Organizer Information
Museum Berlin-Karlshorst is located at the historical site of the unconditional surrender of the German armed forces (Wehrmacht) on 8 May 1945 — the building was the officers' mess of the Wehrmacht Pioneer School and subsequently the headquarters of the Soviet Military Administration in Germany. The museum was originally founded in 1967 by Soviet troops as a "surrender museum" and served to provide political and historical education for soldiers until their withdrawal, and for the GDR population. With the withdrawal of Soviet and Russian troops from Germany in 1990–1994, the museum was re-established under the sponsorship of a German-Russian association. Ukraine and Belarus joined in 1997.
The permanent exhibition was revised in 2013 and, using photos, everyday objects, weapons, and written documents, documents the Second World War from the perspective of both the German and Soviet participants. The permanent exhibition, which attracts about 40,000 visitors annually, conveys on approximately 1,000 square meters the history of German-Soviet relations from 1917 to 1990. The heart of the museum is the surrender room, which is in its original state and where a film continuously shows the signing of the Act of Surrender in 1945.
Museum Berlin-Karlshorst is 100 percent financed by the Federal Commissioner for Culture and the Media of Germany. It is a non-profit association with 17 institutional members, including the Federal Republic of Germany, the Russian Federation, and renowned scientific and cultural institutions in Germany, Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine — among them the German Historical Museum Foundation, the Military History Museum Berlin-Gatow Airfield, and the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War. In 2025, the Board was changed to remove representatives from Russia and Belarus, reflecting the institution's ongoing adaptation to the geopolitical context of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.
Title & Description
Research Associate / Curator (m/f/d) — Museum Berlin-Karlshorst
Museum Berlin-Karlshorst is seeking a Research Associate with curatorial responsibilities to join its scientific team for the revision of its permanent exhibition. The position is a fixed-term project role created in response to the need to continuously develop the museum's work against the backdrop of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and its effects on memory culture cooperation.
The successful candidate will contribute scholarly expertise on the history of the Second World War in Europe — particularly on the Eastern Front and post-war period — to a seven-person team working on the conceptual and content-based further development of the permanent exhibition. The role combines academic research and curatorial authorship with project coordination and engagement with both internal departments and external partners. It is suited to a candidate with demonstrated curatorial experience in historical exhibitions and an in-depth knowledge of memory culture discourses in Western and Eastern Europe, ideally with a focus on the post-Soviet space.
(Note: This announcement was originally published in German. The article below is an English-language rendering of the original source.)
The Role Overview
- Position Type: Full-time (39 hours per week)
- Contract Type: Fixed-term project position (befristete Projektstelle)
- Contract Duration: Until 31 December 2028
- Salary: EG 13 TVöD-Bund (Federal Collective Agreement for Public Service, Pay Group 13 — monthly gross range of approximately €4,901 to €7,026 depending on experience step, as of May 2026)
- Reports To: Not specified in the source
- Department / Programme: Scientific team — permanent exhibition revision project
- Team Size: Seven-person project team
- Working Hours: Not specified beyond 39 hrs/week
- Work Model: On-site — Berlin-Karlshorst
Position & Tasks
- Exhibition Development — Contribute to the conceptual and content-based further development of the permanent exhibition
- Exhibition Development — Develop and implement targeted content additions and updates to the existing permanent exhibition
- Research & Writing — Conduct academic research and produce scholarly and editorial texts for the exhibition
- Project Coordination — Coordinate the project within a seven-person team
- Partnership & Communication — Coordinate with internal and external partners
Categories
- Curatorial Practice
- Historical Exhibition
- Museum Studies
- Memory Culture Research
- Eastern European History
- Arts Administration
- Research
Eligibility
- Successfully completed a university degree in history (Geschichtswissenschaften) or a comparable degree with a clear historical orientation
- Demonstrated experience in curatorial work on historical exhibitions
- In-depth knowledge of the history of the Second World War in Europe, with a focus on Eastern and East-Central Europe, and on the post-war period
- Very good knowledge of memory culture discourses in Western and Eastern Europe, ideally with a focus on the post-Soviet space
- Strong organizational skills and experience in project management
- Very good English language skills
- Very good Russian or Ukrainian language skills
- Willingness to engage passively with other East-Central European languages (prerequisite)
- Ability to work in an international team (prerequisite)
- Strong organizational skills, communication competence, ability to work independently, high motivation, and team orientation (prerequisite)
- Willingness to attend occasional evening appointments and undertake multi-day business trips, particularly to Eastern European countries (prerequisite)
- Confident use of digital work tools (computers, cameras, screens, and similar equipment) (prerequisite)
- Women are particularly considered under the German Federal Equal Opportunities Act (Bundesgleichstellungsgesetz); severely disabled persons are particularly considered under SGB IX at equal qualification
- The German Part-Time and Fixed-Term Employment Act (TzBfG) applies
- No explicit geographic restriction is stated in the source
Program Benefits
- Salary: EG 13 TVöD-Bund (monthly gross approximately €4,901–€7,026 depending on experience step, valid from May 2026)
- Full-time public sector employment contract (39 hours per week)
- Institutional position within a federally funded historical museum
- Engagement with an international, multinational research and curatorial team
- Other benefits (e.g., leave entitlements, annual bonus, capital-forming benefits) are standard under TVöD-Bund but not individually specified in the source
Application Fee
None
Application Requirements
- Comprehensive application with the usual supporting documents (aussagekräftige Bewerbungen mit den üblichen Unterlagen)
- All materials submitted as a single PDF file not exceeding 8 MB
- Electronic submission only — no paper applications accepted
How to Apply?
Applications must be submitted exclusively by email to: morre@museum-karlshorst.de
Key Dates
- Application Deadline: 12 July 2026
- Interviews: Anticipated in calendar week 30 of 2026 (approximately 20–26 July 2026); invitations will be sent separately
- Contract Start Date: 1 September 2026
- Contract End Date: 31 December 2028
Location
Berlin-Karlshorst, Germany
Additional Details
- For content-related inquiries prior to application, candidates may contact Dr. Jörg Morré at morre(at)museum-karlhorst.de. Note: The source lists two slightly different email addresses — "museum-karlhorst.de" (for inquiries) and "museum-karlshorst.de" (for applications). Applicants should verify the correct address at the museum's official website before submitting.
- Unsuccessful applications will be destroyed three months after the position is filled in accordance with the German Federal Data Protection Act (Bundesdatenschutzgesetz)
- The role is embedded in an active institutional process of re-evaluating the museum's permanent exhibition and its memory culture partnerships in light of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine