Mike Schmeitzner (born 29 July 1968, in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

) is a German

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

. His focus is on twentieth century German history. Schmeitzner was born in the southern part of what was then the

German Democratic Republic German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

. His 1968 birth year meant that his university-level education straddled

the events ''Derren Brown: The Events'' is a Channel 4 television series featuring the illusionist Derren Brown. Filmed in front of a live studio audience, this series is made up of four one-hour specials, during which Brown attempted what he had describe ...

that led to

German reunification German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...

in the second half of 1990. He successfully completed his schooling in Dresden at the "Friedrich Engels Extended Secondary School (EOS) - Dresden south" in 1987 and then, in 1987/88, worked for

VEB Robotron VEB Kombinat Robotron (or simply Robotron) was the biggest East German electronics manufacturer. It was based in Dresden and employed 68,000 people (1989). It produced personal computers, SM EVM minicomputers, the ESER mainframe computers, sev ...

, a large electronics manufacturing operation. He then returned to academe, studying

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

, German Language, Culture and Linguistics and Education, initially at Dresden's Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Wander Pedagogical Academy and then at the

Dresden University of Technology TU Dresden (for german: Technische Universität Dresden, abbreviated as TUD and often wrongly translated as "Dresden University of Technology") is a public research university, the largest institute of higher education in the city of Dresden, th ...

. His work has focused on the History of the "Weimar Republic", of the

Third Reich 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 ...

, of the Soviet occupation zone (SBZ / ''Sowjetische Besatzungszone'') in what had previously been Germany, and on the formative years of the

which grew out of it. He has also undertaken extensive historical research into nineteenth and twentieth century Parliamentary structures, Youth movements and left-wing

Totalitarianism Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and reg ...

. He is a member of various academic bodies including the advisory board of the Saxony Memorials Foundation and of the Friedrich Ebert Memorial House. He is also a member of the Editorial board for the quarterly journal: "Dresdner Hefte. Beiträge zur Kulturgeschichte".

Publications

(not a complete list) Monographs * ''Alfred Fellisch 1884–1973. Eine politische Biographie.'' Böhlau Verlag, Köln/Weimar/Wien 1999, . * mit Stefan Donth: ''Die Partei der Diktaturdurchsetzung. KPD/SED in Sachsen 1945–1952.'' Böhlau Verlag, Köln/Weimar/Wien 2002, . * ''Doppelt verfolgt. Das widerständige Leben des Arno Wend.'' Vorwärts-Buchverlag, Berlin 2009, . * ''Der Fall Mutschmann. Sachsens Gauleiter vor Stalins Tribunal.'' Sax-Verlag, Beucha/Markkleeberg 2011, . Collaboratively * with Michael Rudloff: ''Geschichte der Sozialdemokratie im Sächsischen Landtag. Darstellung und Dokumentation 1877–1997'' (= ''Beiträge zur Geschichte der Arbeiterbewegung.'' Band 40). Kommunikation Schnell, Dresden 1997, . * with Michael Rudloff: ''„Solche Schädlinge gibt es auch in Leipzig“. Sozialdemokraten und die SED.'' Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 1997, . * mit Andreas Wagner: ''Von Macht und Ohnmacht. Sächsische Ministerpräsidenten im Zeitalter der Extreme 1912–1952.'' Sax-Verlag, Beucha 2006, . * ''Totalitarismuskritik von links. Deutsche Diskurse im 20. Jahrhundert'' (= ''Schriften des HAIT.'' Band 34). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2007, . * with Michael Richter, Thomas Schaarschmidt: ''Länder, Gaue und Bezirke. Mitteldeutschland im 20. Jahrhundert.'' Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle (Saale) 2007, . * with Christine Pieper, Gerhard Naser: ''Braune Karrieren. Dresdner Täter und Akteure im Nationalsozialismus.'' Sandstein Verlag, Dresden 2012, . Edited by... *

Richard Löwenthal Richard Löwenthal (April 15, 1908 – August 9, 1991) was a German journalist and professor who wrote mostly on the problems of democracy, communism, and world politics. Life Löwenthal was born in Berlin, Germany, the son of Ernst and Anna L ...

: ''Faschismus – Bolschewismus – Totalitarismus. Schriften zur modernen Weltanschauungsdiktatur'' (= ''Wege der Totalitarismusforschung des HAIT.'' Band 1). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2009, .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schmeitzner, Mike 1968 births Living people Historians of Germany Historians of fascism 20th-century German historians 21st-century German historians Writers from Dresden German male non-fiction writers