Bernd Bonwetsch (17 October 1940 – 13 October 2017) was a German historian, the founding director in 2003 of the

German Historical Institute Moscow The German Historical Institute Moscow is a history institute of the Max Weber Stiftung based in Moscow, Russia. The founding director was Bernd Bonwetsch, the director as of 2016 is Nikolaus Katzer. See also *Germany–Russia relations Germa ...

Early life and education

Bernd Bonwetsch was born in Berlin on 17 October 1940. From 1962 to 1967 he studied History,

Slavic studies Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic areas, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or Slavicist was prim ...

and Comparative education in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

and at the

Free University of Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public research university in Berlin, Germany. It is consistently ranked among Germany's best universities, with particular strengths in political science and t ...

. He then studied at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

, 1968-69.

Career

Bonwetsch joined the History Department at

University of Hamburg The University of Hamburg (german: link=no, Universität Hamburg, also referred to as UHH) is a public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('' Allgemeines Vor ...

in 1972. From 1973 to 1980 he was assistant professor at the Department of East European History and Geography of the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Wü ...

. Bonwetsch taught from 1980 to 2003 as a professor of Eastern European history at the

University of Bochum The Ruhr University Bochum (, ) is a public research university located in the southern hills of the central Ruhr area, Bochum, Germany. It was founded in 1962 as the first new public university in Germany after World War II. Instruction began in ...

. This teaching activity was interrupted only by stays abroad in 1992 and 1993. In 1992 he was a visiting professor at the

University of Innsbruck The University of Innsbruck (german: Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck; la, Universitas Leopoldino Franciscea) is a public research university in Innsbruck, the capital of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol, founded on October 15, 1669. ...

and 1993 at the

Kemerovo State University The Kemerovo State University (russian: Ке́меровский госуда́рственный университе́т) (KemSU) was established in 1973 as a successor to Kemerovo Pedagogical Institute. It is a leading educational and scienti ...

. In 2000 he received an honorary doctorate from the

and in 2004, he received from the Karasin National University Kharkiv another honorary doctorate. In 2003, he was the founding director of the German Historical Institute Moscow.

Selected publications

* ''Kriegsallianz und Wirtschaftsinteressen. Die Stellung Rußlands in den Wirtschaftsplänen Englands und Frankreichs 1914-1917''. Düsseldorf 1973 (Studien zur modernen Geschichte 10). * ''Die russische Revolution 1917. Eine Sozialgeschichte von der Bauernbefreiung 1861 bis zum Oktoberumsturz''. Darmstadt 1991. * (zusammen mit Rolf Binner und Marc Junge) ''Massenmord und Lagerhaft: Die andere Geschichte des Großen Terrors'' (= Veröffentlichungen des Deutschen Historischen Instituts Moskau; Bd. 1). Akademie Verlag, Berlin 2009. ; Wladislaw Hedeler
Rezension zu Massenmord und Lagerhaft
In:

H-Soz-u-Kult H-Soz-u-Kult (''Humanities – Sozial und Kulturgeschichte'') is an online information and communication platform for historians which disseminates academic news and publications. The project is committed to the principles of open access and commun ...

vom 18. Mai 2010. * (Hg. zusammen mit Rolf Binner und Marc Junge) ''Stalinismus in der sowjetischen Provinz 1937–1938: Die Massenaktion aufgrund des operativen Befehls Nr. 00447'' (=Veröffentlichungen des Deutschen Historischen Instituts Moskau; Bd. 2). Akademie Verlag, Berlin 2010.

References

1940 births 2017 deaths 20th-century German historians Free University of Berlin alumni German Historical Institutes People from Berlin Academic staff of the University of Tübingen Academic staff of Ruhr University Bochum Historians of communism Historians of Russia Stanford University alumni 21st-century German historians Academic staff of the University of Hamburg {{Germany-historian-stub