Volker Ullrich (born 21 June 1943) is a German historian, journalist and author.

Volker Ullrich
Volker Ullrich (left), 2008
Born	21 June 1943 Celle, Lower Saxony, Nazi Germany
Occupation	Historian · journalist · author
Nationality	German
Alma mater	University of Hamburg

Career

Volker Ullrich was born in Celle, Lower Saxony, Germany.[1] He studied history, literature, philosophy and education at the University of Hamburg. From 1966 to 1969 he was assistant to the Egmont Zechlin Professor. He graduated in 1975 after a dissertation on the Hamburg labour movement of the early 20th Century, after which he worked as a school teacher in Hamburg. He was, for a time, a lecturer in politics at the Lüneburg University, and in 1988 he became a research fellow at Hamburg's Foundation for 20th-Century Social History.[1] In 1990 Ullrich became the head of the political section of the weekly newspaper Die Zeit.[2]

Ullrich has published articles and books on 19th- and 20th-century history. In 1996 he reviewed the thesis postulated in Daniel Goldhagen's book Hitler's Willing Executioners that provoked fresh debate among historians.[3][4]

In 1992 he was awarded the Alfred Kerr Prize for literary criticism,[2] and, in 2008, received an honorary doctorate from the University of Jena.[1]

Publications (selection)

• The Hamburg labour movement from the eve of the First World War to the Revolution of 1918. Luedke, University of Hamburg, dissertation 1976
• The Nervous Superpower: the rise and fall of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918. S. Fischer, Frankfurt 1997, ISBN 3-10-086001-2[2]
• Napoleon. A biography. Rowohlt Verlag, Reinbek 2004, ISBN 3-498-06882-2[2]
• Bismarck (Life & Times). Haus Publishing 2008, ISBN 1904950841[2]
• The Kreisauer Circle. Rowohlt Verlag, Reinbek 2008, ISBN 3-499-50701-3[2]
• Hitler - A Biography, Volume 1: Ascent 1889-1939. S. Fischer Verlag 2013, ISBN 3100860055 (German edition). English translation: London The Bodley Head 2016, ISBN 978-1-847-92285-4
• Hitler - A Biography, Volume 2: Downfall 1939-45 London The Bodley Head 2020, ISBN 978-1-847-92287-8
• Eight Days in May: The Final Collapse of the Third Reich, Liveright, 2021 ISBN 978-1-63149827-5

References

External links

• "Volker Ullrich", German National Library