Monika Richarz Fund at the IGdJ
In 2026, the Institute for the History of German Jews (IGdJ) is issuing, for the first time, a call for applications under the newly established Monika Richarz Fund – Research on Early Modern Jewish History. The fund is named in honour of Prof. Dr Monika Richarz, a pioneering scholar of German-Jewish history in the Federal Republic of Germany, recipient of the Moses Mendelssohn Award of the Leo Baeck Institute, and former director of the IGdJ. Owing to her generous donation, the fund has been established at the IGdJ to stimulate new research on the history of Jews in the Early Modern period.
Therefore, this call explicitly invites research on Early Modern Jewish history – a period marked by significant demographic, religious, social, and political developments within German-speaking Jewry, as well as by fundamental transformations in Jewish life, culture, and communal experience. Alongside developments within Jewish communities themselves, the period was also shaped by profound changes in the roles, functions, and opportunities available to Jews within the respective political and social orders of the time. These include, among other things, the Jewish policies and legal regulations enacted by individual rulers, ecclesiastical anti-Jewish hostility, forms of Christian–Jewish exchange, and the emergence of economic and intellectual networks.
To illustrate the broad range of possible fields of inquiry within Early Modern Jewish history, the following may serve as examples: migration; settlement, and their underlying motives; the impact of state policies toward Jews; Jews in urban and rural settings; communal structures and social stratification; Jewish self-government; changing economic practices; Jews and poverty; court Jews; religious movements; the history of education; Jewish thought; the Haskalah; Jewish art; Christian–Jewish relations; and many other topics.
Within the framework of the newly established Monika Richarz Fund – Research on Early Modern Jewish History, support will be provided for innovative research questions and new methodological approaches. Particular value is also attached to the exploration of source material, especially records of Jewish communities held in the State Archives of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg.
Applications are now invited for projects on the history of German Jews in the Early Modern period. Grants of up to EUR 25,000 may be awarded. Eligible forms of support include, among others, seed funding for research projects and source-edition projects, conference and publication subsidies, completion fellowships, and archival research stays relating to Early Modern Jewish history.
Applicants are asked to explain in their application how the requested funds will be used. Applications should include the following:
• a brief project description (maximum 3 pages)
• a budget outlining the proposed use of the requested funds
• a curriculum vitae, including a list of publications (maximum 3 pages)
Funding from the Monika Richarz Fund – Research on Early Modern Jewish History can only be awarded in cases where the successful completion of the overall research project is assured. Applications for funding from the Monika Richarz Fund may be submitted in German or English no later than 30 April 2026.
Please send your complete application electronically as a single PDF file to: kontakt(a)igdj-hh.de and bjoern.siegel(a)igdj-hh.de
Enquiries concerning funding opportunities under the Monika Richarz Fund – Research on Early Modern Jewish History should be addressed to:
Institute for the History of German Jews
Dr. Björn Siegel
Beim Schlump 83
20144 Hamburg
bjoern.siegel(a)igdj-hh.de
Photo: ©Leo Baeck Institute - New York|Berlin (Ole Witt)
PDF Call for Application: