Susanne Schattenberg

Prof. Susanne Schattenberg serves as Professor for Contemporary East European History and Culture at the University of Bremen since October 2008, concurrently directing the Research Centre for East European Studies. Her academic trajectory includes substitute professorships at Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg (Summer 2008) and Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena (Winter 2007/08), alongside extensive editorial board memberships including The Russian Review and Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History.

Her academic formation commenced with History, Slavic Studies, and Psychology studies at Hamburg, Leningrad, and Constance universities (1988-1995), culminating in a State Examination and Master's (1995). She earned her PhD at Europe-University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) in 1999 with research on 'Stalin's engineers', followed by a 2006 Habilitation at Humboldt University Berlin on 'The corrupt province? Russian bureaucrats in the 19th century'.

Schattenberg's research centers on late Soviet history through cultural and diplomatic lenses, examining Khrushchev and Brezhnev leadership dynamics, dissent mechanisms, and foreign policy conceptualizations from 1815-1991. Her work innovatively explores Soviet gas exports to Germany as 'soft power', emotional dimensions of Cold War diplomacy, and civil society emergence via figures like Natalya Gorbanevskaya. She integrates cultural history methodologies with political analysis to interrogate power structures.

Her recent publications reveal consistent focus on Soviet diplomatic practices, particularly energy diplomacy and leadership psychology during the Brezhnev era. The scholarship demonstrates methodological innovation through emotional history frameworks and cultural analysis of foreign policy rituals, while maintaining empirical rigor in archival research on Soviet-German relations and dissident movements.

Schattenberg actively contributes to academic infrastructure as Director of Bremen's Research Centre for East European Studies, which functions as critical archival repository for dissident materials. Her leadership extends to advisory roles at Berlin's Centre for East European and International Studies and Marburg's Herder-Institut, alongside editorial stewardship of key journals in Russian and Eurasian studies.