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German/European & Jewish History

Modern German history and the history of German-speaking Jewry have been core research fields at the GHI since the institute’s founding in 1987. German migrations to North America, relations between Germany and the United States, and the flight of German Jews from Nazi Germany have been major research topics since the GHI’s early years. More recently, the GHI has given increased attention to the transnational and global dimensions of German, Central European, and Jewish history.

Photo Credit: E. Zimmermann, Satirical Map of Europe, ca. 1914, Library of Congress.

Team

Projects

German Heritage in Letters

German Heritage in Letters is a project to create a digital collection of German-language correspondence currently held in private hands, by archives, by special collection libraries, museums, and other institutions.

German History in Documents and Images (GHDI)

GHDI is a comprehensive collection of primary source materials documenting Germany's political, social, and cultural history from 1500 to the present.

German History Intersections

The German History Intersections project is a transatlantic initiative that will begin by examining three broad themes – German identity; migration; and knowledge and education – over as many as five centuries.

Innovation through Tradition? Jewish Educational Media and Cultural Transformation in the Face of Modernity Religion, Knowledge, and Education as Key Elements of Socio-Cultural Transformation

German-Israeli cooperative research project bringing that investigates the transformation of Jewish daily life through the prism of its central spaces of teaching, learning and knowledge.

"Remnants Saved from the Fire": A Transnational History of Jewish Ceremonial Objects after 1945

Anna-Carolin Augustin

In Pursuit of Knowing: Nineteenth-Century Jewish Education and the Transformation of Jewish Knowledge

Kerstin von der Krone

Family and Enterprise in the Age of Industry: The Arnholds, 1808-2000

Simone Lässig

Coping with Disruptive Change: Jews, Middle Class Culture, and Social Transformation in Germany, 1800-1860

Simone Lässig

The Politics of Punishment: Penal Reform in Modern Germany, 1870-1970

Richard F. Wetzell

Racial Science and Nazi Biopolitics

Richard F. Wetzell

Events & Conferences

Oct 01, 2020

Sexuality and the Law in German-Speaking Europe

Seminar at Forty-Fourth Annual Conference of the German Studies Association | Conveners: Martin Lücke (Freie Universität Berlin), Veronika Springmann (Freie Universität Berlin), and Richard F. Wetzell (German Historical Institute Washington)

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Oct 07, 2020

Research Seminar (Virtual Session)

Speaker: Carolin Liebisch-Gümüş (GHI)

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Oct 15, 2020

The Outsiders: Refugees in Europe and the West since 1492

11th Gerald Feldman Lecture at 11am ET (Virtual) | Speaker: Philipp Ther (Universität Wien)

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Feb 05, 2021

Third Annual West Coast Germanists' Workshop: Facts, Fakes, and Representations

Workshop at University of California, Berkeley | Conveners: Sheer Ganor (Pacific Regional Office of the German Historical Institute Washington), Isabel Richter (UC Berkeley)

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Apr 22, 2021

Migration and Racism in the United States and Germany in the Twentieth Century

Workshop at GHI Washington | Conveners: Maria Alexopoulou (University of Mannheim), Elisabeth Engel (GHI Washington)

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Sep 23, 2021

Environments of Exile: Refugees, Nature, and Representations

Biennial Conference of the North American Society for Exile Studies at Queen's University, Kingston, ON | Conveners: Swen Steinberg (Queen’s University, Kingston / GHI PRO) and Helga Schreckenberger (University of Vermont, Burlington)

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Sep 30, 2021

12th Medieval History Seminar

Seminar at GHI London | Conveners: Paul Freedman (Yale University), Bernhard Jussen (Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main), Simon MacLean (University of St Andrews), Fiona Griffiths (Stanford University), Len Scales (Durham University), and Dorothea Weltecke (Goethe University Frankfurt) | Organized by the German Historical Institute London in co-operation with the German Historical Institute Washington

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Nov 15, 2021

Contested Meanings of Migration Facilitation: Emigration Agents, Coyotes, Rescuers, and Human Traffickers

Annual Academic and Policy Symposium: Innovation through Migration at GHI PRO | Conveners: Ulf Brunnbauer (Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies & Regensburg University) and Andrea Westermann (GHI PRO)

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Dec 13, 2021

Antisemitism and Sexuality Reconsidered

Conference at the Center for Research on Antisemitism, TU Berlin | Conveners: Stefanie Schüler-Springorum (Center for Research on Antisemitism, TU Berlin), Anna-Carolin Augustin (GHI Washington), Sebastian Bischoff (Paderborn University), Kristoff Kerl (University of Copenhagen), in cooperation with the German Historical Institute, Washington DC (GHI) and the Center for Research on Antisemitism, TU Berlin

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all events

Publications

Sophia Dafinger

Die Lehren des Luftkriegs: Sozialwissenschaftliche Expertise in den USA vom Zweiten Weltkrieg bis Vietnam

Transatlantische Historische Studien. Band 59. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2020.

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Andrea Westermann & Onur Erdur, eds.

Histories of Migrant Knowledge: Transatlantic and Global Perspectives

Bulletin Supplement 15 (2020)

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John P.R. Eicher

Exiled Among Nations: German and Mennonite Mythologies in a Transnational Age

Publications of the German Historical Institute. Cambridge University Press, 2020.

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Paul Lerner & Joes Segal, eds.

Alternative Realities: Utopian Thought in Times of Political Rupture

Bulletin Supplement 14 (2019)

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Bulletin 65 (Fall 2019)

Forum: The Weimar Republic Reconsidered

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Anne C. Schenderlein

Germany on their Minds: German Jewish Refugees in the United States and Their Relationships with Germany, 1938–1988

Studies in German History. Vol. 25. New York: Berghahn Books, 2020.

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Simone Lässig & Andreas Weiß, eds.

The World of Children: Foreign Cultures in Nineteenth-Century German Education and Entertainment

Studies in German History. Vol. 24. New York: Berghahn Books, 2020.

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Latest News

Video

Watch Recording of our Virtual Panel "Rethinking Memory and Knowledge during Times of Crisis"

If you were unable to watch our first panel on "Racism in History and Context" live, it is now available on our Vimeo channel.

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Call for Papers

12th Medieval History Seminar

Deadline: January 31, 2021 | Seminar at GHI London

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German/European & Jewish History

Virtual Panel Series “Racism in History and Context”

The German Historical Institute Washington, the German Historical Association with its Pacific Regional Office, and the Institute of European…

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Event Report

Eleventh Medieval History Seminar

Seminar report by Paul Schweitzer-Martin (University of Heidelberg)

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Event Report

Sixth Junior Scholars Conference in Jewish History: Radicalism and Resistance in Modern Jewish History

Conference report by Anna-Carolin Augustin (GHI) and Miriam Rürup (IGdJ)

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