Main Content

Constantin Soschynski

Doctoral Candidate

E-Mail: soschync@students.uni-marburg.de

  • Curriculum Vitae

    2012-2017 - Study of History (BA) at the University of Marburg

    2017-2024 - Study of History, Chemistry and Educational Sciences at the University of Marburg (Teacher’s Degree – Secondary Education)

    Since 01/2025  Doctoral Candidate at the Department of Modern History (19th/20th Century) at the University of Marburg, led by Prof. Dr. Benedikt Stuchtey)

    Since 2024 Staff Member for "Hessen (post-)kolonial"

  • Dissertation project

    In 1908, the first colonial school for women in the German Empire was established as an affiliate of the existing German Colonial School in Witzenhausen. This school pioneered a new type of institution explicitly aimed at women, designed to prepare them for life in the colonies, and thus marked the beginning of a new concept that led to the establishment of an entire network of schools offering colonial training opportunities throughout the German Empire.  Thus, a colonial school for women was also founded in Bad Weilbach in 1911. In the period leading up to World War I, a colonial domestic science school was established near Cathaus, close to Trier, and special colonial departments were created in some of the women’s schools affiliated with the Reifenstein Association, which also specifically trained women for life in the colonies. Even after World War I and the loss of the German colonies, these educational programs were not discontinued; on the contrary, another colonial school for women was founded in Rendsburg in 1927.

    The project aims not only to examine this network of various colonial educational institutions for women in its entirety for the first time, but also to answer the question of to what extent it constitutes a unified entity. Are there conceptual differences among the schools, and if so, what are they? To what extent are there direct or indirect connections and exchanges between the schools? To what extent were these schools, taken as a whole, able to shape German society? Thus, this doctoral project aims to contribute to broadening our understanding of colonial structures in Germany and, particularly in the field of the history of education, to highlight key approaches for assessing the impact and interconnectedness of colonial institutions.