The GIGA mourns the passing of Middle East and Islam Expert Prof. Dr. Udo Steinbach

After studying and earning his doctorate in Oriental Studies at the universities of Freiburg and Basel, he was able to bring deep expertise in the linguistic, literary, and religious history of Middle Eastern countries into contemporary contexts, thus providing the at the time still-emerging field of Area Studies in Germany with crucial momentum. 

In the early 1970s, he established the Middle East department of the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP), which was then based in Ebenhausen, before serving as director of the German Orient-Institute in Hamburg for three decades (1976–2006), where he also held an honorary professorship at the university. When the four regional institutes of the German Overseas Institute were merged under the umbrella of the GIGA (German Institute for Global and Area Studies), he again contributed decisive impulses before retiring. 

As a passionate scholar and respected policy advisor, he remained active in retirement, teaching at the Center for Near and Middle Eastern Studies at Philipps University Marburg, leading the Governance Center Middle East/North Africa at the Humboldt-Viadrina School of Governance in Berlin, as well as, since 2019, the MENA Study Centre of the Maecenata Foundation in Berlin. In 2020, he was appointed to the board of the German-Arab Friendship Association (DAFG). 

Udo Steinbach’s seminal work “Islam in the Present,” which he co-edited in many successive editions, has accompanied generations of students in Germany. In his final book, “Tradition and Renewal in the Struggle for the Future: The Middle East since 1906”, he once again drew on decades of experience to weave a multi-layered, analytical overview. 

With the passing of Udo Steinbach, the German Middle East studies lose an internationally recognised expert and passionate policy advisor. We extend our sincere condolences to his family, loved ones, and friends.