Islamic Studies Scholar Gudrun Krämer Receives the 2025 Prize of the Historisches Kolleg

Historian at Freie Universität Berlin honored with the German Historians’ Award for her research on Islamism
No. 182/2025 – 10 November 2025

Professor Gudrun Krämer, scholar of Islamic Studies at Freie Universität Berlin, has been awarded the 2025 Prize of the Historisches Kolleg. The prestigious distinction – also known as the German Historians’ Award – is endowed with 30,000 euros and presented only once every three years. Professor Krämer received the award for her book Der Architekt des Islamismus. Hasan al-Banna und die Muslimbrüder. Eine Biographie (The Architect of Islamism: Hasan al-Banna and the Muslim Brotherhood. A Biography).

In this acclaimed study (Historische Bibliothek der Gerda Henkel Stiftung, C.H. Beck, Munich 2022, 528 pp.), Krämer, an internationally respected historian, traces the life of Hasan al-Banna (1906–1949), an elementary school teacher of Arabic and the founder of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, one of the central figures and thinkers of modern Islamism.

According to Krämer, al-Banna viewed Egypt—faced with colonial rule, Christian missionary activity, and Westernization—as being in a state of cultural, moral, and political crisis. He sought to overcome this crisis through a renewed, “contemporary” Islam rooted in both classical tradition and modern impulses, one that would permeate all spheres of public and private life. Founded in 1928 as a charitable association, the Muslim Brotherhood quickly grew into a mass movement with its own, often problematic, political dynamics. It was banned in 1948, and al-Banna was assassinated in 1949 amid escalating confrontation with the Egyptian state.

“In a work based on meticulous engagement with Arabic sources, Krämer succeeds in balancing the biographical and the structural, showing how al-Banna’s personal experiences shaped both the ideology and organization of the Muslim Brotherhood,” the Historisches Kolleg stated in its award citation. “Her study also offers a nuanced view of everyday life and social history in the region, contributing substantially to a differentiated historical understanding of Islamism—one of the most controversial movements of the modern era.”

An internationally renowned historian and scholar of Islam, Gudrun Krämer’s books have been translated into several languages. Her History of Palestine (first published in 2002, with numerous editions since) and History of Islam (first published in 2005) are considered standard works in the field. A central focus of her work has been fostering close academic collaboration with both Arab and Israeli scholars and institutions.

Born in Marburg in 1953, Krämer studied history, Islamic and political studies, and English at the universities of Heidelberg, Bonn, and Sussex. After completing her PhD in 1981, she worked for over a decade at the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP). Following her habilitation in Hamburg, she held positions in Bonn and, in 1996, was appointed professor at Freie Universität Berlin. Guest professorships and fellowships have taken her to Bologna, Paris, Cairo, Jakarta, Beirut, Beijing, and Delhi. From 1996 to 2019, she headed the Institute of Islamic Studies at Freie Universität Berlin and simultaneously served as the founding director of the Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies (BGSMCS). After her retirement in 2019, she was Senior Professor at the Cluster of Excellence “Contestations of the Liberal Script” (2020–2021). Krämer is a member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities and was awarded the Gerda Henkel Foundation’s International Research Prize in 2010. From 2018 to 2024, she served as a member of the German Council of Science and Humanities (Wissenschaftsrat).

Further information:

• Video portrait of Gudrun Krämer Preisträgerin, Gudrun Krämer, des Historischen Kollegs 2025

• More about the Prize of the Historisches Kolleg Preis des Historischen Kollegs

Contact:
Prof. Dr. Gudrun Krämer
Freie Universität Berlin
Department of History and Cultural Studies
Email: gudrun.kraemer@fu-berlin.de