01/08/99
Contact: Jeffrey Herf, (740)593-0221, herf@ohio.edu
ATHENS, Ohio -- The American Historical Association awarded Ohio University Associate Professor of History Jeffrey Herf the George Louis Beer prize for his book "Divided Memory: The Nazi Past in the Two Germanys" at the association's annual awards ceremony in Washington, D.C., Friday night.
The Beer prize is awarded annually in recognition of outstanding historical writing in European international history in the period since 1895. Herf's book, published in 1997, was chosen from among 40 entries by a panel of historians from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Indiana University, Princeton University and the University of California at San Diego.
"Divided Memory" examines East and West German attitudes toward the Holocaust and other crimes of the Nazi era from the 1930s through 1990. Herf was among the first historians to review records from the archives of the East German Ministry of State Security, or Stasi, which were unavailable prior to the reunification of Germany.
" Divided Memory' presents a masterful account of the interrelationship between memory and the Nazi past, the Holocaust, and political developments in the two Germanys," the prize committee said in a prepared statement. "Based on extensive and pathbreaking new research in both East and West German archives, it places these two contrasting patterns within the broader context of German history and the international relations of the Cold War, and is particularly illuminating with regard to policy and doctrine in East Germany. Its scope is not, however, limited to Germany alone, serving to enrich a broader understanding of the postwar period."
Herf joined the faculty at Ohio University in 1996. He previously served as a visiting professor and lecturer at Mount Holyoke College, Emory University, Brandeis University, Naval War College, College of Holy Cross and Harvard University. He was a Fulbright Visiting Professor at the University of Freiburg, Germany, and has worked at Harvard's Center for European Studies, the German Historical Institute in Washington and the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton.
"There is only one prize given at the senior level for works in general modern European history each year, and that's the George Louis Beer Prize. It's like the Academy Award for historians. " Herf said. " Divided Memory' is the first comparative history that deals with both the German states and how they addressed their Nazi past. The book also deals with a number of important issues regarding memory, justice and democracy that are still of significance today in countries such as Bosnia, Russia and South Africa.
Herf is the second Ohio University faculty member to win the prestigious Beer award within the last 10 years. Ohio University Associate Professor of History Steven M. Miner received the award for his book "Between Churchill and Stalin: The Soviet Union, Great Britain, and the Origins of the Grand Alliance" in 1990.
"The prize is further proof of Herf's stature as one of the leading historians of mid-20th century Germany and our department's great strength in contemporary history," said Bruce Steiner, chair of Ohio University Department of History.
Herf, a native of Milwaukee, Wis., earned a bachelor's degree in history at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, a master's degree in history at the State University of New York at Buffalo and a doctorate degree in sociology at Brandeis University.
"Divided Memory" already has attracted international attention. In 1996, the manuscript was awarded the Fraenkel Prize in Contemporary History by London's Contemporary History Institute and the Wiener Library.
The American Historical Association is the largest historical society in the United States. The George Louis Beer Prize was established by a bequest from Professor Beer, a historian who studied the British colonial system prior to 1765.