German Historical Institute London

17 Bloomsbury Square
London WC1A 2NJ
United Kingdom

Phone: Tel. +44-(0)20-7309 2050

URI: www.ghil.ac.uk

 

GHIL Library

 
 

The library of the GHIL is an important and well-regarded institution for British historians of German history, students at London universities, and the general public. Its holdings on German history, British-German relations from the Middle Ages to the present day, and wider European history are comprehensive, up to date, free to use, and form a unique collection in Britain.


Visiting and joining the Library

Opening times:
The library is open Monday-Friday, 9.30am-9pm.

New readers need to register for a library card and have a short introductory tour of the library before or during their first visit. The induction is available in person (Mo-Fr, 9.30am-4pm) or by appointment online via Zoom (email: library@ghil.ac.uk). A passport photo and recent proof of address must be provided.

Library staff are also available for general enquiries at library@ghil.ac.uk. If appropriate, we may offer you advice via a video call to our Virtual Enquiry Desk.


Introduction

Take a look at the flipbook below for a Very Short Introduction to our library.


Featured Books

Black History Month

October is Black History Month, so we wanted to highlight a selection of our books on Black German history - from the Middle Ages to the present day.

You can also see these books in the display case in our Common Room, with an additional display on animal history.

 

Natasha A. Kelly, Olive Vassell (eds.)

Mapping Black Europe : monuments, markers, memories

Public History - Angewandte Geschichte. Volume 7

Bielefeld : transcript Verlag, 2023

eBook Open Access

Robbie Aitken and Eve Rosenhaft

Black Germany : The Making and Unmaking of a Diaspora Community, 1884-1960

Cambridge ; New York, N.Y. : Cambridge Univ. Press, 2013

Sa.8/5612

Sara Lennox (ed.)

Remapping Black Germany : new perspectives on Afro-German history, politics, and culture

Amherst, MA. ; Boston, MA : University of Massachusetts Press, 2016

Sa.8/5614

Tiffany N. Florvil and Vanessa D. Plumly (eds.)

Rethinking black German studies : approaches, interventions and histories

Studies in modern German and Austrian literature. Volume 7

Bern ; Berlin ; Wien : Peter Lang, 2018

Sa.8/5601

Ute Kueppers-Braun

Gekauft im Namen des Herrn : afrikanische Kindersklaven in europäischen Klöstern im 19. Jahrhundert : Katholische Mission, Menschenhandel und religiöser Rassismus

Münster : Aschendorff, 2021

(ask librarian)

Tiffany N. Florvil

Mobilizing Black Germany : Afro-German women and the making of a transnational movement

Black internationalism

Urbana ; Chicago ; Springfield : University of Illinois Press, 2020

Sk.8/2780

Marion Kraft with Ika Hügel-Marshall (eds.)

Children of the Liberation : Transatlantic Experiences and Perspectives of Black Germans of the Post-War Generation

Transnational cultures. Volume 2

Oxford : Peter Lang, 2020

eBook ProQuest

Anne Kuhlmann-Smirnov

Schwarze Europäer im Alten Reich : Handel, Migration, Hof

Transkulturelle Perspektiven. Band 11

Göttingen : V&R unipress, 2013

Sa.8/5625

Fatima El-Tayeb

Schwarze Deutsche : Der Diskurs um "Rasse" und nationale Identität 1890-1933

Frankfurt/M., New York, N.Y. : Campus Verl., 2001

Sf.11/47

Hajo Funke

Black Lives Matter in Deutschland : George Floyd und die Diffamierung von Achille Mbembe als Antisemit : eine Streitschrift über (post)koloniale Konflikte

Hamburg : VSA: Verlag, 2021

Sk.11/277/6

Sophie Lorenz

"Schwarze Schwester Angela" - Die DDR und Angela Davis : Kalter Krieg, Rassismus und Black Power 1965-1975

Histoire. 178

Bielefeld : transcript Verlag, 2020

eBook ProQuest

Tina Campt

Other Germans : Black Germans and the politics of race, gender and memory in the Third Reich

Social History, Popular Culture, and Politics in Germany

Ann Arbor, Mich. : Univ. of Michigan Press, 2004

Sh.8/128/1

Pablo Schmelzer

Black and White, unite and fight : die deutsche 68er-Bewegung und die Black Panther Party

Hamburg : Hamburger Edition, HIS, 2021

Sk.8/2484

Kira Thurman

Singing like Germans : black musicians in the land of Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms

Ithaca ; London : Cornell University Press, 2021

eBook ProQuest

Oumar Diallo, Joachim Zeller (eds.)

Black Berlin : die deutsche Metropole und ihre afrikanische Diaspora in Geschichte und Gegenwart

Berlin : Metropol, 2013

(ask librarian)

 

Library Catalogue

All of our books, journals and electronic resources can be found via our online catalogue.

Recently published books can be made available to readers very quickly, and we invite readers to suggest new acquisitions at library@ghil.ac.uk.

 


Library Collections

The GHIL Library's holdings comprise around 95,000 volumes, with a growing number of electronic resources. The collection's focus is largely on German history, with a special emphasis on the 19th and 20th centuries. Around a third of the library's resources are English-language materials.


Access and Services

The library is open to anyone with an interest in German history, British-German relations, or comparative historiography. The collection is reference only, so books cannot be taken out on loan.

There are no membership or joining fees but a passport photo and recent proof of address should be provided on the first visit so that a library card can be issued.


Contact and opening hours

Contact

German Historical Institute Library
17 Bloomsbury Square
London WC1A 2NJ

Tel. +44-(0)20-7309 2050
Email: library@ghil.ac.uk

 

Opening hours

Monday-Friday: 9.30am-9pm