Profile
Christina Morina is the 2024-20245 Visiting Heuss Professor in History at The New School for Social Research. She is Professor of General History with a particular focus on Contemporary History at the University of Bielefeld. Her research focuses on major themes in German and European history from the in 19th to the 21st century, particularly Nazism and the history of bystanding during the Holocaust; socialism, Marxism and communism; political and memory culture(s) in Germany since 1945, as well as the history of historiography. Her dissertation on the memory of the Eastern Front war in postwar Germany appeared as Legacies of Stalingrad: Remembering the Eastern Front War in Germany since 1945 (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2011, paperback 2013). Since then, Morina has published a wide range of articles and book chapters. Her second book (Habilitation) Die Erfindung des Marxismus. Wie eine Idee die Welt eroberte (Munich: Siedler, 2017) won the translation prize Geisteswissenschaften International and appeared in English with Oxford University Press as The Invention of Marxism. How an Idea Shaped Everything in 2023. In 2019, she co-authored Zur rechten Zeit. Wider die Rückkehr das Nationalismus (Berlin: Ullstein) with Norbert Frei, Franka Maubach und Maik Tändler. Morina is also co-editor of Probing the Limits of Categorization. The Bystander in Holocaust History (with Krijn Thijs, New York: Berghahn, 2018). In 2023, her third monograph was published under the title Tausend Aufbrüche. Die Deutschen und ihre Demokratie seit den 1980er Jahren (Munich: Siedler), which was awarded the prestigious 2024 German Nonfiction Prize. An English edition will appear in 2025 under the title A Thousand New Beginnings. Germans and their Democracy since the 1980s.
Degrees Held
M.A., Ohio University (2002)
PhD, University of Maryland (2007)
Professional Affiliation
Affiliations:
2024-20245 Visiting Heuss Professor in History at The New School for Social Research.
Since 2019 Professor of History with a particular focus on Contemporary History at the University of Bielefeld.
Advisory & Editorial Work
Since 2018:
Member of the academic advisory board of the German Historical Institute Washington, DC
Since 2019:
Co-editor of the series Kritischen Studien zur Geschichtswissenschaft (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht)
Co-editor of Historischen Zeitschrift (De Gruyter)
Member of the academic advisory board of the NIOD Amsterdam
Since 2020:
Co-editor of the book series Historische Politikforschung (Metropol)
Since 2021:
Member of the advisory board of the Stiftung Berliner Mauer
Co-editor of Frankfurter Hefte/Neue Gesellschaft
Member of the academic advisory board of the August-Bebel-Stiftung
Member (deputy) of the foundation board of the Stiftung Orte der deutschen Demokratiegeschichte
Recent Publications
Antisemitismus und Rassismus. Konjunkturen und Kontroversen seit 1945 (= Vergangene Gegenwart. Debatten zur Zeitgeschichte, Vol. 2), Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2024.
Tausend Aufbrüche. Die Deutschen und ihre Demokratie seit den 1980er Jahren, Munich: Siedler, 2023, English edition forthcoming 2025.
The Invention of Marxism. How an Idea changed Everything, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023.
Deutschland und Europa seit 1990. Positionen, Kontroversen, Perspektiven (= Vergangene Gegenwart. Debatten zur Zeitgeschichte, Vol. 1), Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2021.
Friedrich Engels (1820–1895) und die Sozialdemokratie (= Historische Demokratieforschung, Band 18), Berlin: Metropol 2020. (with Detlef Lehnert)
Zur rechten Zeit. Wider die Rückkehr das Nationalismus, Berlin: Ullstein, 2019 (with Norbert Frei, Franka Maubach und Maik Tändler).
Die Erfindung des Marxismus. Wie eine Idee die Welt eroberte, Munich, Siedler, 2017.
Probing the Limits of Categorization. The Bystander in Holocaust History, New York: Berghahn Books, 2018, paperback edition 2020. (with K. Thijs)
Das 20. Jahrhundert erzählen: Zeiterfahrung und Zeiterforschung im geteilten Deutschland, Göttingen: Wallstein, 2016. (with F. Maubach)
Legacies of Stalingrad: Remembering the Eastern Front in Germany since 1945, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011; Paperback 2013.
Performances and Appearances
See my Bielefeld university website.
Research Interests
My research focuses on major themes in 19th and 20th century German and European history, particularly the history and memory of World War II and the Holocaust, Jewish and bystander diaries; the history of socialism, Marxism and communism; political culture in Germany since 1945, East German/GDR history, and the history of historiography.
Awards And Honors
2024 German Nonfiction Prize