Chair for the History of Western Europe and Transatlantic Relations (Humboldt University of Berlin)

Location:
Lehrstuhl Geschichte Westeuropas und der transatlantischen Beziehungen
Friedrichstr. 191
10099 Berlin
Germany

Contact:
Prof. Dr. Gabriele Metzler
Tel. +49 (0)30 2093 70596
office.geschichte.westeuropas[at]hu-berlin.de

www.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/de/bereiche-und-lehrstuehle/gewest

Description: 

The Chair for the History of Western Europe and Transatlantic Relations is part of the Department of History at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. The Department is one of the largest Departments of History at any German university. The history of the Cold War is also an integral part of research at the Chairs for the History of Eastern Europe (Prof. Dr. Jörg Barberowski), for Southeast European History (Prof. Dr. Hannes Grandits), and for the History of Science (Prof. Dr. Anke te Heesen). Our research consistently addresses the history of Western Europe and of transatlantic relations with respect to their many entanglements. There are excellent working relationships between our Chair and the Centre Marc Bloch (Berlin) as well as with colleagues at École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS, Paris).

Cold War Interests: 

Researchers associated with our Chair are engaged in a range of projects linked to the Cold War. A central theme connecting them is the question of the validity, range, and limits of the Cold War international system. Jan Hansen's dissertation (completed in 2014) deals in particular with this question. An international workshop was held on November 26th-27th at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin with the title "Fenster im Kalten Krieg. Über Grenzen, Alternativen und Reichweite einer binären Ordnungsvorstellung" ("Windows in the Cold War: On the Limits, Alternatives, and Scope of a Binary World Order"). The conference proceedings are currently being edited for publication. Common to all projects at the Chair is their broad contextualization of the Cold War. For example, Christian Wenkel's current habilitation project examines the link between European integration and the Cold War. Nico Ditscher's dissertation project analyses how religious convictions influenced military culture in the United States during the Cold War. Furthermore, Gabriele Metzler is currently working on a monograph dealing with the impact of decolonization on Western European societies (Great Britain, France, Netherlands, etc.).