Head of the Institute: doc. PhDr. Kristina Kaiserová, CSc.
Tel.: +420 475 286 423
E-mail: usgs@ujep.cz
The Institute was founded simultaneously with the University in 1991 as its scientific and coordinating centre, based on the specifics of the region (centuries-old Czech-German symbiosis, border character) and corresponding to the new social conditions.
Since 2008, the Institute has been incorporated into the structure of the Faculty of Arts of the Jan Evangelista Purkyně University.
From the very beginning, the Institute's goal was not only to investigate Czech-German and Czech-Austrian relations in the past, but also to open new contacts with the perspective of multicultural Europe. - See ÚSGS Projects), but it also deals with didactic themes (educational films and texts on nationalism, Czech-Saxon textbooks for secondary schools, educational texts on Visegrad). It also focuses on popularisation activities - lectures, publications. One of the "flagship" activities of the ÚSGS is the annual Colloquia Ustensia (in cooperation with the Ackermann-Gemeinde), which has been held since 1992 to 2023. The ÚSGS also participates in the teaching and activities of other parts of the Faculty of Arts of the Jan Evangelista Purkyně University, especially the Department of History (full-time director of the ÚSGS). Many other activities are carried out in cooperation with other institutions, especially regional ones, primarily the Ústí nad Labem Archives and Museum, as well as central ones. Intensive cooperation in this respect is taking place especially with the Collegium Bohemicum, o.p.s., which is building expositions of the history of Germans in the Czech lands. Cooperation with foreign institutions, especially in German-speaking countries, is also a matter of course.
