Groundbreaking contributions to global history

Freiburg historian, Professor  Jürgen Osterhammel, a fellow at the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS), has received the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany from German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Osterhammel's research showed the importance of thinking beyond the traditional boundaries of the subject, according to the statement. It said he had expanded his subject to include a global perspective on the world, thus enabling a new understanding of both historical and current global contexts and interactions. The statement said that with his award-winning works, Osterhammel has opened up this innovative view of history not only to historians, but also to a broad and international audience.

Jürgen Osterhammel was a member of the FRIAS academic advisory board from 2013 to 2018 and was a Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at the University of Konstanz until his retirement in March 2018. He was invited to become a Distinguished Fellow at FRIAS in April 2019: Along with Stefanie Gänger, Professor of Modern History at the University of Heidelberg, he will research and discuss the theoretical foundations of global history and the connections between global and regional dynamics with a working group of predominantly young researchers until December 2022. The funding for this work comes from the International Balzan Prize Foundation based in Milan, Italy, and Zurich, Switzerland; the Foundation awarded Osterhammel the 2018 Balzan Prize for Global History.

Further information

• on the Order of Merit
• on the Balzan Prize