Under the direction of ancient historian Prof. Dr. Patrick Sänger, the international public conference “War in the Ancient World International Conference Münster 2025 – WAWIC 2025” will take place at the University of Münster from 29 to 31 May 2025 – interested parties are welcome to attend without registration. In this interview, the Münster Professor of Ancient History and expert in papyrology describes the content and aims of the conference as well as his understanding of modern military history research.

Jannik Wiethoff genannt Riemann, 4th semester Bachelor student in Latin and History at the Faculty of History/Philosophy, has received the 2025 Undergraduate Student Award from the Early Slavic Studies Association (ESSA) for his outstanding term paper on Friedrich Christian Weber's book “Das veränderte Russland”.

The North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts (AWK) has admitted art historian Prof. Dr. Ursula Frohne as a new member. At the Academy's annual celebration, the AWK Presidium welcomed a total of twelve new members who stand out for their expertise and research. Ursula Frohne's research centres on the role of exhibitions as a form of knowledge and perspectives on the socio-economic conditions of art.

The National Archaeological Museum in Athens has given the Archaeological Museum of the University of Münster an epinetron on long-term loan. The almost 2,500-year-old artefact, which was once used to process wool and later became a popular status symbol, fills a gap in the museum's collection.

There are over 600 European city atlases in the library of the Institute for Comparative Urban History (IStG) at the University of Münster. Not only do they attract attention with their many colours and details, their information content also serves as a starting point for research projects in various disciplines.

“Most people first think of the printing press when they think of pre-modern media revolution. One prerequisite for its success was paper as a raw material. The history of its invention and implementation is much longer and was much quieter in medieval Europe than the drumbeat of book printing – as historian and medieval specialist Carla Meyer-Schlenkrich explains in an interview.”

The fact that “thinking with your fingers” was common in medieval and early modern philosophy has been forgotten over the centuries due to the improved availability of paper and ink and the improvement of printing. A research team has now brought archival material on this historical practice back to light for the first time.

 

DNA analyses, freely available for purchase on the market, promise to provide information on how to find distant relatives or discover your own ethnic origins and bio-geographical background. The citizen science project “Do your genes tell you your history? DNA tests as a commodity and a popular pastime” is a first-time investigation and documentation of the everyday usage as well as the motives for, and the criticisms in, using genetic analyses in genealogy and has been awarded the Citizen Science Prize of the University of Münster Foundation.

The trial of former “Red Army Faction” (RAF) terrorist Daniela Klette begins today, 25 March, in Celle. Historian Dr. Kevin Lenk is researching the political instrumentalisation of the dead of German left-wing terrorism in the 1970s. In this interview, he talks about the stylisation of RAF members and the symbolic significance of what may be the last RAF court case.

The Käte Hamburger Kolleg “Legal Unity and Pluralism” (EViR) at the University of Münster will enter its second funding phase from June 2025. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is funding the Centre and its Fellow Programme for a further four years with around 7.7 million euros. The maximum possible funding period is twelve years. The Centre researches the tension between legal unity and legal diversity in different societies from antiquity to the present day.