Dirk van Laak

Prof. Dr. Dirk van Laak is a University Professor of History of the 19th to 21st Centuries at the University of Leipzig, holding the W3-Professur since 2016. His career includes assistant professorships at Jena (1993–2007), visiting roles in Chicago (1995/96), Tübingen (2002/03), and Freiburg (2003/04), and a professorship in contemporary history at Giessen (2007–2016). He studied at the University of Essen and earned his doctorate in 1992 from the Fernuniversität Hagen, completing his habilitation in Jena (2001).

• Research Focus: German/European/Globalization History, Intellectual/Infrastructure/Colonial History, Historiography, and Property/Inheritance Systems.
• Current Projects:
  • Privatization in Britain and Germany (1979–1999) (DFG, 2022–2025)
  • Mode als Transformation. Das Beispiel Leipzig (1980 bis 2000) (DFG, 2024–2026)
  • Contributions to the International Graduate College 'Belongings: Jewish Material Culture' (DFG, 2024–2029)

Scientific Honors:

• Co-editor of 'Themenportal Europäische Geschichte' (2018)
• Co-editor of 'Geschichte der technischen Kultur' book series (2016)
• Opus-magnum Scholarship (Volkswagenstiftung, 2014)
• Geisteswissenschaften International grant (2021)

Publications emphasize infrastructure as a lens for societal change, including Lifelines of Our Society (MIT Press, 2023) and Alles im Fluss (S. Fischer, 2019). His teaching covers modern German/European history, with excursions and seminars on topics like post-1990 transformations and emotional history.