Heinz A. Richter (18 March 1939 – 7 March 2024) was a German historian, known for his work on the history of World War II in the Balkans, the history of modern Greece and the modern history of Cyprus.
Biography Heinz A. Richter was born on 18 March 1939, in Heilbronn, in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. He started reading Greek mythology at a very young age and, in high school, his professor of History "excited his interest for classical Greek antiquity."Interview with prof. Dr. Heinz A. Richter , Hypervasi, 3 July 2012 (in Greek) Richter studied History, Political Science and English Literature at the Heidelberg University. He was professor of Greek and Cypriot modern history at the University of Mannheim from 1991 up to 2003.
In his book Griechenland im Zweiten Weltkrieg 1939-1941, Richter provided a narrative account of the war in the Balkans from the Greek and Allied side, using published sources only.Hancock, Eleanor & Craig Stockins. Swastika over the Acropolis: Re-interpreting the Nazi Invasion of Greece in World War II, Brill, 2013,
Richter also commented on the current state of the affairs of Greece,Richter, Heinz A. "Athener Klientelismus: Die politische Kultur Griechenlands und die Wurzel der Schuldenkrise" ("Athenian clientelism: The political culture of Greece and the root of the debt crisis"), in Lettre International magazine, #096, Spring 2012. Retrieved 24 February 2015. as well as Cyprus.Richter, Heinz A. "Die Troika versteht Zypern nicht" ("The troika does not understand Cyprus"), Handelszeitung, 14 August 2012 (in German)
Controversy In November 2014, the University of Crete awarded Richter an honoris Ph.D. for his historical work. The award provoked protests by some Greek historians and other academics who claimed that Richter, in his work, has "smeared" the reputation of Cretan resistance and assigned "noble incentives" to the Nazi invaders. Additionally, in an interview Richter gave to the Greek newspaper Kathimerini, he spoke of the destruction brought upon Greek islands and villages by "the Germans, the Italians, the communists and the nationalists", which some Greek commentators viewed as "moral relativism," assigning equal weight to the actions of the occupation forces and the local Greek guerrillas."Richter earthquake in Crete", Ethnos newspaper, 21 November 2014 (in Greek)
Richter rejected all the accusations against his work, stating that his duty as a historian is to relate what he "believe[s] to be the historical truth,""The science of History in the defendant's stand", Kathimerini, 5 December 2015 (in Greek) and defending the point he made that "until Operation Mercury, World War Two had been a relatively 'clean' war, with both sides respecting the laws of war." The university's authorities initially declined the appeals made by Greek politicians and academics and rejected the claims of bias. Εventually, and after a formal, intra-university appeal,"Appeal against the honoris award to Mr. H. Richter" by Dimitris Xenakis, Assistant Professor of International Politics, and Dimitris Kotroyannos, Professor of Philosophy, 19 May 2016 (in Greek) the university voted to remove his title in 2016."The honoris doctoral title to Richter has been removed", Kathimerini, 27 May 2016 (in Greek) Richter stated that he felt "honored" to be only the second German academic to ever have his academic title removed, the first being, as he claimed, Thomas Mann by the Nazis. The revocation finally went through in 2018. In December 2021, the Council of State rejected Richter's application to annul the revocation, making it final within the Greek legal system.
Τrial In November 2015, Athens' public prosecutor indicted Richter under Art. 2 of "anti-racist" and "hate speech" law 4285/2014, for "denying Nazi crimes against the people of Crete.""German historian Heinz Richter innocent in the trial about the Battle of Crete book", CNN Greece, 10 February 2016 (in Greek) Many Greek academics signed statements defending Richter from the accusations. The Athens-based European Society of Modern Greek Studies also issued statements supporting him.
On 10 February 2016, Richter, after being tried in absentia, was found innocent of all charges.
Death and obituary Richter died on 7 March 2024, at the age of 84.
Greek historians Stratos Dordanas, Vaios Kalogrias, Nikos Papanastasiou, and Andreas Stergiou wrote his obituary in Kathimerini, which offered a generally favorable assessment of Richter's life, career and scholarship.
Awards In 2000, Richter was presented by the Greek President Kostis Stephanopoulos, for his "exceptional acts, which raised the international prestige of Greece," with the Gold Cross of the Order of the Phoenix."Heinz Richter: the first person indicted under Art.2 of the anti-racism law", Law News, 15 December 2015 (in Greek)"Anti-racism law vs. Heinz Richter" by Mihalis Mitsos, I Avgi, (in Greek)
Selected works Griechenland: zwischen Revolution und Konterrevolution 1936–1946 (Greece: Between revolution and counter-revolution 1936-1946), Europäische Verlagsanstalt, Frankfurt, 1973; Δύo επαvαστάσεις και αvτεπαvαστάσεις στηv Eλλάδα 1936–1946 (Two revolutions and counter-revolutions in Greece 1936-1946), Exantas, Athens, 1977 British Intervention in Greece: From Varkiza to Civil War, February 1945 – August 1946, Merlin Press, London, 1986; Η επέμβαση τωv Άγγλωv στηv Ελλάδα: Από τη Βάρκιζα στov Εμφύλιo Πόλεμο, Hestia, Athens, 1997 Griechenland im Zweiten Weltkrieg, August 1939 – Juni 1941 (Greece in the Second World War, August 1939 - June 1941), Syndikat, Bodenheim, 1997; Η Ιταλο–γερμανική επίθεση εναντίον της Ελλάδος (The Italian-German attack against Greece), Govostis, Athens, 1998–1999 Operation Merkur: Die Eroberung der Insel Kreta im Mai 1941 (Operation Mercury: The Conquest of Crete in May 1941), Rutzen, Ruhpolding, 2011; Η μάχη της Κρήτης (The battle of Crete), Govostis, Athens, 2011 Griechenland 1940–1950: Die Zeit der Bürgerkriege (Greece 1940–1950: The Time of the Civil Wars), Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 2012 Griechenland 1950–1974: Zwischen Diktatur und Demokratie (Greece 1950–1974: Between Dictatorship and Democracy), Verlag Franz Philipp Rutzen, Mainz/Ruhpolding, 2013 Der Krieg im Südosten, Band 1: Gallipoli 1915 (The War in the Southeast, Volume 1: Gallipoli 1915), Rutzen, Ruhpolding, 2014 Der Krieg im Südosten, Band 2: Makedonien 1915–1918 (The War in the Southeast, Volume 2: Macedonia 1915–1918), Rutzen, Ruhpolding, 2014 Geschichte Griechenlands im 20. Jahrhundert, Band 1: 1900–1939 (History of Greece in the 20th Century, Volume 1: 1900–1939), 2nd revised edition, Rutzen, Mainz/Ruhpolding, 2015 Geschichte Griechenlands im 20. Jahrhundert, Band 2: 1939–2004 (History of Greece in the 20th Century, Volume 2: 1939–2004), Rutzen, Mainz/Ruhpolding, 2015 Griechenland 1945–1946: Die britische Intervention (Greece 1945–1946: The British Intervention), Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 2016 Der griechisch-türkische Krieg 1919–1922 (The Greek-Turkish War 1919–1922), Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 2016; Ο ελληνοτουρκικός πόλεμος 1919–1922: Από το όνειρο της «Μεγάλης Ιδέας» στη Μικρασιατική Καταστροφή, Govostis, Athens, 2020 Mythen und Legenden in der griechischen Zeitgeschichte (Myths and Legends in Modern Greek History), Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 2016 Hellas und Zypern in meinem Leben: Erinnerungen eines Zeithistorikers (Greece and Cyprus in My Life: Memoirs of a Contemporary Historian), Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 2017 Geschichte der griechischen Linken (History of the Greek Left), Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 2017 Das Osmanische Reich im Ersten Weltkrieg bis zum Friedensschluss 1923 (The Ottoman Empire in the First World War up to the Peace Treaty of 1923), Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 2018 Die türkischen Meerengen in der internationalen Politik 1900–1917 (The Turkish Straits in International Politics 1900–1917), Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 2018 Die Griechen im Osmanischen Reich 1913–1923: Ihre Verfolgung und Vertreibung (The Greeks in the Ottoman Empire 1913–1923: Their Persecution and Expulsion), Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 2018; Ο ελληνισμός στην Οθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία: Εκτοπισμοί, διωγμοί και ξεριζωμός (1913–1923), Govostis, Athens, 2021 Greek History in the 20th Century: Collected Articles (Greece in the 20th Century: Collected Articles), Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 2021 Cyprus in the 19th & 20th Century: Collected Articles, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 2021 The Conflicts of the Aegean in the 20th Century (Die Ägäiskonflikte im 20. Jahrhundert), Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 2022 Griechenland von der deutschen Besatzung zur britischen Okkupation (Greece from the German Occupation to the British Occupation), Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 2022 Aspekte griechischer Geschichte im II. Weltkrieg (Aspects of Greek History in the Second World War), Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 2022 Smyrna 1922: Ein Augenzeugenbericht (Smyrna 1922: An Eyewitness Account), Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 2022
References
External links Personal page at the University of Mannheim website Bibliography "Some remarks on the political cultures of Greece, Cyprus and Turkey " : speech delivered at the Goethe Institute, Nicosia, Cyprus, 3 May 2012