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International Affairs

International Institutions, Development Cooperation, Cultural Diplomacy, Integration and Exchange

History is always international in nature. The expert on the War of the Spanish Succession may be based in Toronto, the foremost authority on Persian cuneiform script in Tübingen or Marburg, and their colleagues in Istanbul, Beijing, St. Petersburg, or Timbuktu. In a historical environment, you learn to think, communicate, and act internationally and interculturally, and to evaluate a source from your own historical and cultural perspective. These skills and qualities mean that historians can also work internationally in all of the fields mentioned above. Although cultural diplomacy is the domain of linguistics and literary studies, historians of all kinds can find career entry opportunities here as providers of context. Advanced foreign language skills and personal experience abroad remain important prerequisites for a successful career start. Career entry at institutions usually takes place through extensive and complex recruitment and selection processes carried out by the institutions themselves.

  • Possible Tasks

    - In the area of diplomatic services, your responsibilities will include maintaining bilateral relations between Germany and other countries, representing German interests in international bodies, European policy, shaping Germany’s role in the United Nations, promoting foreign trade and sustainable development, international energy and environmental policy, and aspects of international relations relating to (international) law. This also includes working in foreign cultural and educational policy, protocol, or consular support for German citizens.
    - You lead a team and handle staff matters at the respective foreign mission, work with local chambers of commerce and industry, provide economic information, and support companies when issues in the host country arise.
    - You monitor and document your country’s development aid, coordinate with the countries involved, and support and supervise development cooperation experts and their working groups.
    - As a specialist for a given country, you support the political departments at the headquarters of the Federal Foreign Office.
    - You maintain contacts abroad and with other countries, build up a network of partners, take on diplomatic tasks (including at the non-governmental level), and act as a mediator between stakeholders from politics, business, and culture.
    - In international exchange organizations, you maintain contacts abroad and arrange visits both in Germany and abroad, such as exchanges for school students, internships, volunteer services, and research and teaching stays.
    - You support and advise international students and researchers as well as other international guests during their stay in the host country and organize networking events and excursions.
    - You design course programs and educate about German history, regional differences, and culture.
    - In the field of intercultural communication consulting, you advise companies, institutions, organizations, and economic and cultural associations that are involved in international cooperation.
    - In the field of reparations and reconciliation, you establish contacts with, e.g., the victims of colonialism and ethnic, religious, and political persecution and act as an interest group representative for German authorities and political actors.
    - You deconstruct common narratives of remembrance work and mediate historical events by taking (postcolonial and discriminatory) power structures into account. You develop and implement plans for sustainable, future-oriented reparations.

  • Industries and Occupations

    - Headquarters of the Federal Foreign Office in Germany
    - German missions abroad worldwide, e.g. embassies, consulates general, consulates, branch and liaison offices, representation to international organizations and the EU
    - Welcome centers and international offices at universities
    - Institutions and organizations involved in international development cooperation
    - Cultural institutions and (federal) foundations
    - Exchange organizations
    - Non-governmental organizations
    - Federal volunteering organizations
    - Public sector administration
    - Religious organizations and councils of ethnic or national minorities
    - State welfare associations
    - Memorials and museums

  • Job Boards and Professional Associations

At a glance