Old map of the Baltic Sea & surrounding areas

Department of German, Nordic, Slavic & Dutch

Through the interdisciplinary study of language, literature, and culture, we explore the artistic, intellectual, political, and social perspectives of Central Europe, Scandinavia, and Russia from the past to today.

GSD student

Grad students in GSD seminar

Graduate

Bicycle riders in Europe

Languages

Window in Amsterdam with statement against war in Ukraine in Dutch and English.

Statement on the War in Ukraine

The Department of German, Nordic, Slavic & Dutch condemns the war of aggression that President Putin and the Russian government have launched in Ukraine.

Read the statement

Recent News

Minnesota Alumni's quarterly books roundup image

Idioms, Mysteries, and Minnesota Athletes

Idioms, Mysteries, and Minnesota Athletes: Several CLA authors are featured in Minnesota Alumni magazine's quarterly books roundup.

Portrait of James Parente

For the Love of Learning

James Parente turned an early love of learning into a long career in higher education. Now the retiring former dean reflects on what he’s learned along the way.

W. Anders Folk: Service to Country and Community

Meet W. Anders Folk (BA ‘98, German and political science): veteran, attorney, volunteer, mentor, and 2022 Alumni of Notable Achievement Award winner.

Flap anatomy by Heinrich Vogtherr, 1551. Close-up of the stomach layer, labeled "stomachus". Broadsheet. Wangensteen Collections.

Announcing Spring '23 Premodern Courses

Register today for Spring '23 Premodern courses at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities

Irina Zaykovskaya

Q&A with Irina Zaykovskaya

Irina Zaykovskay, a new Russian lecturer, encourages her students to delve into the “new, and challenging, and messy” aspects of learning a language from scratch.

Upcoming Events

Natalie Belsky, a person with short blond hair and light skin, wearing glasses and jewelry

February 13, 2023

Searching for Rodina (Homeland): Jewish Evacuees’ Lives on the Soviet Home Front During the Second World War

This lecture will focus on the diaries of Soviet Jewish evacuees who survived the Second World War in the Soviet hinterland.

March 14, 2023

West Ham United 0-5 Hakoah Vienna: How an All-Jewish Team Defeated the English at Their Own Game, Conquered Austrian Soccer, and Defied the Nazis

Excluded from other clubs for being Jewish, a dentist from Vienna founds a soccer team in 1909.