Nathan Stoltzfus
Founder / Board of Directors
Nathan Stoltzfus (Ph.D. Harvard 1993) is Dorothy and Jonathan Rintels Professor of Holocaust Studies at Florida State University and is author or editor of seven books.
His book Resistance of the Heart: Intermarriage and the Rosenstrasse Protest in Nazi Germany (W.W. Norton 1996, paperback 2001 with a forward by Walter Laqueur) has been translated into French (Phébus), Swedish (Leopard), Greek (University Studio Press) and German (Hanser and dtv with foreword by German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer). It was a co-recipient of the Institute of Contemporary History’s Fraenkel Prize, a ‘Book of the Year’ in the New Statesman, was #2 on the German Bestenliste for nonfiction in October, 1999, identified by Die Zeit as the ‘standard work’ on the Rosenstrasse Protest, and was praised by the New York Times. It has formed the basis for documentary films and was the subject of dramatic readings in Germany and the U.S. by Elysium.
Stoltzfus’ innovative work on intermarriage and the Rosenstrasse Protest has spawned a considerable debate among academics, leading to what Die Zeit called a “historian’s controversy.” Debates about the subject became a discussion forum on the academic listserv H-German, generating a webpage used in graduate seminars.
His book publications include:
Hitler’s Compromises: Coercion and Consensus in Nazi Germany (Yale University, 2016) makes an argument about the nature of the Nazi state. Hitler was able to achieve such monumental evil only because he used a range of tactics rather than mere brute force. While his dictatorship murdered millions in the name of ideology, Hitler managed his “German-blooded race” with persuasion, enticement, co-optation, compromise — tactics scholars now associate with “soft” dictators of the 21st century. Hitler’s tactical compromises worked in tandem with terror to maintain his grip on power. Social Outsiders in Nazi Germany (Princeton University Press, 2001), co-edited with Professor Robert Gellately, and also published in Turkish, this collection by leading scholars offer rich histories of the people branded as “social outsiders” in Nazi Germany: Communists, Jews, “Gypsies,” foreign workers, prostitutes, criminals, homosexuals, and the homeless, unemployed, and chronically ill. Although many works have concentrated exclusively on the relationship between Jews and the Third Reich, this collection also includes often-overlooked victims of Nazism while reintegrating the Holocaust into its wider social context.
Shades of Green: Environmental Activism around the Globe co-edited with Professors Doug Weiner and Christoph Mauch (Rowman & Littlefield, 2006) which represents the diversity of national, regional and international environmental activism, showing that the term “environmentalism” covers an entire range of perceptions, values and interests.
Courageous Resistance: The Power of Ordinary People, co-authored with Professors Kristina Thalhammer, Myron Glazer, Paula L. O’Loughlin, Sam McFarland, and Sharon Shepela
(Palgrave MacMillan, 2007 book co-authored experts in history, political science, and sociology the book introduces readers to a spectrum of types of resistance to tyranny and investigates the factors that motivate and sustain opposition to human rights violations.
Nazi Crimes and the Law, co-edited with professor and Holocaust survivor Henry Friedlander (Cambridge University Press: 2008) This book examines the use of national and international law to prosecute Nazi crimes, the centerpiece of twentieth-century state-sponsored genocide and mass murder crimes, the paradigmatic instance of state-sponsored criminality and genocide in the twentieth century.
Nathan Stoltzfus is the author of a number of articles, also for general intellectual publications including The Atlantic Monthly, Der Spiegel, The Daily Beast, and Die Zeit. He has appeared as an expert for or been quoted by a range of media, including NPR, ZDF German TV, Vogue Magazine, the Philadelphia Inquirer, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Financial Times and The Times. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard, has been a Fulbright and IREX scholar in West and East Germany, a Friedrich Ebert Stiftung grantee, a H.F. Guggenheim Foundation Scholar, and won a Florida State University Developing Scholar Award. He is an alumnus of The National Judicial College and joined its faculty in 2004.
Nathan Stoltzfus (Ph.D. Harvard 1993) is Dorothy and Jonathan Rintels Professor of Holocaust Studies at Florida State University and is author or editor of seven books.
His book Resistance of the Heart: Intermarriage and the Rosenstrasse Protest in Nazi Germany (W.W. Norton 1996, paperback 2001 with a forward by Walter Laqueur) has been translated into French (Phébus), Swedish (Leopard), Greek (University Studio Press) and German (Hanser and dtv with foreword by German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer). It was a co-recipient of the Institute of Contemporary History’s Fraenkel Prize, a ‘Book of the Year’ in the New Statesman, was #2 on the German Bestenliste for nonfiction in October, 1999, identified by Die Zeit as the ‘standard work’ on the Rosenstrasse Protest, and was praised by the New York Times. It has formed the basis for documentary films and was the subject of dramatic readings in Germany and the U.S. by Elysium.
Stoltzfus’ innovative work on intermarriage and the Rosenstrasse Protest has spawned a considerable debate among academics, leading to what Die Zeit called a “historian’s controversy.” Debates about the subject became a discussion forum on the academic listserv H-German, generating a webpage used in graduate seminars.
His book publications include:
Hitler’s Compromises: Coercion and Consensus in Nazi Germany (Yale University, 2016) makes an argument about the nature of the Nazi state. Hitler was able to achieve such monumental evil only because he used a range of tactics rather than mere brute force. While his dictatorship murdered millions in the name of ideology, Hitler managed his “German-blooded race” with persuasion, enticement, co-optation, compromise — tactics scholars now associate with “soft” dictators of the 21st century. Hitler’s tactical compromises worked in tandem with terror to maintain his grip on power. Social Outsiders in Nazi Germany (Princeton University Press, 2001), co-edited with Professor Robert Gellately, and also published in Turkish, this collection by leading scholars offer rich histories of the people branded as “social outsiders” in Nazi Germany: Communists, Jews, “Gypsies,” foreign workers, prostitutes, criminals, homosexuals, and the homeless, unemployed, and chronically ill. Although many works have concentrated exclusively on the relationship between Jews and the Third Reich, this collection also includes often-overlooked victims of Nazism while reintegrating the Holocaust into its wider social context.
Shades of Green: Environmental Activism around the Globe co-edited with Professors Doug Weiner and Christoph Mauch (Rowman & Littlefield, 2006) which represents the diversity of national, regional and international environmental activism, showing that the term “environmentalism” covers an entire range of perceptions, values and interests.
Courageous Resistance: The Power of Ordinary People, co-authored with Professors Kristina Thalhammer, Myron Glazer, Paula L. O’Loughlin, Sam McFarland, and Sharon Shepela
(Palgrave MacMillan, 2007 book co-authored experts in history, political science, and sociology the book introduces readers to a spectrum of types of resistance to tyranny and investigates the factors that motivate and sustain opposition to human rights violations.
Nazi Crimes and the Law, co-edited with professor and Holocaust survivor Henry Friedlander (Cambridge University Press: 2008) This book examines the use of national and international law to prosecute Nazi crimes, the centerpiece of twentieth-century state-sponsored genocide and mass murder crimes, the paradigmatic instance of state-sponsored criminality and genocide in the twentieth century.
Nathan Stoltzfus is the author of a number of articles, also for general intellectual publications including The Atlantic Monthly, Der Spiegel, The Daily Beast, and Die Zeit. He has appeared as an expert for or been quoted by a range of media, including NPR, ZDF German TV, Vogue Magazine, the Philadelphia Inquirer, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Financial Times and The Times. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard, has been a Fulbright and IREX scholar in West and East Germany, a Friedrich Ebert Stiftung grantee, a H.F. Guggenheim Foundation Scholar, and won a Florida State University Developing Scholar Award. He is an alumnus of The National Judicial College and joined its faculty in 2004.