Johannes Hürter

Johannes Hürter is an Associate Professor and Head of the Research Department Munich at the Institute for Contemporary History (IfZ) in Munich. He also holds an affiliation with Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz where he completed his habilitation in 2006. Born in Hamburg in 1963, Hürter has dedicated his career to researching 20th century German history, particularly focusing on military history, the Nazi dictatorship, and Federal Republic history.

His research interests span military and diplomatic history of the German Empire, Weimar Republic, and Nazi Germany, with particular expertise in Wehrmacht history, private life under Nazism, and terrorism studies in the Federal Republic. Hürter leads several major research projects including 'Screening National Socialism: Ideology and Everyday Life in German Cinema 1933-1945' (SCREENS), 'The Chancellery. Federal German Democracy and the Nazi Past,' and 'The Private in National Socialism.'

Hürter serves as editor of the Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte (Quarterly Journal of Contemporary History) and its publication series. His scholarly output demonstrates consistent productivity across multiple historical subfields, with recent publications focusing on Leningrad as a site of German mass atrocities, colonial policy in National Socialism, and new perspectives on family separations during WWII.

• 2024: 'Die Zeit der Generale. Hermann Foertsch am Institut für Zeitgeschichte 1950-1952'
• 2024: 'Kolonialpolitik und Kolonialismus im Nationalsozialismus'
• 2023: 'Leningrad: Dimensionen, Erforschung und Endphase eines deutschen Massenverbrechens im Zweiten Weltkrieg'

As Head of the Research Department Munich since 2010, Hürter oversees multiple research initiatives at the IfZ, including the Center for Holocaust Studies and the Berlin Center for Cold War Studies. His editorial work with the Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte has shaped contemporary historical scholarship on 20th century Germany. Hürter's academic trajectory reflects both deep specialization in German military and political history and increasing engagement with broader European and transnational historical frameworks.