Florent Brayard

Florent Brayard is a CNRS Research Director at the Centre de Recherches Historiques (CRH), affiliated with the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris. He has been a member of CRH since 2009 and served as its director from 2013 to 2016. His institutional affiliations include the GEHM (Groupe d'Études des Historiographies Modernes) and the History and Historiography of the Shoah (HHS) research team.

Brayard specializes in the history of the Holocaust, Nazi Germany, and historical revisionism. His research initially focused on Holocaust denial with his 1996 book 'How the idea came to Mr. Rassinier, Birth of revisionism.' He later examined the decision-making process behind the 'Final Solution' in his 2004 thesis, and investigated the secrecy surrounding the murder of Jews in 'Auschwitz, investigation into a Nazi plot' (2012). From 2015-2021, he led the French critical edition of 'Mein Kampf' in collaboration with the Institut für Zeitgeschichte in Munich.

His recent publications demonstrate continued engagement with Holocaust historiography, memory studies, and Nazi ideology. The 15 most recent works show a consistent focus on decision-making processes, historical memory, and critical analysis of primary sources related to the Holocaust and Nazi Germany.

Scientific Awards:

• Baron Velge Prize, International Chair in the History of the Second World War (2018)
• Fernand Braudel senior fellow at the European University Institute in Florence (2022)

Brayard has held visiting professorships at the University of Virginia, Trinity College Dublin, and Johns Hopkins University. He has been authorized to direct research since 2011 and participates in a monthly seminar with his team 'History and Historiography of the Shoah.' He was previously affiliated with the Institute for Contemporary History and the Marc Bloch Center in Berlin, and held fellowships at the Holocaust Memorial Museum, Yad Vashem, and the German Historical Institute in Paris.

Brayard's laboratory work centers on Holocaust historiography and critical analysis of Nazi texts, particularly through his leadership of the French critical edition of 'Mein Kampf' project. His research contributes to understanding how historical narratives about the Holocaust have evolved and how Nazi ideology was constructed and disseminated.