German Historical Institute Washington

Advancing Research, Supporting Scholars, Building Networks

German Historical Institute Washington

Research in German, European & Jewish History

German Historical Institute Washington

Research in the History of the Americas & Transatlantic History

German Historical Institute Washington

Research on Migration & Mobility

German Historical Institute Washington

Research on Empires & their Legacies

As a center for advanced historical research, the German Historical Institute Washington (GHI) has an international reputation that extends far beyond the disciplinary boundaries of history. From its two locations in Washington, DC, and Berkeley, CA, the Institute fosters innovative scholarship and dialogue that connect scholars across continents, disciplines, and generations. As a cultural ambassador, the GHI builds bridges between academic research and the public in Germany, the United States, and beyond.

Latest News

History of Migration & Mobilities

Migrant Knowledge Blog moved to Hypotheses

The Migrant Knowledge blog has a new location!

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Call for Papers

AI through History, History through AI

Deadline: March 1, 2026 | Eighth Conference on Digital Humanities and Digital History at the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History…

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Call for Papers

Flight, Exile and Emigration in Germany’s Age of Extremes: Biographical Perspectives

Deadline: March 1, 2026 | Workshop at Georgetown University | October 7-8, 2026

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Prize

Franz Steiner Prize 2027

Deadline: September 15, 2026 | The Franz Steiner Verlag and the German Historical Institute Washington (GHI) award the Franz Steiner Prize in…

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Events & Conferences

The GHI organizes international scholarly conferences, public programs and lectures on a wide variety of historical topics.

Feb 19, 2026

Spaces of Contested Statehood: A Legacy of Empire

Lecture at UC Berkeley (223 Philosophy Hall) | Speaker: Ulrike von Hirschhausen (GHI Washington)

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Mar 04, 2026

The German Blues: A Historian’s Perspective on the Rise of Right-Wing Populism in Eastern Germany

Gerda Henkel Lecture Tour at Max Kade Institute for Austrian-German-Swiss Studies (2714 S. Hoover St., Los Angeles) | Speaker: Dorothee Wierling

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Mar 06, 2026

Eighth West Coast Germanists’ Workshop: German History at the Crossroads? New Narratives, Perspectives and Approaches

Workshop at University of Colorado Boulder | Conveners: David Ciarlo (University of Colorado Boulder), Thomas Pegelow Kaplan (University of Colorado Boulder), Isabel Richter (GHI Washington | Pacific Office, Berkeley) Raphael Rössel (GHI Washington)

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Mar 06, 2026

The German Blues: A Historian’s Perspective on the Rise of Right-Wing Populism in Eastern Germany

Gerda Henkel Lecture Tour at University of Colorado Boulder | Speaker: Dorothee Wierling

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Mar 10, 2026

The German Blues: A Historian’s Perspective on the Rise of Right-Wing Populism in Eastern Germany

Gerda Henkel Lecture Tour at UC Berkeley (201 Philosophy Hall) | Speaker: Dorothee Wierling

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Mar 11, 2026

Research Seminar

Speaker: George Derek Musgrove (University Of Maryland, Baltimore County)

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Mar 12, 2026

The German Blues: A Historian’s Perspective on the Rise of Right-Wing Populism in Eastern Germany

Gerda Henkel Lecture Tour at UC San Diego (Ranglas Room, 0935, 9th floor RWAC) | Speaker: Dorothee Wierling

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Mar 19, 2026

Listening to the Past: Digital Approaches to the History of Sound and Language

Workshop at the German Historical Institute Washington | Conveners: Hans C. Boas (University of Texas, Austin) and Atiba Pertilla (GHI Washington)

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Apr 23, 2026

Rebuild or Retreat? Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Climate Migration and Mobility in the Global North

Conference at GHI Washington | Conveners: Jana Dunz-Keck (GHI Washington) and Sarah Beringer (GHI Washington), Simon Richter (University of Pennsylvania), Andreas Hübner (Kiel University), Max Gruenig (POCACITO Network and Georgetown University, BMW Center for German and European Studies), and Brendan O’Donnell (POCACITO Network and Heinrich Böll Foundation)

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Apr 29, 2026

Research Seminar

Speaker: Alice Weinreb (Loyola University Chicago)

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May 06, 2026

Research Seminar

Marie Huber (National Air and Space Museum)

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May 21, 2026

Telling Stories: History, Narrative and the German Peasants' War 1524-1526

17th Gerald D. Feldman Memorial Lecture at the German Historical Institute Washington | Speaker: Lyndal Roper (University of Oxford)

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May 28, 2026

Imperial Legacies? (Dis)continuities and Comparisons between Colonialism and Nazi Rule

International Conference at the German Historical Institute Washington | Conveners: Ulrike von Hirschhausen (GHI Washington) and Robert Gerwarth (University College Dublin)

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Jun 10, 2026

Research Seminar

Zoom | Ofer Ashkenazi (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

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Jun 15, 2026

AI through History, History through AI

Eighth Conference on Digital Humanities and Digital History hosted by the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C²DH) at the University of Luxembourg | Co-Conveners: German Historical Institute Washington (GHI), Chair for Digital History at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Herder Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe.

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Jun 16, 2026

31st Transatlantic Doctoral Seminar: German History from the 18th Century to the Present

Seminar at UC Berkeley | Conveners: Anna von der Goltz (Georgetown University) and Richard Wetzell (GHI Washington)

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Sep 17, 2026

The Moralization of Science

Conference at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna (Austria) | Conveners: Daniel Brewing, Moritz Fischer, Elke Seefried (RWTH Aachen), Alexander Bogner (Austrian Academy of Sciences), Axel Jansen (GHI Washington)

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Oct 08, 2026

Flight, Exile and Emigration in Germany’s Age of Extremes: Biographical Perspectives

International workshop at Georgetown University | Conveners: Frank Biess (UC San Diego), Anna von der Goltz (Georgetown University), Simone Lässig (TU Braunschweig) and Richard Wetzell (GHI Washington)

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Nov 16, 2026

Environments and Societies at the Crossroads: Socio-Environmental Justice in Europe and the Americas in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

Workshop at UC Berkeley | Convener: Simone M. Müller (University of Augsburg), Isabel Richter (German Historical Institute Washington, Pacific Office)

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Latest Publications


Claudia Kreklau

The Making of Modern Eating: How the German Middle Class Forged the Way We Eat, 1780-1910

Studies in German History. Vol. 32. New York: Berghahn Books, 2026.

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Stephan H. Lindner

A History of the I.G. Farben Trial: Armament, Exploitation, Auschwitz

Studies in German History. Vol. 31. New York: Berghahn Books, 2025.

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Bulletin 75 (Spring 2025)

Forum: Concrete Dreams: The Built Environment and Human Behavior in Europe’s Twentieth Century

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Latest Blogposts


Feb 04, 2026

Nicolas Blumenthal

Nicolas Blumenthal

Nicolas Blumenthal University of Fribourg, Switzerland Research Focus: WebsiteEmail Related Blog Posts…

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Feb 05, 2026

Helena Friedrich Schwinghammer

Hätte ich das mal eher gewusst …mit Helena Friedrich Schwinghammer

Kannst Du in drei Sätzen Dein Projekt vorstellen und sagen, was speziell der digitale Anteil daran war? Das Vogtland war bis zur Deindustrialisierung eine Region, die lange von weiblicher Arbeit in d…

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Feb 04, 2026

Nicolas Blumenthal

Challenging “Racelessness:” Debates and Restrictions on Immigration in Postwar Switzerland 

Discusses deportation practices in Switzerland since World War II…

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Feb 03, 2026

Andreas Markus Schnurr

Andreas Markus Schurr

Andreas Markus Schurr University Institute Florence, Italy Research Focus: WebsiteEmail Related Blog Posts…

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Jan 28, 2026

Jana Dunz-Keck

Hätte ich das mal eher gewusst …mit Jana Dunz-Keck

Kannst Du in drei Sätzen Dein Projekt vorstellen und sagen, was speziell der digitale Anteil daran war? Im 19. Jahrhundert schrieben Zeitungen in großem Umfang voneinander ab; Texte wurden kopiert, …

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Jan 26, 2026

Jana Dunz-Keck

Hätte ich das mal eher gewusst …with Jana Dunz-Keck

Can you describe your project in three sentences and explain the digital component of your work? In the 19th century, newspapers copied each other extensively: Texts were reprinted, adapted, and circu…

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Dec 02, 2025

Amelie Harbisch

Amelie Harbisch

Amelie Harbisch University of Erfurt, Germany Research Focus: WebsiteEmail Related Blog Posts…

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Nov 06, 2025

katharina hering

The Citizen Archive Platform: Interview with Wolfram Dornik

Interview with the head of the Graz City Archives, Dr. Wolfram Dornik, about the Citizen Archive Platform (https://citizenarchive.eu/en/), a collaborative personal digital archiving platform spearhead…

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Sep 12, 2025

Anna Derksen

Inside “Vipeholmsanstalten”: Podcasting about Institutionalization and Memory in Sweden’s Welfare State

Analyzes the effects of podcasting both on the (his)storytelling and in redressing old abuses, here specifically about Vipeholmsanstalten, a Swedish institution that housed and treated people with int…

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Aug 18, 2025

Caroline Mezger

Rumors of the Holocaust: Expressing an Unspeakable Knowledge

A contribution exploring the role of rumor in the development and articulation of knowledge on the Holocaust as it was unfolding. …

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Jun 16, 2025

Editors

Knowledge Notes

Occasional notes on calls, events, publications, and more that caught our attention. Please email us your own items. Job Opening Lund University: Associate Senior Lecturer in Global History of Know…

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Apr 10, 2025

Barnabas Balint

Knowledge and Organization of Guard Dogs in the Nazi Concentration Camps: The Hundestaffeln

In March 1943, six Russian prisoners of war escaped from a factory in Neustadt where they had been forced to work. To recapture them, the German authorities dispatched SS-Untersturmführer Koermann …

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