Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History Munich – Berlin (IfZ), Berlin-Lichterfelde Department

Location:
Institut für Zeitgeschichte München - Berlin (IfZ),
Forschungsabteilung Berlin
Finckensteinallee 85/87
12205 Berlin
Germany

Contact:
Simone Paulmichl
Tel. +49 (0)89-12688-150
paulmichl[at]ifz-muenchen.de

www.ifz-muenchen.de

Description: 

The Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History Munich – Berlin (IfZ) is one of the largest non-university historical research institutes in Germany. Its range of work encompasses German and European history in the twentieth century to the present day in its global context. Main research foci are dictatorships in the twentieth century, the history of democracy, and transformations in contemporary history since the 1970s. At its three branches – in Munich, at the Berlin branch and in the IfZ department of the German Foreign Office – the Institute intensively addresses the history and impact of the Cold War.

Cold War Interests: 

The Berlin-Lichterfelde Branch of the IfZ has produced important studies on the history of the divided Germany, the history of the Cold War, the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE), and the GDR in an international context. A project on the divided Germany is currently being prepared with the title "National Library in a Divided Country: The Deutsche Buecherei, 1945–1990", which promises to provide important insights into cultural contacts in the divided country. In the framework of the research cluster "Transformations in Recent History", two projects are currently underway: "The Germans and Gorbachev, 1985–1991", which traces perceptions within the two German states and societies of the changes taking place in the Soviet Union, and "From Solidarity to Shock Therapy: Economic Thought and Systemic Transformation in Poland, 1975–1995", which sheds light on Western influence on economic thought in Eastern Europe before and after 1989.