coventry University. He recently published an article in the International History Review showing how the actions of business actors can undermine economic warfare strategies. While Renner’s earlier research focused on the management of resources used in armament production – where armaments came from – his current work shifts to the other end of the chain: where armaments ended up once they were no longer needed, in other words, how they were disposed of. Since October 2024, he has been a research fellow on a project investigating the sea-dumping of war materials after the Second World War as a method of disposal. A detailed version of the CV is available on the university's website: https://www.ntnu.edu/employees/simon.renner.