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Ian Kershaw

イアン・カーショウ

Ian Kershaw

Aliases: Sir Ian Kershaw

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1943-04-29 （Oldham, Lancashire, England）
Nationality
British
Languages
English, German
Residence History
Oldham, England → Sheffield, UK

Career

Occupations
historian, Nazi Germany historian
Active Years
1969-2024
Affiliations
University of Manchester, University of Sheffield
Memberships
Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS), Fellow of the British Academy (FBA), Member of the Historical Association, Fellow of the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin
Influenced By
Martin Broszat, Timothy Mason

Education

University of Liverpool
History
Degree: BA
Country: United Kingdom
Merton College, Oxford
History
Degree: DPhil
Year of Graduation: 1969
Country: United Kingdom
Thesis: Bolton Priory, 1286–1325: An Economic Study

Awards

Wolfson History Prize
2000
Work: Hitler 1936–1945: Nemesis
Result: winner
British Academy Book Prize
2001
Work: Hitler 1936–1945: Nemesis
Organization: British Academy
Result: co-winner
Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography
2005
Work: Making Friends with Hitler: Lord Londonderry, the Nazis and the Road to War
Result: winner
Leipzig Book Award for European Understanding
2012
Result: winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Hitler 1889–1936: Hubris

1998 Biography 1000 pages

Detailed biography of the first half of Hitler's life, analyzing the social and political context of his rise to power through a structuralist lens.

Hitler's charismatic authorityNazi polycracyWorking Towards the Führer

Hitler 1936–1945: Nemesis

2000 Biography 1100 pages

Second volume of the Hitler biography covering the war years and downfall. Winner of Wolfson History Prize.

Final SolutionCollapse of Nazi dictatorshipCumulative radicalization

The Nazi Dictatorship

1985 Historiography 350 pages

Survey of problems and perspectives in Nazi Germany historiography.

Functionalism vs IntentionalismTotalitarianism debate

The 'Hitler Myth'

1980 Social history 300 pages

Examines the Hitler cult, propaganda, and popular opinion in the Third Reich.

PropagandaPopular support

Bibliography

  • Bolton Priory: The Economy of a Northern Monastery
  • Popular Opinion and Political Dissent in the Third Reich
  • The Nazi Dictatorship
  • The 'Hitler Myth'
  • Hitler: A Profile in Power
  • Hitler 1889–1936: Hubris
  • Hitler 1936–1945: Nemesis
  • Fateful Choices
  • To Hell and Back
  • Rollercoaster

Style & Themes

Literary Style
StructuralismAlltagsgeschichteObjective analysis
Recurring Motifs
Working Towards the FührerHitler MythCumulative radicalization

Legacy

One of the world's foremost experts on Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany, known for his definitive two-volume biography of Hitler and structuralist interpretations.

Academic Societies

  • Royal Historical Society
  • British Academy

In Popular Culture

  • Historical adviser for BBC's The Nazis: A Warning from History

Quotes

  • I should like to think that had I been around at the time I would have been a convinced anti-Nazi engaged in the underground resistance fight. However, I know really that I would have been as confused and felt as helpless as most of the people I am writing about.
    Source: Popular Opinion and Political Dissent in the Third Reich (1983)
  • The road to Auschwitz was built by hate, but paved with indifference.

Trivia

  • Decided to study Nazism after overhearing a pro-Nazi old man in a Munich café.
  • Shifted from medieval history to modern German history.
  • Married to nursing professor Dame Betty Kershaw.