Rüdiger Overmans (born 6 April 1954 in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

) 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 ...

who specializes in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

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.

Biography

Overmans joined the

Bundeswehr The (, ''Federal Defence'') are the armed forces of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. The is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part consists of the four armed forces: Germ ...

in 1972, and studied economics at the

Bundeswehr University Munich image:Eingangsbereich der Universität der Bundeswehr München.jpg, Entrance to the university University of the Bundeswehr Munich (, UniBw München) is one of two research universities in Germany at federal level that both were founded in 1973 a ...

from 1974 to 1977. He completed his Ph.D. in 1982–1986 at the Bundeswehr University Hamburg, now known as Helmut Schmidt University. From 1987 to 2004 he was a research associate at the Military History Research Office (MGFA), first in

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

and later in

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, 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 ), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (), is a public university, public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The university was founded in 1 ...

. 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. 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 in February 1945.

Works

Main works by Overmans include:

Monographs

* *

Chapters

* Jörg Echternkamp *

Editorships

* * *

References

External links

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