Rüdiger Overmans (born 6 April 1954 in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

) is a German

military historian Military history is the study of armed conflict in the history of humanity, and its impact on the societies, cultures and economies thereof, as well as the resulting changes to local and international relationships. Professional historians norma ...

who specializes in

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 ...

history. His book ''German Military Losses in World War II'', which he compiled as leader of a project sponsored by the Gerda Henkel Foundation, is one of the most comprehensive works about

German casualties in World War II Statistics for German World War II military casualties are divergent. The wartime military casualty figures compiled by German High Command, up until January 31, 1945, are often cited by military historians when covering individual campaigns in ...

Biography

Overmans joined 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 ...

in 1972, and studied economics at the

Bundeswehr University Munich image:Eingangsbereich der Universität der Bundeswehr München.jpg, 200px, Entrance to the university Bundeswehr University Munich (german: Universität der Bundeswehr München, UniBw München) is one of two research universities in Germany at fe ...

from 1974 to 1977. He completed his Ph.D. in 1982–1986 at the Bundeswehr University Hamburg, now known as

Helmut Schmidt University The Helmut Schmidt University (german: link=no, Helmut-Schmidt-Universität), located in Hamburg, Germany, is a German military educational establishment that was founded in 1973 at the initiative of the then-Federal Minister of Defence, Helmut Sc ...

. From 1987 to 2004 he was a research associate at the Military History Research Office (MGFA), first in

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

and later in

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

. In 1996 he received his doctorate in history with the seminal work ''German Military Losses in World War II'' 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 ...

. This study was first published in 1999 in Munich by . From 1996 to 2001, Overmans lectured at the History Department of the University of Freiburg. Until his retirement in 2004, he had reached the military rank of

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

. Since then he has worked as a freelance historian. He participated in a commission which issued an opinion to the number of victims in the

Dresden bombing The bombing of Dresden was a joint British and American aerial bombing attack on the city of Dresden, the capital of the German state of Saxony, during World War II. In four raids between 13 and 15 February 1945, 772 heavy bombers of the Roy ...

in February 1945.

Works

Main works by Overmans include:

Monographs

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Chapters

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 ...

Editorships

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References

External links

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Homepage of Rüdiger Overmans
{{DEFAULTSORT:Overmans, Rudiger German military historians Historians of World War II Living people 1954 births Writers from Düsseldorf Bundeswehr University Munich alumni University of Freiburg alumni University of Freiburg faculty German male non-fiction writers