Gerd R. Ueberschär | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1943-08-18)18 August 1943 (age 82) Offenbach am Main, Germany |
| Occupation(s) | Historian, author, editor |
| Academic work | |
| Era | 20th century |
| Institutions | University of Freiburg German Federal Military Archive [de] |
| Main interests | military history,historiography |
| Notable works | |
Gerd R. Ueberschär (born 18 August 1943) is a German military historian who specialises in the history ofNazi Germany andWorld War II. He is one of the leading contributors to the seriesGermany and the Second World War and, together withRolf-Dieter Müller, is the author ofHitler's War in the East 1941−1945: A Critical Assessment. Both works have been published in English translations.
Ueberschär obtained his doctorate in history from theGoethe University Frankfurt, where he subsequently worked as an assistant professor. Starting with 1986, Ueberschär was a lecturer at theUniversity of Freiburg. From 1996 to 2008, he worked as a historian and archivist at theGerman Federal Military Archive [de] in Freiburg.[1]
Ueberschär is an author and editor of numerous books on the history ofNational Socialism in Germany and theSecond World War. He is one of the lead researchers on the seminal workGermany and the Second World War. Ueberschär edited the German-language volume containing 68 biographies of leading military men ofNazi Germany,Hitlers militärischer Elite [Hitler's Military Elite] published in 1998 and reissued in 2011.[2]
Ueberschär also covered the topic of theGerman resistance to Nazism in his 2004 work onClaus von Stauffenberg,Stauffenberg. Der 20 Juli 1944 and the 2006 workFür ein anderes Deutschland. Der deutsche Widerstand gegen den NS-Staat 1933–1945 [For Better Germany. German Resistance to Nazism 1933–1945]. He concluded that conspirators' plans for the post-Hitler society were incompatible with today's understanding of democracy; the plotters were hoping for a "genuine national community": "They propagated the constitutional plans were very far from an open democratic society".[3] He also edited the 2002 collected volumeDer deutsche Widerstand gegen Hitler [German Resistance to Hitler].[4]
