Rüdiger Overmans (born 6 April 1954 in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second- ...

) is a German military historian who specializes in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

history. His book ''German Military Losses in World War II'', which he compiled as leader of a project sponsored by the Gerda Henkel Foundation, is one of the most comprehensive works about

German casualties in World War II Statistics for German World War II military casualties are divergent. The wartime military casualty figures compiled by German High Command, up until January 31, 1945, are often cited by military historians when covering individual campaigns in ...

Biography

Overmans joined the

Bundeswehr The ''Bundeswehr'' (, meaning literally: ''Federal Defence'') is the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The ''Bundeswehr'' is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part con ...

in 1972, and studied economics at the Bundeswehr University Munich from 1974 to 1977. He completed his Ph.D. in 1982–1986 at the Bundeswehr University Hamburg, now known as Helmut Schmidt University. From 1987 to 2004 he was a research associate at the Military History Research Office (MGFA), first in

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

and later in

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream o ...

. In 1996 he received his doctorate in history with the seminal work ''German Military Losses in World War II'' at the

University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemb ...

. This study was first published in 1999 in Munich by . From 1996 to 2001, Overmans lectured at the History Department of the University of Freiburg. Until his retirement in 2004, he had reached the military rank of lieutenant colonel. Since then he has worked as a freelance historian. He participated in a commission which issued an opinion to the number of victims in the Dresden bombing in February 1945.

Works

Main works by Overmans include:

Monographs

* *

Chapters

* Jörg Echternkamp *

Editorships

* * *

References

External links

* *
Homepage of Rüdiger Overmans
{{DEFAULTSORT:Overmans, Rudiger German military historians Historians of World War II Living people 1954 births Writers from Düsseldorf Bundeswehr University Munich alumni University of Freiburg alumni University of Freiburg faculty German male non-fiction writers