Walther Hofer

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Walther Hofer (1986)

Walther Hofer (born November 10, 1920 in Kappelen ; † June 1, 2013 in Stettlen ) was a Swiss historian and politician ( BGB , SVP ).

Live and act

Hofer, the son of a teacher and community clerk, studied history, philosophy and German at the universities of Bern and Zurich from 1939 to 1946 . In 1947 he was in Zurich with a thesis on " Friedrich Meinecke as historical thinkers" doctorate . After his assistantship at the history seminar of the University of Zurich and his work as a lecturer at the military school of the ETH Zurich , he taught at the Free University of Berlin from 1950 . In 1952 he received his habilitation there with the thesis “The European Powers and the Outbreak of World War II” and in 1954 he was appointed associate professor and in 1958 full professor for the science of politics with a focus on the history and theory of foreign policy. At the same time he taught at the German School of Politics , where from 1954 he headed the Department of Foreign Policy and Foreign Studies . 1959/60 he taught at Columbia University in New York. In 1960 he was appointed full professor of modern history by the University of Bern , where he remained until his retirement in 1988 and headed the historical institute.

In 1963 Hofer was elected to the National Council, of which he was a member until 1979. From 1967 to 1980 he was a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and also President of the Political Commission of the Council of Europe. From 1983 to 1992 Hofer was President of the Organization of the Swiss Abroad . Hofer was also a board member of the Swiss Society for Foreign Policy.

As the founder of the Swiss Television and Radio Association, the so-called "Hofer Club", Hofer fought in the spirit of the Cold War for greater control of what he believed to be left-wing media workers.

In addition to books and essays on the history of the Second World War , international relations and human rights, as well as on the philosophy and theory of history, he was particularly well-received with the widely published work «Der Nationalozialismus, Documents 1933–1945» , which he published and commented on Times was published as a paperback by Fischer-Verlag in Frankfurt, known. It has been translated into eight languages. His book Die Entfesselung des Second World War , which emerged from the Berlin habilitation thesis, was published in its sixth edition in 2007. In the preface to the sixth edition, Hofer wrote that it has " been part of the core of the literature on the Third Reich for decades ". One thesis of this book read: « The war of 1939 was planned for a long time, carefully prepared and finally consciously triggered by the leader of the Third Reich, under sole responsibility, so to speak, but with diplomatic support from the Soviet Russian government. »

In the controversy surrounding the question of the perpetrator in the Reichstag fire in 1933, Hofer exposed himself from the 1970s in two volumes published together with Edouard Calic and others as a representative of the thesis of Nazi perpetration. The accusation of falsification of the sources raised against these publications has discredited the thesis of the National Socialist perpetrators for years. Heinrich August Winkler wrote, for example: "The publications of the International Committee Luxembourg [...] have been shown to have been so many forgeries that it is unnecessary to quote them."

In 1983 Hofer received the German Great Federal Cross of Merit for his complete works .

Hofer is the grandfather of the model Tamy Glauser .

Fonts (selection)

As an author
  • Historiography and Weltanschauung. Reflections on the work of Friedrich Meinecke . Oldenbourg, Munich 1950 (dissertation, University of Zurich 1949).
  • The unleashing of the Second World War. Presentation and documents. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1954 (habilitation thesis entitled The European Powers and the Outbreak of the Second World War , Free University Berlin, 1952); most recently: Lit, Zurich 2007, ISBN 978-3-03-735159-8 .
  • History between Philosophy and Politics: Studies on the Problems of Modern Historical Thought. Publishing house for law and society, Basel 1956.
  • Perspectives on world politics. Fretz & Wasmuth, Zurich 1964.
  • Powers and Forces in the 20th Century: Collected Articles and Speeches for the 65th Birthday. Edited by Peter Maurer . Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zurich 1985, ISBN 3-85823-129-0 .
  • With Herbert R. Reginbogin : Hitler, the West and Switzerland 1936–1945. Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zurich 2001, ISBN 3-85823-882-1 .
As editor
  • National Socialism. Documents 1933-1945. Ed., Introduced and illustrated by Walther Hofer. Fischer Library, Frankfurt am Main 1957; Revised new edition: Fischer Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1982, ISBN 3-596-26084-1 .
  • Friedrich Meinecke : The idea of ​​the raison d'être in modern history. Edited and introduced by Walther Hofer. Oldenbourg, Munich 1957.
  • Science in the Total State. Edited and introduced by Walther Hofer. Haupt, Bern 1964.
  • Europe and the unity of Germany: A balance sheet after 100 years. Verlag Wissenschaft und Politik, Cologne 1970, ISBN 3-8046-8417-3 .
  • With Edouard Calic , Karl Stephan , Friedrich Zipfel (eds.): The Reichstag fire. A scientific documentation. 2 volumes. Arani, Berlin 1972/1978; New edition: Ahriman, Freiburg im Breisgau 1992, ISBN 3-922774-80-6 .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Pirmin Meier : Time chronicler and "homo per se." Walther Hofer's fight for the sovereignty to interpret historical phenomena. In: Swiss month . June 2013, accessed August 24, 2019 (obituary).
  2. ↑ Peter Stettler: Hofer, Walther. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . March 11, 2014 , accessed August 24, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Two Schnipser - and Poland was lost: New theses on the outbreak of the Second World War. In: Der Spiegel 24/1962. June 13, 1962, pp. 34-45 , accessed August 24, 2019 .
  4. ↑ With Edouard Calic , Karl Stephan, Friedrich Zipfel (Ed.): The Reichstag fire. A scientific documentation. 2 volumes. Arani, Berlin 1972/1978; New edition: Ahriman, Freiburg im Breisgau 1992, ISBN 3-922774-80-6 .
  5. ↑ Uwe Backes, Karl-Heinz Janßen, Eckhard Jesse, Henning Koehler, Hans Mommsen, Fritz Tobias: Reichstag fire. Clarification of a historical legend. Piper Verlag, Munich 1986
  6. ↑ Winkler: Weg in die Katastrophe , p. 880.
personal data
SURNAME Hofer, Walther
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss historians and politicians (BGB, SVP)
DATE OF BIRTH November 10, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH Kappelen , Canton of Bern , Switzerland
DATE OF DEATH 1st June 2013
Place of death Stettlen , Canton of Bern , Switzerland