What we do

We represent the interests of historians.

We strengthen the societal relevance of historical scholarship.

We advocate for freedom in research and teaching.

We promote the diversity of historical methods and topics.

We moderate controversies in historical policy.

We preserve the unity of the discipline with specialization and interdisciplinarity.

We advocate for diverse historical professional fields and career paths.

The Verband der Historiker und Historikerinnen Deutschlands (VHD) is one of the oldest academic associations in the humanities in Germany. It was founded in 1895 to defend the autonomy of historical science. Today, with its more than 3,400 members, the VHD promotes historical scholarship in Germany and represents the interests of all those working full-time in historical fields to the public, political institutions and international historical scholarship.

As it was the original purpose, the association still advocates for the autonomy of science and science-based standards in historical education. The VHD takes an active position in on-going debates – from the employment situation at German universities and legal regulations connected to the use of media in research and education to widely discussed issues in which historical facts and interpretations are indispensable. Furthermore, the VHD supports the enhancement of the digital infrastructure in the field of historical research and education and plays an active part in the NFDI4Memory project.

Every two years, the VHD awards the Hedwig Hintze Prize for excellent dissertations and the Carl Erdmann Prize for outstanding habilitations. Together with the DHI Paris and the AG Digitale Geschichtswissenschaft, the VHD honors innovative digital research projects with the Peter Haber Prize.

Together with the German Association for History Teachers (Verband der Geschichtslehrerinnen und -lehrer Deutschlands) and a committee at the hosting university, the VHD organizes the Historikertag (German Historians‘ Day) every two years. The scientific core program of the Historikertag offers numerous events over several days. There is also a comprehensive program for teachers and students. Publishers, foundations, initiatives, and research institutions from the historical field present themselves, too.The history of the congress dates back to the 19th century: In 1893, university professors met in Munich to discuss whether history was sufficiently represented in the curricula of Prussian schools. After that, the Historikertag took place every one to two years with longer breaks during the world wars. Today, with around 2,500 participants from Germany and abroad, the congress is considered one of the largest in the humanities in Europe. The last Historikertag took place in Leipzig from 19 to 22 September 2023 with the motto Fragile Fakten (Fragile Facts).

The VHD’s office is located at the Goethe University Frankfurt. It functions as the first point of contact for all questions around membership and the Historikertag, for representatives of press and public relations and, in general, all matters concerning the VHD. If there are any questions, please contact geschaeftsstelle@historikerverband.de.