Sebastian Willert

Dr. Sebastian Willert is a Research Associate at the Dubnow Institute since 2023 and Coordinator of the Research Unit 'Law'. Funded by the Alfred Landecker Foundation since April 2024, he specializes in Cultural History, History of Science, History of Archaeology, and Dislocations of Cultural Assets, with a focus on the Nineteenth and Twentieth Century. His work bridges global migration patterns and forced academic migration.

• Education: M.A. in History and Cultural Studies (2016, Leibniz University Hannover); Ph.D. candidate in Modern Art History (2017–2022, TU Berlin)

Willert's research explores cultural assets as conflict factors in German-Ottoman politics (1898–1918), colonial archaeology, and forced migration of Jewish scholars during 1933–1945. His 15 most recent publications emphasize Ottoman-German relations, cultural heritage ethics, and post-imperial museum practices.

His articles analyze themes like Ottoman antiquity law duality, interwar museum nostalgia, and 19th/20th-century artifact circulation. They reflect expertise in cultural asset conflicts, colonial legal frameworks, and archaeological ethics.

• Scientific Awards: Pre-Doc Fellow at 'Translocations' research cluster (2017–2020); Doctoral Fellow at Orient Institute Istanbul (2021); Visiting Scholar at Boğaziçi University Istanbul (2021); Fellow at Leibniz Research Alliance 'Value of the Past' (2022); Alfred Landecker Foundation funding (2024)

Willert teaches at TU Berlin and NYU Berlin. He leads the Research Unit 'Law' at the Dubnow Institute, focusing on cultural asset dislocation and museum ethics.