Frank Bösch is director of the Center for Contemporary History in Potsdam and Professor of German and European 20th Century History at the University of Potsdam. Educated at the universities of Hamburg and Göttingen he obtained his PhD in 2001 in Göttingen with a thesis on the Christian Democratic Union of Germany 1945-1969. He taught as assistant professor (Junior-Professor) at the University of Bochum (2002-2007) and as professor at the University of Gießen, where he was also head of the graduate school “Transnational Media Events”. In 2005 he was research fellow at the GHI London.
His more recent publications include books on media history, such as “Mediengeschichte. Vom asiatischen Buchdruck zum Fernsehen” [english translation: Media and Historical Change. Germany in International Perspective, Berghahn/NY 2015] and “Öffentliche Geheimnisse. Skandale, Politik und Medien in Deutschland und Großbritannien 1880-1914”[ Public Secrets. Scandals, Politics and Media in Germany and Great Britain 1880-1914]. His monograph on global crises and events of the late 1970s (Zeitenwende 1979. Als die Welt von heute begann) was two months on the list of bestselling non-fictional books. He is currently writing a book on West German interactions with non-democratic states since the 1950s.
Frank Bösch is Co-editor of the peer-reviewed journal "Zeithistorische Forschungen/Studies in Contemporary History", of the book series "Geschichte der Gegenwart" [History of the Present] series (Wallstein), "Zeithistorische Forschung" [Studies in contemporary History] and the text book series "Historischen Einführungen" series [Historical Introduction] (Campus).
Research foci
- German and British History since the 19th century
- Political History of Culture and Society
- Media History
- Global History of the 1970s
Interview with Frank Bösch "What contemporary historian Frank Bösch brought to Potsdam"
Current publication projects
Negotiate with dictatorships. The German-German dealing with non-democratic states, 1950-2000, Website
a) current third-party funded projects
The Radical Right in Germany, 1945-2000,
Websitein collaboration with the Moses Mendelssohn Centre
funded by VolkswagenStiftung
The Transformation of the East German Universities in the 1980s/90s: Potsdam in Comparative Perspective,
Websitein collabroation with the University of Potsdam
Graduate School “Social Consequences of the Changing Working Environment in the Second Half of the 20th century”, Website
Funded by Hans-Böckler-Stiftung
Duration: Nov 2016 - Oct 2019, 2021 -
b) completed third-party funds projects (since 2008)
Departure towards the Digital Society. Computerisation and Social Regimes in West and East Germany, Website
Funded in line with a competition of the Leibniz Association
Duration: May 2014 - April 2017
“The Early Post-war History of the Ministries of the interior of West and East Germany”, PDF, Website
Project management with Prof. Dr. Andreas Wirsching (Institute of Contemporary History Munich-Berlin)
Duration: Dec 2014 - May 2018
Research Group “Living History: Reenacted Prehistory between Research and Popular Performance”, PDF
With archeologist Dr. Stefanie Samida (FU Berlin/Tübingen)
Funded by Volkswagen Foundation
Duration: 2012 - 2016
Research Group (German Research Foundation) “Transformation of religion in modernity”
In cooperation with Klaus Tenfelde, Lucian Hölscher, Wilhelm Damberg, Volkhard Krech, Traugott Jähnichen (Bochum)
Duration: 2006-2012
Results
“Lost in Translation? Perceptions of Europe and their Translations. From Word War I to the Present”
In cooperation with Simone Lässig (Georg Eckert-Institut), Wilfried Speitkamp (Kassel), Martin Sabrow (ZZF)
Funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Resarch
Duration: 2009-2012
Results
“Cultural Techniques and their Medialisation”
Funded by the German state Hessen (Landes-Exzellenz „LOEWE“)
In cooperation with Peter Haslinger (Herder-Institut Marburg)
Duration: 2008-2012
Results
