Washington University's Max Kade Center for Contemporary German Literature promotes teaching and research of modern German literature and supports collaboration among American students/scholars and German/Austrian/Swiss writers, critics, scholars, and students in this field. Founded in 1984 by its director, Paul Michael Lützeler, it is the only center of its kind in the United States. As of July 1, 2022, Professor Kurt Beals from the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures has taken over as director of the center.

Every spring, the Max Kade Center invites one prominent writer and one leading critic from a German-speaking country to teach a graduate course on contemporary German literature. The visitors are supported by a grant from the Max Kade Foundation in New York. The Fritz Thyssen in Cologne, Germany, the VolkswagenStiftung in Hannover, and the Robert Bosch Stiftung in Stuttgart grant fellowships also help bring leading scholars from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in the field of Germanistik to Washington University. These scholars conduct research, establish contacts with faculty and students, and teach one weekend seminar on contemporary German literature.

In 1980, Paul Michael Lützeler built, in cooperation with Olin Library, the largest American collection of contemporary German literature. Every year, new publications are catalogued.