The IfE Mourns the Loss of Marianne Krüger-Potratz

Prof. em. Dr. Marianne Krüger-Potratz passed away on January 18, 2026 in Berlin at the age of 82. In 1984, she received a professorship at the University of Münster. She taught and researched here until 2009 in the field of intercultural and international comparative education. She led the Research Cluster Intercultural Pedagogy from 1986 and coordinated the accompanying degree program German as a Second Language/Intercultural Pedagogy. From 2007 to 2010, she led the University of Münster’s International Center for European Education with Prof. Dr. Siegfried Gehrmann. Marianne Krüger-Potratz was a cofounder of the comissson for intercultural education in the German Society for Educational Science (Deutschen Gesellschaft für Erziehungswissenschaft). She was one of the first in the educational science field to recognize and systematically investigate the importance of diversity in an immigration society for institutional educational and learning processes. At the same time, her historical research on education and school policies made it clear that the discussion of migration and diversity in institutional educational contexts has a long history—despite the short history of the intercultural education discipline. Even after her retirement, Marianne Krüger-Potratz remained connected to her research topics, for example as a member of the editorial board of the journal Die Deutsche Schule, through active participation in academic conferences, and on the Council for Migration. Marianne Krüger-Potratz influenced both colleagues and students and inspired them with her topics. In her direct, friendly, and humorous way, she always treated her students with respect and appreciation. The Institute of Educational Science and the University of Münster will gratefully remember Marianne Krüger-Potratz as a dedicated and exceptionally warm-hearted university teacher.