Mario Keßler

Mario Keßler (born May 4, 1955 in Jena ) is a German historian.

Live and act

Mario Keßler was born in Jena in 1955 and studied history and German literature there and at the University of Leipzig. He received his doctorate in 1982 in Leipzig and completed his habilitation in 1990 at the Academy of Sciences of the GDR . Before and after that he taught at the University of Leipzig , the Free University of Berlin , the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and the Yeshiva University (New York).

Since 2005 he has held an extraordinary professorship at the University of Potsdam and is a member of the Center for Contemporary History in Potsdam .

Mario Keßler's research focuses on the history of Zionism , anti-Semitism and the labor movement with a focus on historical communism research. He presented several biographies and biographical anthologies. In 2011 he was co-signatory of an open letter to the publisher Ulla Berkéwicz of Suhrkamp Verlag against the publication of the Trotsky biography by Robert Service . Keßler and colleagues criticized the lack of scientific standards in Service's work.

Keßler is a member of the historical commission of the party Die Linke .

Membership in scientific academies and organizations

• Leibniz Society (election 2003)
• Association of Historians of Germany
• Society for the Study of the History of the Jews
• Society for Exile Research
• Society of Friends of the Leo Baeck Institute London

Fonts (selection)

• The Communist International and the Arab East (1919–1929) . Phil. Diss., University of Leipzig, 1982. (unpublished).
• Anti-Semitism, Zionism and Socialism. Labor Movement and the Jewish Question in the 20th Century. Decaton-Verlag, Mainz 1993, ISBN 3-929455-00-5 .
• Zionism and the international labor movement. 1897-1933. Preface by Theodor Bergmann . Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-05-002047-4 . (Abbreviated version of the same-named habilitation thesis (dissertation B): Academy of Sciences of the GDR, Berlin 1990).
• The SED and the Jews - between repression and tolerance. Political developments up to 1967 (= contemporary historical studies. Vol. 6). Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1995, ISBN 3-05-003007-0 . ( Digitized on zeitgeschichte-digital.de. )
• Heroic illusion and Stalin terror. Contributions to communism research. VSA-Verlag, Hamburg 1999, ISBN 3-87975-745-3 .
• Exile experience in science and politics. Remigrated historians in the early GDR (= contemporary historical studies. Vol. 18). Preface by Georg G. Iggers . Böhlau, Cologne et al. 2001, ISBN 3-412-14300-6 . ( Digitized on zeitgeschichte-digital.de. )
• Exile and post-exile. Displaced intellectuals in the 20th century. VSA-Verlag, Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-87975-877-8 .
• Arthur Rosenberg. A historian in the age of catastrophes (1889–1943) (= contemporary historical studies. Vol. 24). Preface by Theodor Bergmann. Böhlau, Cologne et al. 2003, ISBN 3-412-04503-9 . ( Digitized on zeitgeschichte-digital.de. )
• A spark of hope. Entanglements: anti-Semitism, Middle East, Stalinism. VSA-Verlag, Hamburg 2004, ISBN 3-89965-099-9 .
• From the bourgeois age to globalization. Contributions to the history of the labor movement (= series of university publications. Vol. 8). trafo, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-89626-279-3 .
• On Anti-Semitism and Socialism. Selected essays (= series of university publications. Vol. 9). trafo, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-89626-284-X .
• Ossip K. Flechtheim. Political scientist and future thinker (1909–1998) (= contemporary historical studies. Vol. 41). Böhlau, Cologne et al. 2007, ISBN 978-3-412-14206-3 . ( Digitized on zeitgeschichte-digital.de. )
• From Hippocrates to Hitler. About communism, fascism and the totalitarianism debate (= series of university publications. Vol. 20). trafo, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-89626-795-5 .
• Historia magistra vitae? About history and political education (= series of university publications. Vol. 34). trafo, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-89626-646-0 .
• Criticism of Communism in Western Post-War Germany. Franz Borkenau - Richard Löwenthal - Ossip Flechtheim. vbb - Verlag für Berlin-Brandenburg Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-942476-15-7 .
• with Werner Berthold : Klios Jünger. 100 historians from Homer to Hobsbawm. Academic Publishing House, Leipzig 2011, ISBN 978-3-931982-72-0 .
• Sectarians, learners and martyrs. Arkadij Maslow (1891–1941) , Helle Panke, Berlin 2013
• Ruth Fischer . A life with and against communists (1895–1961) (= contemporary historical studies. Vol. 51). Böhlau, Cologne et al. 2013, ISBN 978-3-412-21014-4 . ( Digitized on zeitgeschichte-digital.de. )
• Communism - For and Against. The Political Itineraries of Ruth Fischer (1895–1961) (= BzG - Kleine Reihe Biographien. Vol. 27). trafo, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-86464-035-3 .
• Moses Hess and Ferdinand Lassalle . Pioneers of Social Emancipation (= BzG - Small Series of Biographies. Vol. 28). trafo, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-86464-044-5 .
• Albert Schreiner . Communist with broken lives. * August 7th, 1892, Aglasterhausen, † August 4th, 1979, Berlin-Ost (= BzG - small series of biographies. Vol. 29). trafo, Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-86464-058-2 .
• Ed. With Wladislaw Hedeler : Reforms and reformers in communism. For Theodor Bergmann. An appreciation. VSA-Verlag, Hamburg 2015, ISBN 978-3-89965-635-0 ( online access ).
• Cross-border commuters of communism. Twelve portraits from the century of the catastrophe. Dietz-Verlag, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-320-02312-6 .
• Revolution and counterrevolution. Studies on Violence and Humanity from the Century of Disasters. trafo, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-86464-081-0 . (Collection of articles)
• Alfred Meusel - sociologist and historian between the bourgeoisie and Marxism (1896–1960). Dietz Verlag, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-32002-330-0 .
• Western emigrants. German communists between USA exile and GDR. Böhlau Verlag, Cologne 2019, ISBN 978-3-412-50044-3 .
• Leon Trotsky on anti-Semitism and fascism , Helle Panke, Berlin 2017
• For our and your freedom. The Congress of the Eastern Peoples in Baku after 100 years , in: Internationales Willi Münzenberg Forum, August 14, 2020

Web links

• Literature by and about Mario Keßler in the catalog of the German National Library
• List of publications and curriculum vitae on the ZZF Potsdam website

Individual evidence

1. ^ Open letter , Socialist Equality Party , accessed on May 17, 2015.
2. ↑ The left. Members of the Historical Commission