Biography
Kerstin von Lingen was in born Bremen in 1971. In 1991,she entered the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg,where she studied modern history,medieval history and Italian. She then studied history and political science at the University of Milan in 1993–1994. She earned her M.A. at the University of Freiburg,writing a thesis on "Totaler Krieg auf Italienisch? Die deutsche Auslandspropaganda in Italien 1943-1944 ("Total War in Italy? German Propaganda in Italy 1943-1944"). She then wrote her Ph.D. thesis on Britische Kriegsverbrecher und Begnadigungspolitik am Beispiel des Verfahrens gegen Feldmarschall Albert Kesselring in Italien ("British war criminals and pardon policy on the example of the case against Field Marshal Albert Kesselring in Italy") under the supervision of Dieter Langewiesche. [1] This was published in German as Kesselrings letzte Schlacht (2004) and in English as Kesselring's Last Battle (2009). [2] Her rigorosum was on 29 July 2003. [1]
In 2005,von Lingen commenced work on a research project,Immunität durch Kapitulationsverhandlungen:der Fall des SS-Obergruppenführers Karl Wolff ("Immunity Through Surrender Negotiations:the Case of the SS Obergruppenfuehrer Karl Wolff,from which her book SS und Secret Service (2010) was created. [1] This was published in English as Allen Dulles,the OSS,and Nazi War Criminals (2013). From 1999 to 2008 she was a research associate at the Sonderforschungsbereich 437 Kriegserfahrungen (Research School for War and Society in Modern Times) in Tübingen. From 2006 to 2012 she worked as an expert for the Stuttgart Attorney General in preliminary proceedings on Nazi war crimes in Italy,and taught at the University of Marburg,University of Tübingen and Heidelberg University. She was a Summer School Fellow at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2006, [2] and a Research Fellow of European Studies at the Research Institute of the University of Salford in 2007. The following year she was accepted as a Fellow in the Royal Historical Society of London. [1] From 2009 to 2011 she was a research associate at the German-Italian Historical Commission. [2]
Lingen was Junior Research Group Leader at the "Asia and Europe in a Global Context" Cluster of Excellence at the University of Heidelberg from 2013 to 2017. Her group worked on "Transcultural Justice:Legal Flows and the Emergence of International Justice in the East Asian War Crimes Trials,1945–1954." It conducted research on the Allied war crimes trials against members of the Japanese military in the Pacific and the role of the Allies in the Tokyo Tribunal,the Asian equivalent of the Nuremberg Tribunal. During this time Lingen also worked on her habilitation project,"Transnational Debates on the Humanization of War Powers,1864–1945:an Intellectual History of the Concept of Crimes against Humanity." [2] [3] In 2016,she was awarded the International Chair of the History of the Second World War,an annual lecture prize by the UniversitéLibre de Bruxelles. [4] Her habilitation took place in 2017. That year she was a visiting fellow at the Australian National University and the University of Cambridge. [2]
From 2017 to 2018,Lingen was a visiting professor of Contemporary History (comparative dictatorship,violence and genocide research) at the University of Vienna. [2] In October 2018,she was appointed interim professor at the Department of History at Heidelberg University. [5] In March 2019,Lingen was appointed Professor of Contemporary History (comparative dictatorship,violence and genocide research) at the Department for Contemporary History at the University of Vienna. [2]
Albert Kesselring was a German Generalfeldmarschall of the Luftwaffe during World War II who was subsequently convicted of war crimes. In a military career that spanned both world wars, Kesselring became one of Nazi Germany's most highly decorated commanders, being one of only 27 soldiers awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds.
Karl Friedrich Otto Wolff was a German SS functionary who served as Chief of Personal Staff Reichsführer-SS and an SS liaison to Adolf Hitler during World War II. He ended the war as the Supreme SS and Police Leader in occupied Italy and helped arrange for the early surrender of Axis forces in that theatre, effectively ending the war there several days sooner than in the rest of Europe. He escaped prosecution at the Nuremberg Trials, apparently as a result of his participation in Operation Sunrise. In 1962, Wolff was prosecuted in West Germany for the deportation of Italian Jews, and he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for being an accessory to murder in 1964. He was released in 1971 due to his failing health, and died 13 years later.
101st Heavy SS Panzer Battalion was a German heavy tank battalion in the Waffen-SS during World War II. With the introduction of new Tiger II tanks in late 1944, the unit was renumbered as the 501st Heavy SS Panzer Battalion.
Fritz Knöchlein was an SS commander during the Nazi era who was convicted and executed in 1949 for committing war crimes during World War II, specifically for his responsibility for the Le Paradis massacre.
Otto Baum was a high-ranking commander (Oberführer) of the Waffen-SS during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords of Nazi Germany.
Heinrich Kling was a German Waffen-SS commander during the Nazi era, who served with the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH).
Erwin Oberländer is a German historian and expert on Eastern European history. He is Professor Emeritus of Eastern European History at the University of Mainz. He is also a former President of the German Association of Historians of Eastern Europe, and was appointed by the Latvian government as a foreign member of the Commission of the Historians of Latvia, which was tasked with studying crimes against humanity in Latvia during the Soviet and Nazi occupations.
Rudolf Rahn was a German diplomat who served the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany. As a member of the Party, and as Plenipotentiary to the Italian Social Republic in the closing stages of the Second World War, he was arrested and held at Nuremberg as a potential war criminal, but he was released in 1949 and deemed to be denazified in Class V (exonerated).
Alexander Freiherr von Dörnberg zu Hausen was a German jurist, diplomat and SS officer. He was head of the Protocol Department of the Foreign Office from 1938 to 1945.
Bernd Wegner is a German historian who specialises in military history and the history of Nazism. Since 1997 he has been professor of modern history at the Helmut Schmidt University in Hamburg, Germany.
Jörg Echternkamp 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 Center for Military History and Social Sciences of the German Army (formerly the Military History Research Office. His is a contributor and editor of the seminal series Germany and the Second World War from the MGFA.
Ernst-Günther Krätschmer was a German SS-officer. After World War II he took part in efforts to shape a positive image of the Waffen-SS in popular culture. He published about the Knight's Cross recipients of the Waffen-SS, contributed to the publications of the HIAG, the revisionist veterans' organisation of the Waffen-SS, and organized support for Walter Reder, who was being imprisoned in Italy for war crimes
Otfried Deubner was a German classical archaeologist and diplomat. During World War II, Otfried Deubner worked as a linguist in Pers Z S, the signals intelligence agency of the German Foreign Office.
Jens Westemeier is a German historian and author who specialises in military history and the history of the Nazi era. He has published several books on topics relating to the Waffen-SS and its personnel and commanders.
The Military History Working Group is a German professional association and research network formed in 1995 in Freiburg. It focuses on the interdisciplinary war studies and military history.
War in History is a German non-fiction book series established in 1999. Published by Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh, it focuses on the latest research in military history. The editors include historians Stig Förster of the University of Bern, Bernhard R. Kroener of the University of Potsdam, Bernd Wegner of the Helmut Schmidt University and Michael Werner (historian) of the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales.
Peter Lieb is a German military historian who specializes in the history of Nazi Germany and World War II. He held positions at Institute of Contemporary History, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and Center for Military History and Social Sciences of the Bundeswehr. Widely published in the field, Lieb specializes in the Western theatre of World War II.
Professor Hans-Erich Volkmann is a German historian, whose works primarily deal with the history of Germany from the 19th–20th century, and particularly how it relates to the East European states. He is most notable for being one of the authors of the first volume of Germany and the Second World War. He has also been one of the editors of Militärgeschichtliche Zeitschrift.
Henning Albrecht is a German historian.
Mark C. Yerger was an American author of books about the Schutzstaffel and Waffen-SS of Nazi Germany. He had close contacts to SS veterans, through whom he was able to access private archives, and wrote biographies of commanders and award recipients of the SS and of SS units. Historians of World War II have described Yerger's work as uncritical, hagiographic and whitewashing towards the SS.
