History Department

Researchers in the History Department conduct disciplinary and multidisciplinary research on the history of Eastern and Southeast Europe from the eighteenth century to the present day. They also actively participate in the provision and further development of research infrastructures, in particular through three journals (Südost-Forschungen, Comparative Southeast European Studies, Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas), two book series (Südosteuropäische Arbeiten, DigiOst) as well as the multidisciplinary Handbuch zur Geschichte Südosteuropas (Handbook on the History of Southeastern Europe), of which seven volumes are planned. With third-party funds acquired by the staff (e.g., DFG, Leibniz Competition, EU funding) and with projects by external researchers, the Department has made and continues to produce internationally visible research on the history of Southeast Europe (e.g., Yugoslavia and its successor states, Romania, and Albania) and Eastern Europe (Ukraine, Georgia, and Russia).These projects include, for example, research on the ecological history of the lower Danube from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century and on historical mobility in the form of a digital edition of a report on a journey from Switzerland to Russia in the early nineteenth century. With this focus, the History Department actively contributes to the promotion of young researchers, to the transfer of expertise to the public, and to multidisciplinary research, not least through its participation in the Institute's two research fields.