Research on German, European, and Jewish history has long been a core research field at the GHI, shaped by the early and enduring involvement of prominent German-Jewish émigré historians in the institute’s establishment. Today, this research field continues to evolve as scholars at the GHI increasingly explore the transnational and global dimensions of German, Central European, and Jewish history. Our digital history projects, such as German History in Documents and Images and German History Intersections, provide key resources that reflect this transnational approach and serve as fundamental, continually updated resources for scholars in the German and North American academic communities and beyond.
Image Credit: Franz Wilhelm Seiwert, "Demonstration," 1925. Oil on Canvas. A leading exponent of what he called "figurative constructivism," Seiwert (1894-1933) was part of the Cologne "Group of Progressive Artists" (Gruppe Progressiver Kuenstler) and frequently created art dealing with proletarian and revolutionary themes.
Team
Viola Alianov-Rautenberg
Research Fellow, GHI Pacific Office Berkeley
GHI Pacific Office Berkeley
Institute of European Studies | University of California, Berkeley | 249 Philosophy Hall | Berkeley, CA 94720-2316
Phone +1.202.387.3355
Ulrike von Hirschhausen
Director
German Historical Institute Washington
1607 New Hampshire Ave NW | Washington DC 20009
Phone +1.202.387.3355
Amy Kerner
Research Fellow, GHI Pacific Office Berkeley
GHI Pacific Office Berkeley
Institute of European Studies | University of California, Berkeley | 249 Philosophy Hall | Berkeley, CA 94720-2316
Phone +1.202.387.3355
Isabel Richter
Deputy Director & Program Director, GHI Pacific Office Berkeley
GHI Pacific Office Berkeley
Institute of European Studies | University of California, Berkeley | 249 Philosophy Hall | Berkeley, CA 94720-2316
Phone +1.202.552.8936
Raphael Rössel
Research Fellow
German Historical Institute Washington
1607 New Hampshire Ave NW | Washington DC 20009
Phone +1.202.387.3355
Richard F. Wetzell
Research Fellow & Editor
German Historical Institute
1607 New Hampshire Ave NW, Washington DC 20009 U.S.A.
Phone +1.202.387.3355
Projects
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.
Read onStephan H. Lindner
A History of the I.G. Farben Trial: Armament, Exploitation, Auschwitz
Studies in German History. Vol. 31. New York: Berghahn Books, 2025.
Read onBulletin 76 (Fall 2025)
Read onBulletin 75 (Spring 2025)
Forum: Concrete Dreams: The Built Environment and Human Behavior in Europe’s Twentieth Century
Read onChristina Brauner, Renate Dürr, Philip Hahn, Anne Sophie Overkamp, Simon Siemianowski, eds.
Encountering the Global in Early Modern Germany: Microhistories of Mobility, Materiality, and Belonging
Studies in German History. Vol. 30. New York: Berghahn Books, 2025.
Read onBulletin 74 (Fall 2024)
Forum: European and Global Perspectives on Social Democracy and State Violence
Read onMichelle Lynn Kahn
Foreign in Two Homelands: Racism, Return Migration, and Turkish-German History
Publications of the German Historical Institute. Cambridge University Press, 2024.
Read on