Johannes Hürter (born 17 December 1963) is a German historian. He is the director of the Munich research division of the Institute of Contemporary History. His research interests focus mainly on the history of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

and on post-war anti-terrorism policy.

Career

Hürter was born in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

. He studied history, German and musicology at the

Heidelberg University Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is Germany's oldest unive ...

and the

University of Mainz The Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz () is a public research university in Mainz, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany. It has been named after the printer Johannes Gutenberg since 1946. it had approximately 32,000 students enrolled in around 100 a ...

. In 1992 he received his doctorate from the University of Mainz, his thesis was on

Wilhelm Groener Karl Eduard Wilhelm Groener (; 22 November 1867 – 3 May 1939) was a Würtemberg–German general and politician, who served as the final Chief of the Great General Staff and Reich Ministry of Transport, Reich Minister of Transport, Ministry ...

, the Reich Minister of Defence of the Weimar Republic. In 2005, Hürter completed his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

with his book ''Hitler's Heerfuhrer'', which was created as part of the Institute of Contemporary History project, The Wehrmacht during the Nazi Dictatorship. The book was rated as a groundbreaking work in historical review journals such as ''H-Soz-u-Kult'' and ''Sehepunkte''. His work also received positive reviews in the national press such as the ''

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung The (; ''FAZ''; "Frankfurt General Newspaper") is a German newspaper founded in 1949. It is published daily in Frankfurt and is considered a newspaper of record for Germany. Its Sunday edition is the ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung'' ( ...

'', ''

Süddeutsche Zeitung The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest and most influential daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of ''SZ'' is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and ...

'' and ''

Die Zeit (, ) is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles. History The first edition of was ...

''. From 1992 to 1995 Hürter was a postdoctoral fellow of the

German Research Foundation The German Research Foundation ( ; DFG ) is a German research funding organization, which functions as a self-governing institution for the promotion of science and research in the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2019, the DFG had a funding bud ...

and a member of the historical commission at the

Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities The Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities () is an independent public institution, located in Munich. It appoints scholars whose research has contributed considerably to the increase of knowledge within their subject. The general goal of th ...

. He then worked for two years as a researcher at the

Federal Foreign Office The Federal Foreign Office (, ; abbreviated AA) is the Foreign minister, foreign ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany, a federal agency (Germany), federal agency responsible for both the country's foreign policy and its relationship with ...

in Bonn. Hürter has been a research associate at the Munich Institute for Contemporary History (IfZ) since August 1998. In the early 2010s, he became Head of Research Department Munich. He is also the editor of the institute's quarterly journals for contemporary history and their other publications. Hürter is also an adjunct professor in the Department of Modern History of the University of Mainz.

References

1963 births Living people Place of birth missing (living people) 20th-century German historians 21st-century German historians Historians of Nazism Academics from Hamburg Academic staff of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz German military historians Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz alumni {{Germany-historian-stub