Field of Work
Early modern history, in particular the history of Württemberg, would be impossible to understand without an insight into the underlying religious world view. Against this background, Prof. Sabine Holtz not only pursues a wide range of comparative studies of Germany’s south-western region but is also particularly interested in social history and the history of the Church, as well as how religious aspects impact on people's day-to-day lives.
Current research interests at the University of Stuttgart focus on the role of people from Württemberg in the settlement of Palestine and the multiple perspectives to which this gives rise. In another project, the aim is to compile a virtual atlas of the historical territories of the German south-west in the Holy Roman Empire in order to visualize the power relations of that time, as well as enabling analyses to be carried out in the field of environmental history.
Personal Information
The history of the region of south-west Germany and its interconnections are the central research focus of Prof. Sabine Holtz, who was born in Süßen/ District of Göppingen in 1959. After studying history and Protestant theology at the University of Tübingen, she gained her doctorate there on the subject of theology in everyday life, receiving the Johannes Brenz Prize for her dissertation in 1992 for excellent work in the field of the ecclesiastical history of Württemberg. In 2000 she habilitated at the Faculty of Science History at the University of Tübingen where she taught as an extraordinary professor from 2006 onwards. She has held the Chair of Regional History at the Institute of History, University of Stuttgart since 2012.
As a Head of Department at the Baden-Württemberg State Archive, she was also involved in establishing the online regional studies information system LEO-BW “Landeskunde entdecken online” (www.leo-bw.de).