Henrik Eberle

Henrik Eberle (born 3 May 1970) is a German historian. During the first decade of the twenty-first century he came to prominence beyond the confines of the German academic community with compilations, books, articles and interviews concerned with Adolf Hitler. Some of these have been translated into English.[1][2]

Henrik Eberle
Born (1970-05-03) May 3, 1970
Karl-Marx-Stadt, East Germany
EducationMartin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg
OccupationHistorian
Known forThe Hitler Book

Life

Henrik Eberle was born in Karl-Marx-Stadt (as Chemnitz was known between 1953 and 1990). His father was an engineer and his mother was a pharmacist.

Eberle studied history at Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, receiving his doctorate for a substantial work on the Martin Luther University under Naziism ("Die Martin-Luther-Universität in der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus")[3] which was published as a book in 2002.[4] By this time he had embarked on a career as a freelance writer and contributing editor. Media channels to which he contributed included Die Zeit and ZDF. A biographical work on Erich Honecker appeared in 2000[5] and broke new ground, providing thoughtful and well-informed insights.[6] It was considered controversial in some quarters. Eberle himself insisted that it could not be classified as a satisfactory biography because it had not been possible to access Soviet archives from the 1950s and 1960s, a period crucial in Honecker's rise to power, and one during which within the party politburo Central Committee he had apparently been promoting plans for the invasion of West Germany.[6]

Produced jointly by Eberle and his colleague Matthias Uhl,[7] The Hitler Book has now been translated into more than 30 languages.[8] It consists of a lengthy secret report prepared by senior NKVD officers and presented in 1949 to Joseph Stalin. The report had been inaccessible to western researchers for many years, and after 1991 apparently overlooked for another decade. The Soviet compilers had been able to access large amounts of documentary material captured when the Soviets had invaded the eastern part of Berlin (including the Chancellery and the bunker in which Hitler had killed himself), and to extensively interview the Nazi leader's valet Heinz Linge and personal adjutant Otto Günsche.[9]

Two years later, Eberle followed up The Hitler Book with "Briefe an Hitler", a 434-page compilation of hitherto unpublished letters received by Hitler,[10] which makes extensive use of material found during searches of the Russian Defence Ministry archives along with other sources including the files of the estranged younger brother of Martin Bormann, Albert Bormann, who had handled much of their leader's routine correspondence.[11]

For 2009 Henrik Eberle joined up with the physician and writer Hans-Joachim Neumann and together they produced a book entitled War Hitler krank? ("Was Hitler ill?"). The two of them revisited various sources, paying particular attention to papers from Hitler's private physician, Theo Morell, and produced a contribution on the psychopathography of Adolf Hitler.[12] The book lists 82 different medications that Hitler used while he was in charge of Germany, and debunks various popular myths along the way, while also concluding that towards the end of his life he began to suffer from Parkinson's disease.[2] The authors concluded that Hitler suffered from various conventional ailments, but was not mentally ill.[2]

References
  1. "Eberle, Henrik publications". Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, Frankfurt am Main. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  2. Christoph Gunkel (4 February 2010). "Medicating a Madman: A Sober Look at Hitler's Health". Der Spiegel (online). Retrieved 14 January 2010.
  3. "Dr. Henrik Eberle - Lehrstuhl für Zeitgeschichte: Kurzbiographie". Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Halle. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  4. Henrik Eberle (2002). Die Martin-Luther-Universität in der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus. Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle. ISBN 978-3-89812-150-7.
  5. Henrik Eberle (2000). Anmerkungen zu Honecker. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf. ISBN 978-3-89602-318-6.
  6. Thomas Franke (15 January 2001). "Henrik Eberle: Anmerkungen zu Honecker (review)". Deutschlandradio, Köln. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  7. "Dr. Matthias Uhl: Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter". Deutsches Historisches Institut Moskau. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  8. Henrik Eberle. Bastei Lübbe AG, Köln. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  9. van Soest, Arnoud (interviewer); Eberle, Henrik; Uhl, Matthias (26 November 2005). "'Hitler wist meer van gaskamers dan men denkt' - Een interview met de historici Henrik Eberle en Matthias Uhl (interview transcription)" (in Dutch). 8WEEKLY Webmagazine, Utrecht. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  10. "Briefe an Hitler. Ein Volk schreibt seinem Führer. Unbekannte Dokumente aus Moskauer Archiven (Letters to Hitler: A People Writes To Its Führer)". New Books in German - A selection from Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Charlotte Ryland i.A. Goethe-Institut, London. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2016-01-14.
  11. Henrik Eberle (16 October 2007). Briefe an Hitler: Ein Volk schreibt seinem Führer. Unbekannte Dokumente aus Moskauer Archiven - zum ersten Mal veröffentlicht. Bastei Lübbe AG, Köln. ISBN 978-3-78572-310-4.
  12. Sven Felix Kellerhoff (2 December 2009). "Hitler war nicht geisteskrank – medizinisch gesehen: Er litt an vielen Dingen: Das Buch "War Hitler krank?" versucht, einen "abschließenden Befund" über die Krankheiten des Diktators zu geben". Die Welt. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
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