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Jun.-Prof. Dr. Nicole Kramer

Contemporary History

Department of History
Modern History
Albertus-Magnus-Platz
50923 Cologne

Contact
Philosophikum, 3rd Floor | Room 3.129
Tel.: +49 (0)221 4702392
E-Mail: nicole.kramer[at]uni-koeln.de
Orcid Number: 0000-0002-4224-0059

Research Interests

  • The History of Experience and Gender under National Socialism and during the Second World War
  • Memory and Gender in the Federal Republic of Germany
  • Cultural History of Social Policy in England, Italy and the Federal Republic of Germany
  • Transnational and Comparative Research on the Welfare State
  • History of the Third Sector and Charitable Organisations

Upcoming events

3 November 2026, 6th Symposium on the History of Nursing

The economisation of care – 30 years of long-term care insurance: what next?, Fliedner Fachhochschule Düsseldorf

10.45 am: Introductory lecture (Jun.-Professor Dr Nicole Kramer): Long-term care insurance. Between the German tradition of the welfare state and international calls for reform

2.00 pm: Panel discussion: Jun.-Professor Dr Nicole Kramer (University of Cologne), Professor Dr Jürgen Born (FFH Düsseldorf), Dr Pierre Pfütsch (RBS Stuttgart), Sonja Laag (BEK Wuppertal)

29 October 2026, GeStiK Lecture Series, Winter Semester 2026/27

Lecture: “Radical Democratic Care: Perspectives from History on Care as a Practice of Resistance”

Lecture series: “Interdisciplinary Gender Studies – Perspectives and Approaches from the Faculties of the UzK”, 14:00 – 15:30 Lecture Theatre G, Building 105

12 November 2026, Interview with Axel Spilcker

I speak to the grandson of Robert Ley, head of the German Labour Front under National Socialism, about his new book:

Hitler’s Accomplice – Robert Ley, my grandfather, the war criminal

Thursday, 12 November 2026, at 7 pm at the Workstage of the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, Amsterdamer Straße 192, 50735 Cologne.

Office hours

Consultation hours during the break between semesters are by appointment.

During term time: Thursdays 11.00–12.00 and by appointment.

Latest News

Nicole Kramer in an interview with Axel Schock (magazin.hiv, published by Deutsche Aidshilfe): The history of AIDS: “There is certainly no shortage of research topics” (16 October 2025).

Nicole Kramer on the ORF podcast ‘Wissen aktuell’: History of science: Historical research into healthy ageing (21 May 2025).

In the summer term of 2026, I organised a field trip seminar to Munich, Dachau and Obersalzberg together with Reinhild Kreis from the University of Siegen. You can find an insight into it here:

Sieh dir diesen Beitrag auf Instagram an

Ein Beitrag geteilt von Historisches Institut Uni Köln (@histinstuzk)

Latest Publications

  • At the heart of neoliberalism. The privatisation of long-term care for older people and the everyday history of economic policy ideas in the Federal Republic of Germany and Great Britain, in: European Journal for Nursing History and Ethics 6 2025, S. 45-65. Zum Text.
  • Blühender Wohlfahrtsmarkt: Die Transformation der Pflegepolitik in der Wiedervereinigungsgesellschaft, in: Jahrbuch für Historische Kommunismusforschung 2024, S. 133-146. Zum Text.
  • Fürsorgerische Ordnung. Soziale Ungleichheit und kommunale Wohlfahrtspolitik, in: Christoph Cornelißen/Sybille Steinbacher (Hrsg.), Frankfurt und der NS, Göttingen 2024, S. 247-290.
  • Did the maids return? The Long History of Devaluing Care Work and the mixed economy of welfare, in: Historein. A review of the past and other stories 21.2 (2024). Zum Text.

CV