Wegen einer internen Veranstaltung bleibt das Herder-Institut vom 17. bis zum 19. März geschlossen.
Vortragssaal und Behring-Villa
Photo credit: Vortragssaal und Behring-Villa, Foto: Claudia Junghänel, Herder-Institut

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Through its work in research, knowledge transfer, documentation, and digitalization, the Herder Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe - Institute of the Leibniz Association supports a wide range of academic activities related to the historical and cultural development of Eastern Central Europe. Its focus is on Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czechia, and Slovakia. 

An important concern is the joint research of the interrelationship between this core region and its neighbors like Ukraine in a pan-European comparative context. 

About us

News and Updates

    • Call for Papers

    Mastering smallness: Strategies and Practices of Small-Scale Actors

    Call for papers for the Early Career Scholars Conference “Mastering smallness: Strategies and Practices of Small-Scale Actors”, October 20-21, 2026 in Vilnius, organized by Herder-Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe (Marburg, Germany), the Institute for Lithuanian History (Vilnius, Lithuania) and the Northeast Institute (Institute for the Culture and History of Germans in Northeast Europe – IKGN e.V., Lüneburg, Germany)
    • Vernetzung

    Dinara Gagarina unterrichtet im Digital History Lab Tbilisi 2026

    Spring School, Georgia Branch Office: Tools, Archives, and Local Voices in the South Caucasus and beyond , Tbilisi, March 30–April 4th, 2026
    The Spring School will highlight ways of engaging with digital sources and methods, with a specific focus on the needs of early-career historians in the South Caucasus. It is designed not only for scholars who identify as digital historians but also for professionals working in galleries libraries, archives and museums (GLAM) interested in how new digital possibilities can inform their work.

Researching resources

eine Zusammenstellung von Materialien und Dias auf einem Leuchtpult

Blog

Current events

At the Herder Institute

  • Digitale 3D-Rekonstruktion der Synagoge in Novoselytsia / Ukraine mit erhaltener Deckenmalerei im Hauptgebetsraum, D. Maksymchuk / AI MAINZ 2025

    Optimizing 3D models of endangered Cultural Heritage (Opt3D)

    This project explores how 3D digital tools can help preserve and study historical buildings, particularly Jewish heritage sites from early modern Poland-Lithuania. Many of these structures have endured significant changes due to conflicts and renovations, making their histories complex to document.
    • Infrastructure project
    • Research project
  • Logo

    GenDem – Interconnection of anti-feminisms

    What do anti-feminism, democracy, and authoritarian tendencies have in common? This question is the focus of the new LOEWE research center “GenDem.” For the first time, this research project is conducting a comparative study of anti-feminist mobilizations in various countries in Eastern and...
    • Research project
  • Die Kolossalstatue „Mutter Heimat“ auf dem Gelände des „Nationalen Museums der Geschichte der Ukraine im Zweiten Weltkrieg“ in Kyiv. Foto: National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War / CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

    Documenting Russia’s war against Ukraine

    Since Russia attacked Ukraine, events have been recorded in real time with the help of a wide variety of actors. Chat messages, social media posts, georeferenced satellite images, eyewitness interviews, and photo documentation are coming into focus as a means of researching the events. This has led...
    • Research project