Prof Nikolaus Wachsmann
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Overview
Overview
Biography
Professor Wachsmann joined the department in 2005, having previously been a research fellow at Downing College (University of Cambridge) and a lecturer at the University of Sheffield.
Office hours
Office hours by arrangement
Qualifications
- BSc Government and History, London School of Economics and Political Science
- MPhil Political Thought and Intellectual History, University of Cambridge
- PhD in History, University of London
Administrative responsibilities
- MA Contemporary History and Politics, Course Director
- HCA Research Committee
Visiting posts
- Fellow, Wissenschaftskolleg Berlin, 09-2024 to 07-2025
- Theodore Zev Weiss Holocaust Educational Foundation Visiting Professor of Holocaust Studies, Northwestern University, 03-2019 to 04-2019
Professional activities
Editorial and International Advisory Board, The Persecution and Murder of the European Jews by Nazi Germany, 15 vols. (Oldenbourg: De Gruyter)
Academic Advisory Board, UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation
Academic Advisory Board, Sachsenhausen and Ravensbrück Memorial
Academic Advisory Board, Mauthausen Memorial
Academic Advisory Board, Encyclopaedia of the Nazi Genocide of the Sinti and Roma in Europe
Professional memberships
Royal Historical Society
Honours and awards
- Wolfson History Prize , Wolfson Foundation, November 2016
- Mark Lynton History Prize , Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard; Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism , November 2016
- JQ Wingate Literary Prize , Jewish Quarterly, Wingate , November 2016
- Book of the Year Award, Longman-History Today, November 2005
- Gladstone History Book Prize , Royal Historical Society, November 2004
- Fraenkel Prize in Contemporary History, The Wiener Holocaust Library , November 2001
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Research
Research
Research interests
- Concentration camps in Germany and beyond
- Law, prisons and policing in modern Germany
- Auschwitz and the history of the Holocaust
- Holocaust Memory
- Deviance and discipline in modern Germany
- Public history
Research overview
I am currently researching the history of Nazi terror and the Holocaust, with a particular focus on the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Research clusters and groups
- Difference, race and inequality
- Conflict and violence
- Public history
- Mind and Body
Research projects
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Supervision and teaching
Supervision and teaching
Supervision
I have supervised numerous successful dissertations on German and European history, and welcome enquiries from prospective PhD students who are interested in undertaking research in any of my areas of research interest.
Teaching
I teach on a number of modules at BA and MA level, including:
- The Modern World (BA)
- The Contemporary World (BA)
- The Birth of Modern Germany (BA)
- The Third Reich (BA)
- Exploring the Past (BA)
- Mastering Historical Research (MA)
- The Nazi Capture of Power (MA)
- The Holocaust (MA)
- Auschwitz in History and Memory (MA)
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Publications
Publications
Article
- Wachsmann, Nikolaus (2021) Lived experience and the Holocaust: spaces, senses and emotions in Auschwitz. Journal of the British Academy 9, pp. 27-58. ISSN 2052–7217.
- Goeschel, Christian and Wachsmann, Nikolaus (2010) Before Auschwitz: the formation of the Nazi concentration camps, 1933-9. Journal of Contemporary History 45 (3), pp. 515-534. ISSN 0022-0094.
- Wachsmann, Nikolaus (2010) La dinámica de la destrucción: la evolución de los campos de concentración. Historia Social 66, pp. 119-139. ISSN 0214-2570.
- Wachsmann, Nikolaus (2006) Looking into the abyss: historians and the Nazi concentration camps. European History Quarterly 36 (2), pp. 247-278. ISSN 0265-6914.
- Wachsmann, Nikolaus (2002) Between reform and repression: imprisonment in Weimar, Germany. The Historical Journal 45, pp. 411-432. ISSN 0018-246X.
- Wachsmann, Nikolaus (1999) "Annihilation through labor": the killing of state prisoners in the Third Reich. Journal of Modern History 71 (3), pp. 624-659. ISSN 0022-2801.
- Wachsmann, Nikolaus (1999) After Goldhagen: recent work on the genesis of Nazi Genocide. Journal of Contemporary History 34 (3), pp. 477-487. ISSN 0022-0094.
- Wachsmann, Nikolaus (1998) Marching under the swastika? Ernst Jünger and National Socialism, 1918-33. Journal of Contemporary History 33 (4), pp. 573-589. ISSN 0022-0094.
Book
- Wachsmann, Nikolaus (2020) Historia nazistowskich obozów koncentracyjnych. Ożarów, Poland: Świat Książki. ISBN 9788381395908.
- Wachsmann, Nikolaus (2017) KL. Une histoire des camps de concentration nazis. Paris, France: Gallimard. ISBN 9782070773022.
- Wachsmann, Nikolaus (2017) KL. Storia dei campi di concentramento nazisti. Mondadori. ISBN 9788804676652.
- Wachsmann, Nikolaus (2017) История нацистских концлагерей. Moscow, Russia: Центрполиграф. ISBN 9785227073013.
- Wachsmann, Nikolaus (2016) KL. Die Geschichte der nationalsozialistischen Konzentrationslager. Munich, Germany: Siedler. ISBN 9783886808274.
- Wachsmann, Nikolaus (2016) KL: een geschiedenis van de naziconcentratiekampen. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: De Bezige Bij. ISBN 9789023499787.
- Rueger, Jan and Wachsmann, Nikolaus, eds. (2015) Rewriting German history: new perspectives on modern Germany. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9781137347787.
- Wachsmann, Nikolaus and Steinbacher, S., eds. (2015) Die Linke im Visier: zur Errichtung der Konzentrationslager 1933. Dachauer Symposien zur Zeitgeschichte (Dachau symposia on Contemporary History). 14, Göttingen, Germany: Wallstein Verlag. ISBN 9783835314948.
- Wachsmann, Nikolaus (2015) KL. A História dos Campos de Concentração Nazis. Lisbon, Portugal Publicações Dom Quixote: D. QUIXOTE. ISBN 9789722057998.
- Wachsmann, Nikolaus (2015) KL: Historia de los campos de concentración nazis. Barcelona, Spain: Editorial Crítica. ISBN 9788498928723.
- Wachsmann, Nikolaus (2015) KL: a history of the Nazi concentration camps. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 9780374535926.
- Wachsmann, Nikolaus and Goeschel, Christian, eds. (2012) The Nazi concentration camps, 1933-1939: a documentary history. Lincoln, U.S.: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 9780803227828.
- Wachsmann, Nikolaus and Caplan, J. (2010) Concentration camps in Nazi Germany: the new histories. Abingdon, UK: Routledge. ISBN 9780415426510.
- Wachsmann, Nikolaus, ed. (2007) Le prigioni di Hitler: il sistema carcerario del Terzo Reich. Milan, Italy: Edizioni Mondadori. ISBN 9788804573159.
- Wachsmann, Nikolaus (2007) Le prigioni di Hitler. Il sistema carcerario del Terzo Reich. Milan, Italy: Mondadori. ISBN 9788804573159.
- Wachsmann, Nikolaus (2006) Gefangen unter Hitler: Justizterror und Strafvollzug im NS-Staat. Munich, Germany: Siedler. ISBN 9783886808281.
- Wachsmann, Nikolaus (2005) Hitler's gevangenissen. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: De Bezige Bij. ISBN 9789076682334.
- Wachsmann, Nikolaus (2004) Hitler's prisons: legal terror in Nazi Germany. London: Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300102505.
Book Section
- Wachsmann, Nikolaus (2015) The Nazi concentration camps in international context: comparisons and connections. In: Wachsmann, Nikolaus and Rueger, Jan (eds.) Rewriting German History: New Perspectives on Modern Germany. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave. pp. 306-324. ISBN 9781137347787.
- Wachsmann, Nikolaus (2015) Rewriting resistance and repression under the Nazi regime. In: Hachtmann, R. and Reichardt, S. (eds.) Detlev Peukert und die NS-Forschung. Beiträge zur Geschichte des Nationalsozialismus. Wallstein Verlag. pp. 102-114. ISBN 9783835317314.
- Wachsmann, Nikolaus (2015) Terror gegen Links: das NS-Regime und die frühen Lager. In: Wachsmann, Nikolaus and Steinbacher, S. (eds.) Die Linke im Visier: zur Errichtung der Konzentrationslager 1933. Dachauer Symposien zur Zeitgeschichte (Dachau symposia on Contemporary History). Göttingen, Germany: Wallstein Verlag. ISBN 9783835314948.
- Wachsmann, Nikolaus (2010) The dynamics of destruction: the development of the concentration camps, 1933–45. In: Wachsmann, Nikolaus and Caplan, J. (eds.) Concentration Camps in Nazi Germany: The New Histories. Oxon, UK: Routledge. pp. 17-43. ISBN 9780415426510.
- Wachsmann, Nikolaus (2009) Introduction. In: Buber-Neumann, M. (ed.) Under Two Dictators: Prisoner of Stalin and Hitler. London, UK: Random House. pp. vii-xxii. ISBN 9781845951030.
- Wachsmann, Nikolaus (2008) The policy of exclusion: repression in the Nazi state, 1933-9. In: Caplan, J. (ed.) Nazi Germany. Short Oxford History of Germany. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. pp. 122-145. ISBN 9780199276868.
- Wachsmann, Nikolaus (2008) Introduction. In: Buber-Neumann, M. (ed.) Under Two Dictators: Prisoner of Stalin and Hitler. London, UK: Pimlico. pp. vii-xxii. ISBN 9781845951023.
- Wachsmann, Nikolaus (2007) Strafvollzug und Zwangsarbeit im Dritten Reich. In: Kramer, H. and Uhl, K. and Wagner, J.-C. (eds.) Zwangsarbeit im Nationalsozialismus und die Rolle der Justiz : Täterschaft, Nachkriegsprozesse und die Auseinandersetzung um Entschädigungsleistungen. Nordhäuser Hochschultexte. Allgemeine Schriftenreihe. Nordhausen, Germany: Fachhochschule Nordhausen, University of Applied Sciences. pp. 32-47. ISBN 9783980939195.
- Wachsmann, Nikolaus (2006) Writing about the SS-State: Eugen Kogon, Buchenwald and the Nazi camps. In: Kogon, E. (ed.) The Theory and Practice of Hell: The German Concentration Camps and the System Behind Them. New York, U.S.: Farrar, Straus, Giroux. pp. 11-23. ISBN 9780374529925.
- Wachsmann, Nikolaus (2005) Soldiers of the home front: jurists and legal terror during the Second World War. In: Gregor, Neil (ed.) Nazism, war and genocide : essays in honour of Jeremy Noakes. Exeter: University of Exeter Press. pp. 75-93. ISBN 0 85989 745 1.
- Wachsmann, Nikolaus (2001) From indefinite confinement to extermination: "habitual criminals" in the Third Reich. In: Gellately, Robert and Stoltzfus, Nathan (eds.) Social outsiders in Nazi Germany. Princeton, N. J. & Woodstock, Oxfordshire, UK: Princeton University Press. pp. 165-191. ISBN 0 691 00748 9.
Other
- Wachsmann, Nikolaus (2018) Concentration Camps: the limits of representing History. US Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Teaching Resource
- Wachsmann, Nikolaus (2016) The Nazi Concentration Camps. A Teaching and Learning Resource.
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Business and community
Business and community
Media
I am happy to receive enquiries from the media on the following topics:
- Nazi terror
- Auschwitz and the Holocaust
- Concentration camps
Outreach
The Nazi Concentration Camps. A Teaching and Learning Resource (educational website)
Auschwitz and the End of the Second World War (video, public lecture, Gresham College, 2020)
'Being in Auschwitz: Lived experience and the Holocaust', Times Literary Supplement, 24 January 2020
Concentration Camps - The Limits of Representing History (video, public lecture, US Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2018)
The origins of Auschwitz concentration camp (video, Pilecki Institute, 2020, discussion with Dr. P. Setkiewicz)
The liberation of Auschwitz, 75 years on, BBC World Histories, 2020
Interview with László Nemes, Oscar-winning director of 'Son of Saul' (video, Curzon Cinema, Soho, 2016)
Historians and educators discuss the challenges of Holocaust education (video, Senate House, London 2016, discussion with Prof. Richard J. Evans, Prof. David Feldman, Dr. Tom Haward, Yiftach Meiri and Dr. Kim Wünschmann)
BBC History, Wolfson History Prize (podcast, 2016, with Prof. Lane Fox)
Uncovering the History of Nazi Concentration Camps (podcast, WNYC, interview with Leonard Lopate, 2016)
After Liberation: Legacies of the Nazi Concentration Camps (podcast, lecture, 2015)