Admission criteria

Requisite degree

For admission to the master’s program in Jewish studies, applicants must prove an undergraduate degree, of which at least 60 credit points were earned in Jewish studies or related topics. It is not of importance whether these Jewish studies credit points were earned in the context of anti-Semitism research, Arabic studies, liberal arts, Holocaust studies, and Islamic studies or comparable subjects.

Status of Bachelor degree at the time of application

At the time of enrollment the Bachelor degree must not be completed. Applicants who have not completed their first degree may still be admitted. If this is the case, a transcript of records with the earned credits and current grade point average can be substituted. Without such a provisionary transcript of records, applicants will still be considered in the admission process, but they will be placed at the end of the ranking list. Students matriculated at the Freie Universität Berlin can instead submit a certificate from the academic testing office of their institute.

Application and Deadlines

The application runs over the central application process for the Freie Universität.

Degree Programme

Structure of the master program offers students a research-oriented education that allows specialization and focus on various subject areas, such as the central subject “Jewish Studies,” “Judaism and Islam,” as well as “Holocaust Studies.” The latter subject area credits area completed through the American Touro College Berlin. With its concentration on the themes “Judaism and Islam” and “Holocaust Studies” the master program provides strong political and social relevance, as well as a high degree of applicability.

In the core subject area, students will gain deeper understanding of the diverse manifestations of Jewish self-identity and of the social and cultural aspects of Jewish existence in multi-religious contexts. There is also a strong focus on the Jewish reactions and responses to modernity and postmodernity, which are characterized by terms such as enlightenment, emancipation, acculturation, Zionism, and also anti-Judaism/anti-Semitism.

The modules of the compulsory degree credits, which can be chosen from the course offering by the student, allow students to put focus on different, vital themes within Jewish Studies. The modules impart knowledge on topics such as key agents, mediality, and presentation of knowledge in rabbinic literature as well as in other specifically Jewish traditions in science, philosophy, and mysticism from antiquity to the present. Other modules focus on Jewish life in Islamic cultures and the dynamics of these two religious communities in Modernity and the present (in the subject area “Judaism and Islam”). These modules also connect expertise in Jewish Studies scientific findings about the causes, formations, and effects of anti-Semitism and racism, as well as detailed knowledge concerning the Holocaust, its preconditions, its development, as well as consequences up until the present day (in the subject area “Holocaust Studies”).  

For students who do not choose a specific subject area within the program, the modules of the complementary degree credits are often comprised of language credits, modules of the compulsory degree credits, or degree credits from other master degree programs. For the complementary degree credits for the subject area “Judaism and Islam,” students have the option of language credits as well as credits in Arabic studies, Iran studies, Islamic studies, Philosophy, Religious studies, Semitic studies, and Turkic studies. For the complementary degree credits for the subject area “Holocaust Studies,” students have the option of language credits as well as credits in History and East European studies. The degree credits and the corresponding assignments that fulfill the complementary credits may not coincide with credits already completed or still to be completed of the degree program itself.

The structure and progress of the program is regulated by the study and examination regulations. These include detailed descriptions of the content and qualification objectives of each modules as well as an example of a degree plan. The study and examination regulations define the type and demands of the tests and examinations of the modules and the master exam. The regulations contain the amount of credit points (LP) earned for each module and the required amount of work in hours for the entire degree program.

Master thesis

The master thesis must be about 15.000 to 18.000 words. It can be written in either German or English and should prove that the student is able to complete independent research with competent methods and present these findings in a coherent manner. It is advised to begin thinking of the thematic direction of the thesis in the 2^nd or 3^rd semester.

The advantage of location

The master degree program in Jewish Studies takes advantage of the diverse subject areas available at the Freie Universität Berlin, especially the offerings of the history department that cover the culture and history of Islamic cultures. Furthermore the university is home to outstanding libraries, sources for research and unrestricted access to the entire Visual History Archive of the Shoah Foundation.

The Free University is part of a larger community of universities that comprise the Selma Stern Center for Jewish Studies Berlin-Brandenburg. Other institutions part of the Selma Stern Center include the Humboldt-University of Berlin, the Technical University of Berlin, University of Potsdam, the European University Viadrina, as well as the Abraham Geiger College and the Moses Mendelssohn Center. Together these institutions form a larger network which focuses on Jewish Studies and Anti-Semitism research, and they mutually recognize the degree credits earned at the various institutions.

The Berlin location for the master degree program offers students access to comprehensive archive collections (Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation East Asia Department, the New Synagogue Berlin – Centrum Judaicum, the Leo Baeck Archive in the Jewish Museum), specialized libraries (including libraries of the Jewish Museum, the House of the Wannsee Conference, the Topography of Terror, the Library of the Jewish Community of Berlin, and the Library of the Touro College Berlin), as well as the collections of various partner universities. The Institute for Jewish Studies provides students with access to the most important databases of rabbinic literature.

Contact: Dr. Klaus Herrmann

Tel. (030) 8385 6428

E-Mail klaus.herrmann@fu-berlin.de