Welcome!
The Herder Institute was founded in Marburg, Germany, in 1950, and is one of the central facilities of historical East Central European research in Germany. In 1992, the Institute became a member of the Leibniz Association (WGL, formerly the so-called “Blue List”). Since 2007, the Director of the Herder Institute has also been Professor of East Central European History at the Justus Liebig University in Giessen (JLU) and a member of The Giessen Center of Eastern European Studies (GiZo).
The Institute focuses on the history and culture of Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and the Kaliningrad region. The Institute offers one of the best specialist libraries in this field and maintains extensive collections (images, maps, archival materials with a focus on the Baltic States). It conducts research and development projects and organises conferences, workshops and lectures. A program of scholarships enables researchers to conduct research for periods between one and three months. The numerous publications of the institute’s own publishing department include the Zeitschrift für Ostmitteleuropa-Forschung (Journal of East Central European Research).
The Institute pays particular attention to the role of information technology in historical studies. It offers an online bibliographic service and an online portal, currently under construction, on the history of East Central Europe (documents and materials). In addition, within the scope of the virtual specialist library on Eastern Europe (ViFaOst), the Herder Institute is responsible for internet resources and national portals on East Central Europe (www.historicum.net). Together with the Zentrum für Medien und Interaktivität (ZMI) (Centre for Media and Interactivity) of the University of Giessen, the Herder Institute has been involved in the LOEWE State Excellence Initiative, focussing on "Cultural Technologies and their Mediatization" since July 2008.