History

History is dedicated to the methodical research of historical events, figures, objects, structures and processes. By investigating the development of political, social and cultural contexts and explaining the relationships between political and social structures and cultural developments, historians raise awareness for historical continuities and discontinuities and the peculiarities of certain eras.

The study of history acquaints students with the questions, methods, theories and solution approaches of historical research with the aim of leading them to conduct their own research work. The focus of this degree program is on in-depth discussion of historical sources (mostly texts) from antiquity, medieval and modern times. Sources are verified by the students, their significance and informational value are analyzed and interpreted. Topics range from political history and the history of international relations to social and economic history, corporate history, legal and constitutional history, church history, urban history as well as the history of culture, ideas and education. In addition, students acquire fundamental didactic skills needed to explain complex situations in the history classroom.

In teaching degree programs for grammar and comprehensive schools, students choose two school subjects. Thus, in addition to History, students are enrolled for a second subject as well as educational sciences.

Possible lines of work:

Teaching at grammar and comprehensive schools. To teach at a German public school, candidates must follow up their bachelor’s degree with a Master of Education degree program as well as practical teacher training.

Archiving, publishing, libraries, media (newspapers, trade/professional journals, publishers, radio, television, etc.), public relations/press work, teaching at schools, adult education, tourism, museums/cultural institutions, policy consulting, diplomatic service, academia (teaching/research at universities, research institutions, etc.)