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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

Dec 03, 2020

Museum Futures beyond the 2020 Crises: A Transatlantic Conversation

Virtual Panel Discussion | 12:30–2:00 PM ET | Panelists: Sharon Macdonald (CARMAH, Berlin), Emily Bilski (Writer & Curator), Christoph Heinrich (Denver Art Museum), Stephanie Stebich (Smithsonian American Art Museum); moderated by Anna-Carolin Augustin (GHI Washington) and Monique Scheer (Universität Tübingen)

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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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Jun 15, 2021

26th Transatlantic Doctoral Seminar: German History in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

Seminar at GHI Washington | Conveners: Anna von der Goltz (Georgetown University) and Richard F. Wetzell (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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Sep 30, 2021

Sexuality and the Law in German-Speaking Europe

Seminar at Forty-Fifth Annual Conference of the German Studies Association, Indianapolis, Indiana | Conveners: Martin Lücke (Freie Universität Berlin), Veronika Springmann (Freie Universität Berlin), and Richard F. Wetzell (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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Nov 03, 2022

German Migrants and Migrating Knowledge in Latin American History

Conference at GHI Washington | Conveners: Simone Lässig (GHI Washington), Mario Peters (GHI Washington), H. Glenn Penny (University of Iowa), Stefan Rinke (Freie Universität Berlin)

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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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all publications

Latest News

Event Report

Virtual Panel Series: Racism in History and Context

Panel series report by Frank Kell (Verband der Historiker und Historikerinnen Deutschlands)

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Video

Watch Recording of our Virtual Panel "Rethinking Health and Power During Times of Crisis"

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

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Call for Papers

German Migrants and Migrating Knowledge in Latin American History

Deadline: March 31, 2021 | Conference at GHI Washington

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Video

Watch Recording of lecture and conversation with Author Ingo Schulze

If you were unable to watch our lecture and conversation with Author Ingo Schulze live, it is now available on our Vimeo channel.

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Fellowship

Visiting Fellowships at the GHI

Deadline: December 1, 2020 | The GHI is now accepting applications for its 2021-2022 visiting fellow program for European and North American scholars…

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