Heinz A. Richter

Heinz A. Richter (born 18 March 1939) is 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."^[1] 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.^[2]

Richter has commented also on the current state of the affairs of Greece,^[3] as well as Cyprus.^[4]

Controversy

In November 2014, the University of Crete awarded Richter with a honoris Ph.D. for his historical work. The award provoked protests by historians and the Greek public who claimed that Richter, in his work, has smeared the reputation of Cretan resistance and assigned noble incentives to the Nazi invaders. In his book on the Battle of Crete, Richter describes Nazi paratroopers as "brave knights" and "idealistic".^[5] Furthermore, he was criticized for his statements in an interview he gave to the Greek newspaper Kathimerini, where he spoke of destruction in Greek islands and villages by "the Germans, the Italians, the communists and the nationalists"; this was seen as moral relativism, attempting to assign equal weight to the actions of the occupation forces and the local Greek guerrillas.^[6][7] Despite the initial refuting of these claims by the then-authorities of the university,^[7] the university decided to remove his title in 2016 ^[8]

Awards

Richter was presented by the Greek President, for his "services to Greek history," with the Gold Cross of the Order of the Phoenix, in 2000.

Selected works

• Griechenland: zwischen Revolution und Konterrevolution 1936–1946, Europäische Verlagsanstalt, Frankfurt, 1973; Δύo επαvαστάσεις και αvτεπαvαστάσεις στηv Eλλάδα 1936–1946, Exantas, Athens, 1977
• British Intervention in Greece: From Varkiza to Civil War, February 1945 – August 1946. The Merlin Press, London, 1986; Η επέμβαση τωv Άγγλωv στηv Ελλάδα: Από τη Βάρκιζα στov Eμφύλιo Πόλεμo, Estia, Athens, 1997
• Griechenland im Zweiten Weltkrieg August 1939 – Juni 1941 Syndikat, Bodenheim, 1997; Η Ιταλο–γερμανική επίθεση εναντίον της Ελλάδος, Αύγουστος 1939 – Ιούνιος 1941, Govostis, Athens, 1998–1999
• Operation Merkur: Die Eroberung der Insel Kreta im Mai 1941, Rutzen, Ruhpolding, 2011; Η μάχη της Κρήτης, Govostis, Athens, 2011

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