Areas of Research and Teaching
- History of German Literature and Culture since the 18th Century
- History of Literary Theory and Criticism since the 18th Century
- Theory of genres, esp. drama, poetry, and documentary literature
- Utopian literature and Utopian thinking
- History and Methods of Germanistik
- History of German-Jewish Culture since the 18th Century
- History of Modern Anti-Semitism
Education
| 1948-1957 | Lessing-Gymnasium, Düsseldorf (Abitur) |
| 1957-1959 | University of Cologne (History, Philosophy, German Literature) |
| 1959-1967 | University of Münster |
| 1960 | Philosophicum (Examination in Philosophy and Pedagogy) |
| 1963 | Staatsexamen (German Literature, History) |
| 1967 | Dr. phil., University of Münster |
Employment
| 1963-1967 | Tutor/Assistant, University of Münster |
| 1967-1971 | Assistant Professor of German at the University of Wisconsin-Madison |
| 1971-1973 | Associate Professor, UW-Madison |
| 1973 -- | Full Professor, UW-Madison |
| 1986 -- | Affiliated with the History Department, UW-Madison |
| 1989-1993 | Steering Committee of the Jewish Studies Program |
| 1993 - 2007 | Executive Committee of the Center for Jewish Studies, UW-Madison |
| 1994-1997 | Chair of German Department , UW-Madison |
| 1998-2005 | Director, Center for German and European Studies |
| 2007 | Emeritus Professor |
Visiting Professor at the following Universities:
- Free University of Berlin (1978)
- Bielefeld (1980-81)
- Gießen (1983, 1992)
- Michigan (1984)
- University of California-Davis (1989)
- Hebrew University, Jerusalem (1993)
- London (2005)
- University of Peking (Baida, 2011)
Offers from the following Universities:
- Bryn Mawr College (1970)
- Ohio State University (1972)
- Washington University (1978)
- Cornell University (1985)
- University of California-Davis (1989)
Numerous invited lectures in Germany, USA, United Kingdom, Norway, Denmark, Spain, Israel, New Zealand, China.
Fellowships, Grants, Awards, Honors
| 1964 | Dissertation Fellowship, University of Münster |
| 1965-1967 | Stiftung Volkswagen: Dissertation Fellowship |
| 1969 | American Philosophical Society Fellowship (summer) |
| 1972-1973 | Fellowship at the Institute for Research in the Humanities |
| 1973 | American Philosophical Society Fellowship (summer) |
| 1975-1980 | Romnes Research Fellowship, UW-Madison |
| 1980-1981 | Fellowship at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research, University of Bielefeld |
| 1983 | Zinn-Fellowship, University of Gießen |
| 1984 | Schiller Medal (University of Jena) |
| 1985 | ACLS (summer) |
| 1985 | Mid-Career Award, UW-Madison |
| 1988-1989 | Vilas Associate, UW-Madison |
| 1989-1994 | Senior Member of Institute for Research in the Humanitites |
| 1990 | DAAD Study Visit (Marbach, summer) |
| 1993 | Fellowship at the Franz Rosenzweig Research Center for German-Jewish Culture, Hebrew Univerity, Jerusalem |
| 1996-1997 | DAAD/ACLS Cooperation Project with University of Bonn (PI with Juergen Fohrmann) |
| 1997 | Faculty Development Grant |
| 1998-2002 | DAAD Grant: Center for German and European Studies (PI with Jack Zipes) |
| 1999 | DAAD Study Visit (Weimar, summer) |
| 1999-2004 | Weinstein-Bascom Professorship, UW-Madison |
| 2003-2007 | Renewal of DAAD Grant: Center for German and European Studies (PI with Eric Weitz) |
| 2004 - 2008 | DAAD Professorship, DAAD/UW-Madison |
| 2007 | ILS Excellence in Teaching and Service Award (UW-Madison) |
| 2007 | Hilldale Life-time Achievement Award for Excellence in Research and Teaching in the Humanities (UW-Madison) |
| 2007 | Bundesverdientskreuz am Band (Federal Republic of Germany) |
| And 12 Summer Research Grants from the UW-Graduate School and 3 Course Development Grants (Jewish Studies Program, ILS) |
Professional Activities
- Member of the MLA, AATG, IVG, GSA, Lessing-, Herder-, Schiller-, Goethe Societies.
- Editorial Board of:
- Monatshefte (since 1970),
- Michigan Germanic Studies (1985-2001),
- Goethe Yearbook (since 1988),
- German Politics and Society (since 2000)
- Review Editor of Monatshefte, 1984-1985 and 1991-1992.
- Editorial Consultant for PMLA, German Quarterly, Modern Drama, New German Critique, and for the University Presses of California, Harvard, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.
- MLA Executive Committee of the Division: 19th and Early 20th Century German Literature (1974-1978, Chair 1977)
- MLA Executive Committee of the Division: 18th and Early 19th Century German Literature (1983-1988, Chair 1987)
- DAAD Selection Committee (1985, 1994-1997)
- Review Committee: German Department, University of Minnesota (1987)
- AATG Program Committee (1990-1991)
- Advisory Committee for the German Department of Harvard University, 1994/95 and 1996/97
- IVG Program Committee, World Congress Vancouver 1995
- Fulbright Commission (German Section), 1995-1998
- German American Arts Foundation (Chicago), Advisory Board, 1995-1998
- Advisory Board of MLA's Profession, 1996-1998
- Advisor for a European Studies Center at the University of Cincinnati, 2001
- Advisor for a German Studies Center at Beijing University, 2003/4.
- IVG Program Committee, World Congress Paris 2005
- Review Committee for International Studies: Freiburg Program 2005
Organizer of Special Sessions, Conferences and Symposia:
- Special Sessions for MLA: Peter Weiss (1983), Friedrich Schiller (1984), Ernst Bloch (1985), Perpetual Peace (1988)
- Special Session for AATG: Hugo Friedrich's Struktur der modernen Lyrik - Revisited and Revised. (1991)
- Special Session for GSA: Interdisciplinarity (1992)
- 10th Burdick-Vary Symposium on "Utopian Visions", Institute for Research in the Humanities (1987)
- International Symposium, "The Hidden Side of Weimar Classicism", University of California-Davis (with Karl Menges, 1990)
- 15th Burdick-Vary Symposium, "New Historicism", Institute for Research in the Humanities (with Paul Boyer, 1991)
- 18th Burdick-Vary Symposium, "The German Jewish Dialogue ‑ Reconsidered", Institute for Research in the Humanities (1993)
- 26th Wisconsin Workshop: "Responsibility and Committment - The Ethics of Cultural Mediation" (1995)
DAAD/ACLS Cooperation Project between the German Departments of the Universities of Bonn and UW-Madison on:
"Representation and Reception of the Holocaust in Germany and the United States":
August 29/30, 1996: Workshop in Madison on Holocaust Films
March 24/25, 1997: Workshop in Bonn on the American Reception of the Holocaust
October 5/6, 1997: Symposium in Madison on Recent Debates about the Holocaust and Teaching the Holocaust
- 31st Wisconsin Workshop: "Goethe in German-Jewish Culture." International Symposium on the Occasion of Goethe's 250th Birthday. (Organized by the Center for German and European Studies in cooperation with the Department of German and the Center for Jewish Studies, Oct. 28-30, 1999)
- Special Session of the GSA: "The DAAD in the United States: Past, Present, Future". (October 5, 2001)
- 35th Wisconsin Workshop: "Unmasking Hitler. Cultural Representations of Adolf Hitler from the Weimar Republic to the Present." (Organized by the Center for German and European Studies in cooperation with the German Department and the Mosse Center for Jewish Studies, September 19-21, 2002)
- Internationale Sommerschule Literaturwissenschaft Marbach (SOLIMA, July 10 – August 1, 2003, co-organizer with Christoph Koenig)
- Second Mosse Workshop: “The Roots of Antisemitism.” (Organized by the Center for German and European Studies in cooperation with the Mosse Center for Jewish Studies, September 12-13, 2003)
- CGES Workshop: “Moral Choices in the Age of Terrorism. Kant on Religion, Ethics, and Politics.” (Organized by the Center for German and European Studies in cooperation with the Center for the Humanities and the departments of Philosophy, Political Science, and German, November 11-13, 2004)
- CGES Workshop: Ansichten Schillers. Zum zweihundersten Jahrestag seines Todes. (Organized by the Center for German and European Studies in cooperation with the Department of German, April 8/9, 2005)
- Zweite Internationale Sommerschule Literaturwissenschaft Marbach (SOLIMA, July 15 – August 3, 2005, co-organizer with Christoph Koenig and Horst Thome)
- Special Session for the GSA: On Friendship. Pittsburg, September 30, 2006.
- Dritte Internationale Sommerschule Literaturwissenschaft Marbach July 15 - August 3, 2007. (Co-organizer with Marcel Lepper andHorst Thome)
Academic Services
All departmental committees, esp. Graduate-, Fellowship-, Budget-, and Awards- Committees,
Graduate Advisor (1973-1988)
UW-Senate (1974-1978, 1985-1987)
Review Committee for the Philosophy Department (1986)
Humanities Executive Committee (1987-1990, and 1991/92)
Graduate School Executive Committee (1991/92)
Jewish Studies Program: Steering Committee (1989-1993)
Jewish Studies Executive Committee (1993-)
Search Committees for German, History and Jewish Studies
Chair of the German Department (1994-1997)
DAAD Campus Selection Committee (Chair, 1994-1997)
Karl Schurz Professorship Committee (Chair, 1994-1997)
Markham Memorial Scholarship Committee (1994-1997)
Chancellor's Ad Hoc Committee for a DAAD Center (1997, Chair)
Founding Director, DAAD Center for German and European Studies (1998-2005)
Dean’s Committee for the Institute for Research in the Humanities (2001-2003)
Mosse Foundation: Program Oversight Committee (2001-2007)
Advisory Committee of the Center for the Humanities, (2004 -2007)
Advisor of thirty dissertations.
Biographical entries in:
- Who's Who in America
- Who's Who in the World
- American Scholars
- Kurschners Deutscher Gelehrten-Kalender
- Positive Dialektik. Festschrift für Klaus Berghahn zum 70. Geburtstag. Hrsg. Jost Hermand. Oxford 2007.