Aims

Since its founding on 2 October 1845, the Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft (DMG) has been the most important scholarly society of German Orientalists. Its members work on the languages and cultures of the Orient, Near and Middle East, Asia, Oceania, and Africa, as well as the connections of these areas to each other and to neighbouring regions.

The disciplines represented in the DMG are: Egyptology, Ancient Oriental Studies, Semitic Studies and Philology, Hebrew Studies, Arabic Studies and Philology, Islamic Studies, the Study of the Christian Orient, Iranian Studies, Buddhist Studies, Indology, Turkology, Altaic Studies, Mongolian Studies, Tibetan Studies, Sinology, Japanology, Southeast Asian Studies, African Studies, and related subjects.

The society was founded in Darmstadt, but had its first seat in Leipzig. The prime mover behind the founding was the Arabist Heinrich Leberecht Fleischer (1801–1888), who taught at the University of Leipzig. Because private scholarly societies were no longer allowed in the Soviet Occupation Zone, the corresponding entry was removed from the registry of societies in Leipzig at the order of the occupation force after World War II. The society was newly founded with the permission of the French military government on 4 June 1948 in Mainz.

Since 28 September 2006, the society is legally registered in Halle (Saale).