Germanic Languages and Literatures

Germanic Languages & Literatures News

open house
Humanities Open House
Undergraduates and friends of the humanities—you're invited to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s first ever Humanities Open House! Join us on Saturday, October 4, 2025, when we’ll be...
A Schwenk
German Quarterly Graduate Student Paper Award
Andrew Sternhagen Schwenk was recently selected as this year's winner of the German Quarterly Graduate Student Paper Award. An edited version of his submission is slated to appear in German Quarterly in 2026.  This upcoming article "Melusine, ...
Stephanie M. Hilger book
Congratulations to Prof. Stephanie Hilger on her new book!
Professor Stephanie Hilger is looking at how 18th century European medical doctors shaped perceptions of “hermaphrodites”—people who were deemed to have non-normative sexual genitalia—through case histories. Hilger’s new book, “...
Anne Olmstead
Congratulations to Anne Olmstead!
Congratulations to Anne Olmstead, Office Manager in the Departments of Germanic Languages & Literatures and French & Italian! Anne is a recipient of this year's Marita Romine Distinguished Service Award in the School of Literatures, Cultures & Linguistics. Anne not only demonstrates the...
Basil Agu
Congratulations Basil Agu!
We are pleased to present the SLCL Dissertation Completion Fellowship awardees for this year. These fellowships provide advanced doctoral students with an academic year of support to complete their dissertations. Evaluation criteria includes the quality of the proposal;...
fall 2025
Register Now for Great Fall Classes!
Check out this page for more information about GLL's Fall 2025 offerings. Add a German major or minor, fulfill General Education...

Upcoming Events

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Career Paths in Germanic Languages and Literatures

Law
Non-Profit
Teaching
Business

Comprehensive curriculum in language, culture, and linguistics

In addition to courses in German for the complete immersion experience, we offer numerous classes in English, most of which fulfill General Education requirements. Undergraduates can also pursue study abroad in Vienna or elsewhere in the German-speaking world via Illinois Abroad and Global Exchange, and our graduate students regularly win fellowships to do research at a wide range of universities and libraries in Germany, Austria, and Scandinavia. Join us!

Illinois in Vienna Graduate study and research

GER 465 - Die deutsche Sprache in Österreich

GER 465 - Die deutsche Sprache in Österreich

Explore the German language in Austria from a sociolinguistic perspective.
GER 473 flyer

GER 473 - Protest Memory: Post-1989 Literature, Film, and Theory

We will discuss a diverse archive of post-1989 literature, film, and memorials in order to reexamine the so-called Peaceful Revolution and the interval year of ’89-90.
GER 396 - Babylon Berlin

GER 396 - Babylon Berlin

In 1929, Berlin was known to be a hedonistic city of extremes: corrupt wealth existed alongside destitute poverty and an underground world of wild parties and glamour.
GER 201

GER 201 - German Popular Culture: Tales of Horror

It is hard to overstate how central vampires and zombies, doppelgänger and killers, ghosts and artificial humans—haunted hybrids—have been to the construction of German identity.
Holocaust on Film

GER 261 - Holocaust on Film

We investigate literary and filmic representations of the Holocaust.

courses 2025

Germanic Department Courses Spring 2025

Check us out in Spring 2025! Some of our courses are highlighted here, and contact Charlie Webster (cwebste@illinois.edu) for more information about our full range of GER and SCAN offerings!