Helmut Krausnick was a German historian and writer.
10 Facts About Helmut Krausnick
1.
2.
Helmut Krausnick studied history and political science at the University of Breslau.
3.
Helmut Krausnick continued his academic studies at the University of Heidelberg and the Humboldt University of Berlin, where he received his doctorate in 1938.
4.
Subsequently, Helmut Krausnick worked at the National Archives; in 1940 he moved to the Archive Commission of the Foreign Office.
5.
In 1951 Helmut Krausnick joined the Institute of Contemporary History in Munich, headed by Hermann Mau.
6.
In 1959 Helmut Krausnick was appointed director of the institute, remaining in the position until his retirement in 1972.
7.
Helmut Krausnick co-authored Die Truppe des Weltanschauungskrieges, the 1981 work on the mass murder of Jews in the occupied areas of the Soviet Union by Einsatzgruppen units.
8.
Historian Peter Longerich describes the work as a "seminal academic study", which made Helmut Krausnick the leading figure in the Holocaust functionalism versus intentionalism debate.
9.
Helmut Krausnick was an "intentionalist" who posited that Hitler had made the decision to kill European Jews in the spring of 1941, in the run-up to Operation Barbarossa.
10.
Helmut Krausnick conducted research on the Commissar Order and other criminal orders and their implementation by the German armed forces.