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  • Announcement: Tiny Desk Colloquium on 2 July 2026: Current Research in the History of Migration

    On 2 July 2026, the sixth edition of the NGHM Tiny Desk Colloquium will take place. Once again, young historians from the University of Osnabrück will have the opportunity to present outstanding theses, and our guests will have the chance to present and discuss their research on the topic of migration history. With the TDK,…

  • NGHM reads | Carlo Ginzburg: The Cheese and the Worms (1976)

    What can we learn from the words of a Friulian miller about the world of the late sixteenth century, and why from his words in particular? Carlo Ginzburg’s The Cheese and the Worms, the next title on the NGHM reading list, is one of the classic texts of microhistory and pursues this question so consistently…

  • NGHM reads | Michel-Rolph Trouillot: Silencing the Past (1995)

    What happens to a revolution that the dominant thinking of its time considered ‘unthinkable’? Michel-Rolph Trouillot’s Silencing the Past. Power and the Production of History, the eighth title on the NGHM reading list and this time assigned to the field of postcolonial theory and criticism, answers this question using the example of the Haitian Revolution.…

  • NGHM reads | Mark Wyman: DPs: Europe’s Displaced Persons, 1945–51 (1989/1998)

    What happens to millions of people whose suffering under persecution and violence-induced mobility does not end with the conclusion of the war in 1945, but instead enters its own distinct, difficult-to-grasp next phase? Mark Wyman’s DPs: Europe’s Displaced Persons, 1945–51, the tenth title on the NGHM reading list and the first from the field of…

  • NGHM reads | Michel Foucault: Surveiller et punir (1975)

    How did the spectacle of torture become the silent routine of the cell? Michel Foucault’s Surveiller et punir, the fifth title on the NGHM reading list and an example from the field of social-theoretical foundations, answers this question with a counter-narrative: the abolition of public torture marks not a progress of humanity, but the transition…

  • NGHM reads | Barbara W. Tuchman: The Guns of August (1962)

    Can a history book prevent a nuclear war? Barbara W. Tuchman’s The Guns of August, the fourth title on the NGHM reading list, chosen from the field of women historians and narrative historiography, recounts the first thirty days of the First World War as a story of miscalculations, institutional inertia, and the self-perpetuating momentum of…

  • NGHM-Tracker (5/26)

    The monthly newsletter of the Working Group on Contemporary History and Historical Migration Research at the University of Osnabrück. By Benjamin Look & Jessica Wehner. April brought a remarkable density of impulses, ranging from Florence to Osnabrück, touching on fundamental questions in the discipline of history. With the new series “NGHM reads,” the team opened…

  • NGHM reads | Klaus J. Bade: Europa in Bewegung (2000)

    Is migration the exception or the rule of European history? Klaus J. Bade’s Europa in Bewegung, the third title on the NGHM reading list, comes from the field of migration history and theory and answers this question with a comprehensive synthesis that renders migratory movements from the late eighteenth century to the present visible as…

  • NGHM reads | Christopher R. Browning: Ordinary Men (1992)

    Who were the perpetrators of the Holocaust? Christopher R. Browning’s Ordinary Men, the second title on the NGHM reading list, this time selected from the field of National Socialist history and Holocaust research, offers an answer that continues to unsettle: not demons, not fanatics, but middle-aged Hamburg reserve policemen — family men from the working and lower…

  • Hidden Legacies, Untidy Endings. Notes from the InechO Conference in Florence.

    What happens to an international organization after it has ceased to exist? On 23 and 24 April 2026, the Alcide De Gasperi Research Centre at the European University Institute in Florence convened a conference of the InechO project (International Organizations and their European Consequences and Hidden Outcomes) on precisely this question. The framework, developed by…

  • NGHM reads | Edward Hallett Carr: What is History? (1961)

    With Edward Hallett Carr’s What is History? our series “NGHM reads” begins, in which the 65 titles of the NGHM reading list from the field of historical theory and historiography are presented. Carr’s six lectures, delivered in Cambridge in 1961 and broadcast on BBC Radio, formulated a question that every generation of historians has had…

  • IMIS Guests @ NGHM | Summer Semester 2026: Matti Välimäki (Helsinki) and Morten Baarvig Thomsen (Odense).

    Since early April 2026, two visiting scholars have joined the Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies (IMIS) at the University of Osnabrück as guests integrated into the NGHM Research Group (Prof. Dr. Christoph Rass): Matti Tapio Välimäki (University of Helsinki) and Morten Baarvig Thomsen (University of Southern Denmark) work in different national archives and…

  • Forum HistOS Invites | Forum HistOS in the Summer Semester 2026: Quo Vadis?!

    The “Forum HistOS – More than just History/Histories” is entering its third semester. Since its founding in the summer semester of 2025, it has established itself as a cross-epochal space for dialogue within the Historisches Seminar at the University of Osnabrück: a place where students, student assistants, and staff reflect together on what constitutes the…

  • NGHM-Tracker (4/26)

    The monthly newsletter of the Working Group on Contemporary History and Historical Migration Research at the University of Osnabrück. By Benjamin Look & Jessica Wehner. March was marked by movement – in both the literal and figurative sense. Several contributions centred on the theme of excursions: students travelled to Nuremberg, exploring the historical layers of…

  • NGHM-digital | An App for Excursions: HistOS Trip to Nuremberg as a Test for a DH Prototype.

    Anyone who has navigated a city full of history with students for three days will be familiar with the challenges: meeting points, train connections, tour bookings, historical background information, and spontaneous changes of plan all compete for attention on WhatsApp, in emails, and on printed handouts. For the excursion “Nuremberg between the Middle Ages and…

  • There and Back Again | Nuremberg between the Middle Ages and National Socialism – An Excursion into the Historical Layers of a City

    From 17 to 19 March 2026, a joint excursion by the Chair for the History of the Middle Ages (Christoph Mauntel) and the Chair for Contemporary History and Historical Migration Research (Christoph Rass) at the University of Osnabrück led to Nuremberg: a city that, like few others in Germany, not only preserves layers of the…

  • There and Back Again | Digital Excursion to the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial

    An excursion report by Jule Kumbrink As part of a digital day excursion, a group of students from the University of Osnabrück dedicated themselves on January 23, 2026, to the history and media engagement with the Neuengamme concentration camp. The excursion led by Imke Selle took place under special circumstances: Due to the onset of…

  • Call for Papers | The Age of Humanitarianism. Jewish and Other Global Migrations Between Empire and Decolonisation

    The 2026 annual conference of the Leibniz Institute for Jewish History and Culture – Simon Dubnow (DI) will take place with participation from the NGHM team. Dr. Sebastian Musch, Alfred Landecker Lecturer in Modern History and Historical Migration Research, is co-organising the international conference “The Age of Humanitarianism: Jewish and Other Global Migrations Between Empire…