Dr Marianne Schröter takes up her post as the new director of the Francke Foundations

On 1 September 2025, Dr Marianne Schröter will take up the post of Director of the Francke Foundations in Halle. She has long been familiar with the social reform work of August Hermann Francke (1663–1727): she studied theology in Halle in the 1990s and subsequently obtained her doctorate. She has worked on various research projects on the grounds of the Francke Foundations – for example, at the International Centre for Pietism Research (IZP), the International Centre for European Enlightenment Research (IZEA) and the foundations themselves. When she took over as managing director of Leucorea in Wittenberg in 2013, she built on this academic reputation and assumed leadership of an internationally renowned institution. In 2023, she moved to the Brandenburg Cathedral Foundation as director of culture, education and science.

For her, the Francke Foundations are not only a historical monument, but also a place of inspiration for the present. At the heart of her work is the question of how, in the spirit of Francke, spaces can be created today in which people are encouraged and empowered to actively shape society. Under her leadership, the foundations' vibrant educational cosmos is to be further developed into a nationally and internationally renowned forum for current social issues, in the tradition of her predecessors – most recently Prof. Dr. Thomas Müller-Bahlke, who held the position for more than 20 years. Culture, education and science will be closely linked in order to find answers to the challenges of our time and open up new perspectives.