Klaus Richter

Klaus Richter is Professor of Central and Eastern European History at the University of Birmingham's Department of History within the College of Arts and Law. He serves as Director of the Institute for German and European Studies (IGES) and leads multiple international research projects examining state formation, economic crises, and nationalism in Eastern Europe.

His research centers on the historical dynamics of Central and Eastern Europe, particularly Poland, the Baltics, Belarus, and Ukraine. Richter investigates how territorial fragmentation shaped state-building processes after World War I, the relationship between society and state institutions, and the socioeconomic impacts of economic crises like the Great Depression. His work frequently employs transnational and comparative methodologies, analyzing land reform policies, property redistribution, and minority governance across national boundaries.

Richter's recent publications demonstrate a concentrated focus on interwar Eastern Europe's economic history, with particular attention to Lithuania and Latvia during the 1930s depression. His scholarship reveals how economic nationalism intersected with minority policies and state formation during critical historical junctures.

• AABS Book Prize (2022) for Fragmentation in East Central Europe: Poland and the Baltics, 1915-1929

As a supervisor, Richter currently guides five PhD students researching modern Eastern European history. His major funded projects include Subjectivities of Owning Land: Land Redistribution and the Nation State in the Baltics, ca. 1900-2000 (AHRC/DFG, 2024-2027) and The Liminality of Failing Democracy: East Central Europe and the Interwar Slump. Richter maintains active collaborations with the Herder Institute in Marburg and has directed interdisciplinary programs like Futures of German Diasporas (DAAD-funded, 2022-2023).