Prof. Neuhaus receives Federal Cross of Merit
Professor Helmut Neuhaus, former holder of the Chair of Modern History (Lehrstuhl für Neuere Geschichte I), now Chair of Early Modern History (Lehrstuhl für Geschichte der Frühen Neuzeit), has been awarded the Bundesverdienstkreuz (Federal Cross of Merit) of the Federal Republic of Germany. With this award, the Bundespräsident honours both Neuhaus’ honorary commitment and his services to Germany as a scientific community.
Helmut Neuhaus represented the Early Modern Period at FAU from 1989 to 2009 and turned his Erlangen Chair of Modern History into a well-respected center of research. In addition, Prof. Neuhaus was involved in academic self-administration, was Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy I, a member of the faculty council and chairman of the PhD committee of the Faculties of Philosophy I and II. At the same time, he represented the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung at FAU as a lecturer and was a member of the selection committees of the foundation’s scholarship for gifted students and graduates.
In 1992, the now 75-year-old developed the concept of the ‘Ringvorlesung’ (lecture series) in order to seek dialogue beyond the boundaries of his own discipline and found other formats to make science accessible to a wider audience: The ‘Atzelsberger Gespräche’ and the ‘Erlanger Universitätstage’ in Amberg and Ansbach, which he has been organising since 2005.
He was a member of numerous scientific advisory boards and commissions and was for many years the editor of the ‘Archiv für Kulturgeschichte’. Furthermore, in appreciation of his research, he was elected as a full member of the annual meeting of the Historical Commission at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. There he served as secretary from 2006 to 2018 and made significant contributions during his twelve years in office. He was instrumental in promoting the change in publication activities towards digital media. To this day, he is also head of the department ‘Letters and Files on the History of the Thirty Years’ War’.
The Orders of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany are awarded in recognition of political, economic, social and intellectual achievements and special services to the Federal Republic of Germany. The Federal President wishes to draw public attention to these achievements with the award of the Order of Merit.