Jürgen Förster (born 1940) is a German historian who specialises in the history of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

and

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 opposin ...

. He is a professor of history 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 university, public research university located in Freiburg im Breisg ...

, the position he has held since 2005. Förster is a contributor to the seminal work ''

Germany and the Second World War ''Germany and the Second World War'' (german: Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg) is a 12,000-page, 13-volume work published by the Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt (DVA), that has taken academics from the military history centre of the German ...

'' from the Military History Research Office (MGFA).

Education and career

After military service in 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 ...

, he studied history and English Studies at the

University of Cologne The University of Cologne (german: Universität zu Köln) is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in the year 1388 and is one of the most prestigious and research intensive universities in Germany. It was the sixth university to ...

and the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...

. He earned his PhD in history in 1974 under

Andreas Hillgruber Andreas Fritz Hillgruber (18 January 1925 – 8 May 1989) was a conservative German historian who was influential as a military and diplomatic historian who played a leading role in the ''Historikerstreit'' of the 1980s. In his controversial book ...

at Cologne. From 1970 to 2000, Förster worked as a researcher at the Military History Research Office (MGFA). In his academic career, Förster had teaching assignments at the

and

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...

and had several guest professorships, including at the

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

, the

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

, the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...

, the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

, the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

and Flinders University. Since 2005, Förster has been a lecturer for military history at the Chair of Modern and Contemporary History at the

Historian of Nazi Germany

Wegner is a widely published author and editor on the subjects of military history of

and the history of

National Socialism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...

. He is a member of the Advisory Editorial Board of the journal ''

War in History ''War In History'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes papers in the field of History. The journal's editors are Simon Ball (University of Leeds), Mary Kathryn Barbier ( Mississippi State University), Phillips O’Brien (Universit ...

''. Förster is also one of the authors of the seminal work ''

'' from the Military History Research Office (MGFA) contributing to several volumes of the series.Publications by Förster

Works

In English

*''

'': **Vol. IV: ''The Attack on the Soviet Union'', with Horst Boog,

Joachim Hoffmann Joachim Hoffmann (1 December 1930 – 8 February 2002) was a German historian who was the academic director of the German Armed Forces Military History Research Office. Life Joachim Hoffmann was born in Königsberg, East Prussia, in 1930. In ...

Ernst Klink Ernst Klink (5 December 1923 – 1993) was a German military historian who specialised in Nazi Germany and World War II. He was a long-term employee at the Military History Research Office (MGFA). As a contributor to the seminal work ''German ...

Rolf-Dieter Müller __NOTOC__ Rolf-Dieter Müller (born 9 December 1948) is a German military historian and political scientist, who has served as Scientific Director of the German Armed Forces Military History Research Office since 1999. Rolf-Dieter Müller, is also ...

and Gerd R. Ueberschär **Vol. IX/I: ''German Wartime Society 1939–1945: Politicization, Disintegration, and the Struggle for Survival'', with ,

Jörg Echternkamp Jörg Echternkamp (born 1963) is a German military historian, who specialises in the history of Nazi Germany and World War II. He is a lecturer in modern history at the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg and a research director at the ...

Karola Fings Karola Fings (born 1962 in Leverkusen Leverkusen () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, on the eastern bank of the Rhine. To the south, Leverkusen borders the city of Cologne, and to the north the state capital, Düsseldorf. With abo ...

, , , , and Christoph Rass * *

In German

* ''Stalingrad: Risse im Bündnis 1942/43''. Rombach, Freiburg im Breisgau 1975, . * ''Der Angriff auf die Sowjetunion''. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1991, . With Horst Boog,

, Ernst Klink,

, Gerd R. Ueberschär. * ''Stalingrad: Ereignis - Wirkung - Symbol''. Im Auftrag des Militärgeschichtlichen Forschungsamtes, Piper, München u.a. 1992, . As editor. * ''Ausbildungsziel Judenmord? "Weltanschauliche Erziehung" von SS, Polizei und Waffen-SS im Rahmen der "Endlösung"''. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2003, . With

Jürgen Matthäus Jürgen Matthäus (born 1959) is a German historian and head of the research department of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. He is an author and editor of multiple works on the history of World War II and the Holocaust. Matthäus was ...

Richard Breitman Richard David Breitman, born in 1947, is an American historian best known for his study of the Holocaust. Richard Breitman is an American historian who has written extensively on modern German history, the Holocaust, American immigration and refuge ...

Konrad Kwiet Konrad Kwiet (born 1941) is a historian and scholar of the Holocaust. He is currently Pratt Foundation Professor at the University of Sydney and Resident Historian at the Sydney Jewish Museum. He has worked in universities, museums and research ...

. * ''Die Wehrmacht im NS-Staat. Eine strukturgeschichtliche Analyse''. Oldenbourg, München 2007, .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forster, Jurgen 1940 births Living people German military historians Historians of World War II German male non-fiction writers