Censorship research – Leibniz University Hannover

Figure of a monkey with its hands over its ears, symbol for a conscious unwillingness to hear

Freedom of speech enjoys particular protection in our liberal democratic order. However, in recent years different political actors and groups have increasingly used the right to free expression of opinion to loudly disseminate fake news, disinformation and alternative facts and to incite fear and spread hate. The uproar on all sides is making people feel more and more insecure. The mainstream of society is faltering, and democracy is becoming a risk.

In the German Department, Prof. Dr. Matthias Lorenz, professor of modern German literature and comparative literature, studies the social and political interrelationships of literature from the nineteenth to twenty-first centuries. His research focuses include, among other things, censorship and anti-Semitism research.

Learn more