Professorship for Eastern European History  Study/Teaching Eastern European History

The subject of Eastern European History deals with the history of the countries of Eastern Europe and embeds it in a transcultural history of European relations and interconnections.

The Chair of Eastern European History maintains close contact with general history, especially modern and global history, as well as Slavic studies in its research and teaching. It offers courses for teacher training students as well as for BA and MA students of history (as a major or minor subject). Together with Slavic Studies, two interdisciplinary degree programmes with a proven Eastern European profile are offered: BA Eastern European and East Central European Studies and MA Slavic and Eastern European Studies.

In teaching, the professorship focuses on the history of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union from the 18th to the 20th century. It takes into account that both the Tsarist Empire and the Soviet Union were multi-ethnic empires. Further focal points are Ukrainian, Belarusian and Polish history, the history of Eastern European Jews and the history of Siebenbürgen.

Research focuses on approaches to social, economic and cultural history, comparisons between dictatorships, the history of violence, transitional justice research, environmental history, and the history of knowledge and science. Current research projects deal with the history of the Second World War and the Holocaust, research on Stalinism, the prosecution of Nazi and war crimes in Eastern Europe and reparations for victims, research on terrorism, the history of nuclear accidents in the Soviet Union, and the history of Russian Germans.