Stefanie Middendorf

Stefanie Middendorf is a Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at Friedrich Schiller University Jena since 2021, co-directing the Imre Kertész Kolleg Jena since 2024. She holds a doctorate from the Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg and has held various academic roles across institutions including the Free University of Berlin, MLU Halle-Wittenberg, and the Leibniz Centre for Contemporary History in Potsdam. Her research focuses on economic history, governance structures, and cultural modernity with particular attention to 20th-century German and French contexts.

Her key projects include the DFG-funded 'Doing Debt' network analyzing sovereign debt practices and the 'History of the Federal Ministry of Finance' study. She holds editorial roles at journals like Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte and is affiliated with institutions such as the Gerda Henkel Foundation and the Oxford Martin School (2024/25 fellowship).

Research interests include the history of governing institutions, financial crisis management, and intersections of democracy/dictatorship. Awards include the Economy History Prize and Fritz Thyssen Prize (2021). She advises multiple academic and cultural institutions and leads international research collaborations on topics like emergency governance and colonial entanglements.

Teaching includes seminars on dictatorship comparisons, economic imaginaries, and global Cold War experiences. Her publications span monographs on financial ministries and mass culture, edited volumes on debt practices, and over 30 peer-reviewed articles in journals like Jahrbuch für Wirtschaftsgeschichte and Comparativ.