Michaela Christ

Michaela Christ is an Associate Research Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (KWI) in Essen. Her main fields of research are theory, experience and practices of collective violence during the 20th und 21st century, as well as the sociology of the body and space.
She is currently analyzing what and how German soldiers during the Second World War were saying about violence and atrocities while they were Prisoners of War in American custody. The project is supported by the Fritz-Thyssen-Foundation.

In 2009 she completed her PhD Dissertation about the annihilation of the Jewish people of Berditschew, Ukraine between 1941 and 1944, which was supported by the Hans-Böckler-Foundation.

Michaela Christ studied Sociology, Politics and Education in Göttingen. She graduated with a ‚thick description’ (Clifford Geertz) about the so-called Hetzjagd von Guben: In 1999 a group of young men chased three refugees in the small town of Guben in eastern Germany. One of the fleeing men died when he tried to escape the hunt.


Besides her studies she works in education programs on the following subjects: Holocaust, Violence and Racism.

Research Project

Referenzrahmen von Tätern. Eine Analyse von Abhörprotokollen deutscher Soldaten in amerikanischer Kriegsgefangenschaft 1942 - 1945

The Dynamics of Killing