The Department of Contemporary History at the University of Szeged: A Short History

Abstract

The Department of Contemporary History was established in 2015 at the University of Szeged. The reasons for the formation of the Department include the fact that the study of contemporary history has become a specific and well-institutionalized field of international historiography; on the other hand, the source base of contemporary history has significantly expanded in the previous two decades; moreover, Hungarian contemporary historians have become more professional and have been inspired by diverse approaches of international research; finally, it has increasingly become an important goal that historians should not study the past of societies in isolation from each other. Accordingly, the members of the department study the history of Hungary in its broader European and global context. Comparative and transnational research is thus an important research profile of the department.