Institute of European History

The Institute of European History (IEG) in Mainz is an independent, non-profit facility for researching European and religious history. The organization's founding is attributed to the discussions of international historians that followed World War II. These historians intended to help overcome prejudice and promote understanding between the peoples of Europe through deeper insight into the peculiarities, similarities and interrelationships of religious and national developments.

The institute has implemented its mission through an innovative research program with a focus on the historic foundations of present-day Europe in the modern age. Research concentrates on transfer processes relating to all or parts of Europe, on the history of conscious reflection on Europe and on the theoretical and methodological reflection on historic research on Europe. The religious and confessional aspects of these phenomena represent a focal point of the institute's interdisciplinary work. Theologians (Department of Occidental Religious History) and historians (Department of Universal History) at IEG work in four areas of research. The research areas are connected by the cross-over project "European History Online". Interdisciplinary cooperation is therefore an integral component of the institute's work.

An internationally aligned scholarship program has been one of the institute's mainstays from the very beginning. Scholarship holders from around the world work and live at the institute. Their projects contribute to research on the foundations of Europe. Together with the researchers employed at IEG, they form an international and interdisciplinary research community.

Research results are published in the institute's own series "Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für Europäische Geschichte Mainz" (Publications of the Institute of European History in Mainz). The online services provided, such as digitalized versions of maps of Europe, European peace treaties and source editions of early modern controversial literature, are in heavy demand and make IEG internationally visible.