Wolfgang Benz

Benz worked across historian, university teacher, writer and opinion journalist. This article rests on 106 published texts and 45 scholarly references drawn from named institutional registers. Every statement below returns to a source shown in the evidence panel; where the record is silent or divided, the article says so instead of resolving it.

Wolfgang Benz studied at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Goethe University Frankfurt and Kiel University. The recorded working language is German. Places of work recorded in the authority are Berlin. Employment is recorded with Technische Universität Berlin. Works named in the authority record are Organisationen, Institutionen, Bewegungen. Distinctions recorded are Geschwister-Scholl-Preis and Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.

• Name — Wolfgang Benz • Born — 9 June 1941 • Birthplace — Ellwangen, Free People's State of Württemberg, Germany • Education — LMU Munich, (PhD, 1968) • Occupation — Historian, anti-semitism researcher • Known for — Holocaust studies, Antisemitism studies, German history • Awards — Geschwister-Scholl-Preis (1992)

Wolfgang Benz grew up in Ellwangen, Southwest Germany. He was born as the youngest of four children of the doctor Ottmar Benz (1900–1976) and his wife Franziska, née Feigen (1896–1967), in Ellwangen an der Jagst and grew up in Aalen (Württemberg) on the eastern edge of the Swabian Jura. Benz studied history, political science and art history at the Goethe University Frankfurt, Kiel University, and LMU Munich. In 1968, he completed his doctoral thesis on under the supervision of Karl Bosl at LMU Munich. From 1969 until 1990, Benz worked at the Institute for Contemporary History at LMU Munich. In 1985, he was co-founder and editor of Dachauer Hefte and since 1992, he also edits the Jahrbuch für Antisemitismusforschung (Yearbook for Research on Antisemitism). He is also editor of the Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft (Journal of historical science). Both published by Metropol Verlag. In 1986, he lectured at the University of New South Wales in Sydney. In 1992, Benz was awarded the Geschwister-Scholl-Preis and the Das politische Buch prize of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, the German social democratic political foundation. Benz received the emeritus status on 21 October 2010. Benz is a member of the advisory board of the Islamophobia Studies Yearbook, edited by Farid Hafez.

Benz is known for his research at Technische Universität Berlin, estimating that between 5.29 and 6.2 million Jews were killed by the German Nazi regime during the Holocaust.[7] Benz has been carrying out work on data received after the opening of government archives in Eastern Europe in the 1990s resulting in the adjustment of the death tolls that had been published in the pioneering works by Raul Hilberg, Lucy Dawidowicz and Martin Gilbert. He concluded in 1999: Benz, Wolfgang The Holocaust: A German Historian Examines the Genocide[8]

Benz claimed in early 2010 in connection with the Minaret controversy in Switzerland that "anti-Semites of the 19th Century and some detractors of the Islam of the 21st Century work with similar methods on their concept of the enemy" and warned against the global discrimination of Muslims, which he saw as a "declaration of war against tolerance and democracy".[9] He was criticized by historian Julius H. Schoeps who claimed Benz's suggestions are "dubious – if not dangerous"[11] and by journalist Henryk M. Broder,[12] pointing out that 'Islamophobia' – unlike Antisemitism – has a real basis, e.g. terrorist acts, the way dissidents are treated in Islamic countries etc. The educationist Micha Brumlik, however, has argued that as far as social-psychological aspect is concerned, Benz was right when comparing today's Islamophobia and antisemitism of the late 19th and early 20th century.[13] The historian Norbert Frei agreed with Brumlik.[14]

Benz opposed the construction of a monument in Berlin to honor Poles who were victims of the German occupation between 1939 and 1945. He preferred the idea of constructing a documentation center to portray the Nazi annihilation policies, the occupation and its effects on all affected peoples.[15]

Wolfgang Benz was born on 9 June 1941 in Ellwangen. Benz held the nationality of Germany. Benz was educated at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Goethe University Frankfurt and Kiel University. Benz worked as historian, university teacher, writer and opinion journalist. Benz worked in Berlin. Benz was employed by Technische Universität Berlin. Benz worked in German.

As a result of his work, Wolfgang Benz has received multiple awards. Most noticeable is the Geschwister-Scholl-Preis he won in 1992, and shared with Barbara Distel.[16] He received the "Gegen Vergessen – Für Demokratie" prize in 2012, from the organization Gegen Vergessen – Für Demokratie.[17][18]

• "Wolfgang Benz." In: Kürschners Deutscher Gelehrten-Kalender 2003. 19th ed. Vol I: A – J. K. G. Saur, Munich 2003, p. 199