Russian and Eastern European History

Russian and Eastern European history can be studied at CAU Kiel as your main subject, but students with an interest in the area are also welcome to take individual seminars or attend individual lectures. Special language skills are not a requirement.

We mainly offer classes in the fields of Russian, Polish, Czech and Slovak history, but our teaching and research also crosses national borders and we operate in close cooperation with the disciplines of “general” Modern and Early Modern History. The eras we focus on range (though not exclusively!) from the 18th to the 20th century. Research topics include exile, seafaring and harbours, childhood, disability, memory and historical culture, photography and film. Our teaching portfolio is even more extensive, including the history of nations and nationalism, empires, women and gender, everyday life, religion and much more.

Why study Russian and Eastern European history? A general reason would be because it is always important and useful to expand one’s horizons beyond the familiar. But another reason is of course that many of today’s developments and conflicts in the eastern regions of Europe can be better understood if one has learnt how to examine their historical context. And last but certainly not least, because it is an innovative and exciting historical discipline providing a perspective that can shed new light on many aspects of so-called “universal” history.

If you are interested in getting to know this area of history at CAU, please get in touch with us.

Here you can find more important information on the formalities of studying Eastern European history at CAU:

Our teaching is aimed at all students studying History, both in the Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes. Classes and lectures can be attended specifically as part of “Russian and Eastern European History” or within the framework as modules on Modernity or the Middle Ages.

Russian and Eastern European History can be studied as a supplementary subject (Fachergänzung).

Russian and Eastern European History can be selected as a focus (Schwerpunkt) within the Master’s programme. In this case, students must demonstrate knowledge of an Eastern European language.  

Russian and Eastern European History can be studied at the doctoral level.

CAU offers courses in Russian, Polish, Czech and – from the summer semester of 2018 onwards – Ukrainian: as parallel specialist subjects at the Institute of Slavonic Studies, as supplementary subjects (Fachergänzung) or as courses for students at all faculties.

The department’s teaching on Russian and Eastern European History also forms part of the Master’s programmes in Intercultural Studies: Poles and Germans in Europe and Migration and Diversity.

The Certificate in Eastern European Studies (ZOS) offers students and alumni of the University of Kiel the opportunity to acquire specialist interdisciplinary knowledge on Eastern Europe within the framework of an overall programme (20 ECTS) and a supplementary certificate demonstrating this.