Center for German and European Studies

Events 2025-26

Most CGES Online and hybrid events are recorded. Explore upcoming Fall 2025 events listed below, or browse through the 2024 & Spring 2025 CGES Online Events. Get direct access to a list of all recorded webinars on CGES Online's Archive below. 

CGES Online Recordings: Complete List

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Fall 2025 Events

Drawing of a brain with the left side in black and white and the right side in color
Overcoming the Theory-Practice Gap: Designing formats that enable new forms of knowledge production

September 9, 2025

CGES Online Event

In this webinar, German philosopher Anna Katsman, Academic Director of the "New Institute" in Hamburg, will introduce the work of the New Institute in overcoming the existing gaps between theory and practice, science and policy, technical and ethical progress. Katsman will describe why it is necessary to do so, why traditional universities are failing to do just that, and why people are turning away from universities and the private sector tries to fill this gap. She will present a plea for a new way of thinking, and a new academic culture that does not lead to burn-out and does not undermine academic creativity and practical relevance. Instead, it brings the humanities into policy debates, using literary analysis for policy papers for example. It overcomes the gap in good narratives, mobilizes connections, includes psychoanalytic accounts of the political present, takes fears, anxiety, and even the sinister enjoyment that people seem to take in the current administration's brutality into consideration.
Speech bubble of trees on a desert background
A Dangerous Convergence? Climate Obstructionism Across the Right-Wing Spectrum

September 10, 2025

CGES Online Event

Previous research has repeatedly shown that various populist far-right parties (PFRPs) engage in some form of resistance to climate action. To better understand their approach to climate related issues, this presentation examines how established PFRPs in Germany (AfD), Spain (Vox), and Austria (FPÖ) frame and interpret climate change in their political communication. Although PFRPs have achieved notable electoral success across Europe, mainstream parties continue to play a dominant role in shaping public discourse. Ultimately, the findings reveal that climate obstructionism is neither uniform nor confined to the political fringes, but a complex and transnational phenomenon rooted in a wider right-wing alliance.

Color movie poster for Petra Kelly - Act Now! with 4 faces of Petra Kelly
Film Screening: PETRA KELLY - ACT NOW!

September 16, 2025

CGES In-Person Event

Petra Kelly, co-founder of the German Green Party, was a pioneering advocate for peace, environmental protection, and human rights. Inspired by the civil rights movement and Martin Luther King’s concept of civil disobedience, she championed radical social change and solidarity worldwide. Her issues are today more topical than ever before.

Blue poster with yellow text and a picture of Irit Dekel smiling
Witnessing as Memory Activism: Perspectives from Two Berlin-Based Migrant Groups

October 20, 2025

CGES Co-Sponsored Event

2:30 - 3:50 pm ET (US)
Mandel Reading Room 303, Brandeis University Campus

This presentation explores how migrant memory activists at Berlin’s International Women* Space and Anu/Middle East Union (2020–24) foster solidarity through media, literature, publications, and events addressing racism and inequality. Speaker: Irit Dekel, Indiana University Bloomington.

Sepia book cover for "Weimar under the Palms"
Weimar Under the Palms

October 28, 2025

CGES Hybrid Event

Join author Thomas Blubacher and scholars Cynthia Porter and Anjeana Hans for a discussion of the broader context of Blubacher's recently translated book "Weimar Under the Palms"
Turquise book cover with two birds flying and the title Austrian Again
Austrian Again - Reclaiming a Lost Legacy

October 30, 2025

CGES Hybrid Event

Anne Hand embarks on a deeply personal journey to uncover her family's hidden history during the Holocaust while pursuing Austrian citizenship. As Austria opens the door to reparation citizenship for descendants of those victimized by the Nazi and Austrofascist regimes, Anne digs through fragments of family stories and documents to trace her Austrian and Czechoslovakian roots. Through her search, she pieces together the story her ancestors withheld from their children after World War II, while reflecting on identity, migration, and heritage.