Gerhard Ritter

Who was Gerhard Ritter?

Gerhard Georg Bernhard Ritter was a nationalist-conservative German historian, who served as a professor of history at the University of Freiburg from 1925 to 1956. He studied under Professor Hermann Oncken. A Lutheran, he first became well known for his 1925 biography of Martin Luther and hagiographic portrayal of Prussia. A member of the German People's Party during the Weimar Republic, he was a lifelong monarchist and remained sympathetic to the political system of the defunct German Empire. A critic of both democracy and totalitarianism, he supported authoritarian rule and German supremacy in Europe. His vision of history was narrowed to German interests and of little sympathy to foreign nations, while full of disdain for Catholicism He cooperated with Nazi historians on anti-Polish propaganda. Eventually due to his conflict with Nazi regime, he was arrested by the Nazi regime in 1944. Following World War II, Professor Ritter worked to restore German nationalism by attempting to separate it from Nazi ideology, and favored pursuit of German national interests rather than reconciliation with victims of German aggression. At the end of his career, he argued against theories of the German historian Fritz Fischer. Ritter was an honorary member of the American Historical Association from 1959.