Michael Hans Kater (born July 4, 1937) is a German-Canadian historian of

Nazism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...

. He is Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus of history at

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

, Toronto, and a fellow of the

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; , SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bilingual council of distinguishe ...

Early life and education

Kater was born in

Zittau Zittau (; ; ; ; ; Lusatian dialects, Upper Lusatian dialect: ''Sitte''; ) is the southeasternmost city in the Germany, German state of Saxony, and belongs to the Görlitz (district), district of Görlitz, Germany's easternmost Districts of Germ ...

and moved to Canada in his teens. He graduated from St. Michael's College School in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

and earned bachelor's and master's degrees from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

. After studying at the universities of

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

and

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

, he completed his PhD in 1966.

Career

After working as a lecturer at the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

in 1965–66, Kater spent the remainder of his career at

, where he was an assistant professor from 1967 to 1970, associate professor from 1970 to 1973, professor from 1973 to 1991, and distinguished research professor from 1991 until becoming emeritus. In 1985–86, he was Jason A. Hannah Visiting Professor of the History of Medicine at

McMaster University McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood, Ontario, Ainslie Wood and Westdale, Ontario, Westd ...

, and in the 1990s, he was a visiting professor at the University of Toronto. Kater is also a jazz musician and music historian.

Honors

Kater is a past recipient of fellowships including the

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

and the Canada Council Senior Killam Fellowship. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1988 and in 1990 won the Konrad Adenauer Research Award of the

Alexander von Humboldt Foundation The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation () is a foundation that promotes international academic cooperation between scientists and scholars from Germany and abroad. Established by the government of the Federal Republic of Germany, it is funded by t ...

. His book ''Doctors Under Hitler'' won the Royal Society of Canada's Jason A. Hannah Medal in 1991.

Selected publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kater, Michael Hans Living people 1937 births 20th-century German historians 21st-century German historians Historians of Nazism German emigrants to Canada Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Academic staff of York University University of Toronto alumni Heidelberg University alumni Hindemith scholars Pfitzner scholars Schoenberg scholars Strauss scholars Webern scholars Weill scholars