Dr. Molly Johnson
Associate Professor, History Modern Europe & RussiaContact
1310 Ben Graves Drive
Morton Hall
Room 216
Huntsville, AL 35899
Campus Map
256.824.2566
molly.johnson@uah.edu
Biography
Born and raised in Barboursville, West Virginia, Molly studied as an undergraduate at Wittenberg University in Springfield, OH, where she majored in History and in German. She then completed M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in German and European History at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, with three years spent researching in Berlin, Germany, along the way.
Molly's teaching interests include nineteenth- and twentieth-century European history, with a special focus on German and Russian history, methods and historiography, the history of sport, and world history. Her upper-level courses include Nazi Germany and the Holocaust, Russia: Empire and Nation, and The History of the Modern Olympic Games.
Molly’s book Training Socialist Citizens: Sports and the State in East Germany (Brill Academic Publishers, 2008) explores the political, social, and cultural role of sports in communist East Germany. Her current research examines athletic mega-events, urban planning, and the politics of memory in the reunification and post reunification eras in Germany. Her most recent book, co-edited with Heather L. Dichter, is entitled Berlin Sports: Spectacle, Recreation, and Media in Germany's Metropolis (University of Arkansas Press, 2024).
When not teaching and researching, Molly enjoys reading, working puzzles, working out, hiking, traveling, and hanging out with her husband Dave, her two children, and her dog.
Education
- Ph.D., History and German, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
- M.A., History and German, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
- B.A., History and German, Wittenberg University
Expertise
- 19th and 20th century German, Russian, and European history
- History of gender and sexuality in Modern Europe
- History of the Modern Olympic Games
- Methods and historiography
Recent Publications
"Sports, Politics, and Culture in Postwar Europe." In Oxford Bibliographies in Modern European History, edited by Monica Black. New York: Oxford University Press, forthcoming 2026.
Co-Editor (with Heather L. Dichter) Berlin Sports: Spectacle, Recreation, and Media in Germany's Metropolis. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2024.
"The 2015 European Maccabi Games: The Ambiguities of Historical Reconciliation in Berlin." In Berlin Sports: Spectacle, Recreation, and Media in Germany's Metropolis, edited by Heather L. Dichter and Molly Wilkinson Johnson, 177-197. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2024.
“The Legacies of 1936: Hitler’s Olympic Grounds and Berlin’s Bid to Host the 2000 Olympic Games.” German History 40, no. 2 (June 2022): 258-277.
"Mega-Events, Urban Space, and Social Protest: The Olympia 2000 Bid in Reunified Berlin, 1990-1993" Central European History 52, no. 4 (December 2019): 689-712.
Training Socialist Citizens: Sports and the State in East Germany. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2008.
"The 2015 European Maccabi Games: The Ambiguities of Historical Reconciliation in Berlin." In Berlin Sports: Spectacle, Recreation, and Media in Germany's Metropolis, edited by Heather L. Dichter and Molly Wilkinson Johnson, 177-197. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, forthcoming 2024.
“The Legacies of 1936: Hitler’s Olympic Grounds and Berlin’s Bid to Host the 2000 Olympic Games.” German History 40, no. 2 (June 2022): 258-277.
"Mega-Events, Urban Space, and Social Protest: The Olympia 2000 Bid in Reunified Berlin, 1990-1993" Central European History 52, no. 4 (December 2019): 689-712.
Training Socialist Citizens: Sports and the State in East Germany. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2008.