Eric Kurlander

William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of History

Eric Kurlander teaches classes on modern German, European and world history.

  • PhD, modern European history, Harvard University
  • MA, modern European history, Harvard University
  • BA, history, Bowdoin College

Contact

Eric Kurlander

Biography

Eric Kurlander, PhD, is the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Modern European History at Stetson University. Kurlander earned his BA at Bowdoin College and his MA and PhD at Harvard University, teaching three years at Harvard before coming to Stetson in 2001. He offers courses on Modern German, European and World History. His most recent book, Modern Germany: A Global History (Oxford University Press, 2023), co-written with Bernd Grewe and Douglas McGetchin, presents the “German-speaking lands in relation to the rest of the world,” giving “space to marginalized people and groups normally ignored in traditional narratives, problematic and thematic German identity and its transformation over time.” His last monograph, Hitler's Monsters: A Supernatural History of the Third Reich (Yale University Press, 2017; paperback 2018), offers the first comprehensive study of the supernatural in Nazi Germany, illustrating how the Third Reich drew upon a wide variety of occult practices, esoteric sciences and pagan religious ideas to gain power, shape propaganda and policy and pursue their dreams of racial utopia and empire. The book has been reviewed positively in the Washington Post, Times of London, Der Spiegel and the National Review, as well as other prominent periodicals in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, France and Italy. The book has also been translated into Chinese, Russian, Italian, Polish, Czech, Croatian and Estonian (with Portuguese and Japanese editions appearing next year). 

Kurlander's other books include three edited volumes, German-Speaking Jewish Refugees in Asia, 1930-1950: Shelter from the Storm? (Routledge, 2025), co-edited with Joanne Miyang Cho and Douglas McGetchin, Revisiting the ‘Nazi Occult': Histories, Realities, Legacies, co-edited with Monica Black (Camden House, 2015) and Transcultural Encounters between Germany and India: Kindred Spirits in the 19th and 20th Centuries, co-edited with Joanne Miyang Cho and Douglas McGetchin (Routledge, 2014). His second monograph, Living With Hitler: Liberal Democrats in the Third Reich (Yale University Press, 2009), illuminates the ways in which German liberals negotiated, resisted and in some ways accommodated the Third Reich. His first book, The Price of Exclusion: Ethnicity, National Identity and the Decline of German Liberalism, 1898-1933, appeared in 2006. He has published articles in leading journals, including Central European History, German History, The Journal of Genocide Studies and The Journal of Contemporary History and held research and writing fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities; Fulbright Foundation; Alexander von Humboldt Foundation; the German Historical Institute; the German Academic Exchange Service; the Krupp Foundation; and Harvard University's Program for the Study of Germany and Europe.

At Stetson, Kurlander has received the William Hugh McEniry Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Hague Award for Excellence in Teaching in the Liberal Arts and the Hand Award for Excellence in Research and Creative Activity. He has also served as Chair of the History Department, Chair of the Sociology, Anthropology, and Public Health Department, Vice Chair of the Faculty Senate and Chair of the Academic Affairs Committee, Chair of the Professional Development Committee, Chair of the Arts & Sciences Tenure and Promotion Committee, Chair of the Faculty Finance and Budget Committee, and Co-Chair of the Task Force on Academic Freedom and Freedom of Expression, among a number of other leadership roles. His current projects include an edited volume, The Routledge History of Global Nazism (under contract) and a monograph, Before the Final Solution: A Global History of the Nazi “Jewish Question”, 1919-1941. In his free time, Kurlander enjoys reading, travel, sports and popular culture.

More About Eric Kurlander

Areas of Expertise

  • Modern European History
  • Germany and Central Europe
  • German and European Liberalism
  • The Holocaust and Anti-Semitism
  • Empire, Colonialism and World History
  • Nazism and Comparative Fascism
  • Imperial Germany and the First World War
  • The French Revolution and Modern France
  • Science, Religion and Esotericism
  • American Popular Culture and Sports History

Course Sampling

  • The French Revolution: Enlightenment, Terror and Napoleon
  • The Holocaust
  • The West in Question
  • The Age of Extremes: Class, Politics and Ideology, 1914-1989
  • World War II: A Global History
  • Introduction to Jewish Studies: Cultures, Histories, Texts
  • Baseball: A Social and Cultural History of the United States
  • Empire, Nation and Identity
  • Germany in War and Revolution: From the Second Empire to the Third Reich
  • History of Germany, 1770 - Present
  • Modern Europe, 1789-1989
  • Modern Western Civilization
  • Nazi Germany: History, Politics and Culture
  • Our Monsters, Ourselves: A Supernatural History of Self and Society
  • Research Apprenticeship
  • Senior Project
  • Teaching Apprenticeship
  • Das Dritte Reich: Auf- und Niedergang
  • Die Weltanschauung des Nationalsozialismus

  • Modern German and European politics, culture and society, 1870-1945, with a particular emphasis on liberalism, nationalism and anti-Semitism in Wilhelmine, Weimar and Nazi Germany.

Eric Kurlander's Curriculum Vitae

Books

  • German-Speaking Jewish Refugees in Asia, 1930-1950: Shelter from the Storm? (with Joanne Miyang Cho and Douglas McGetchin, eds.), New York and London: Routledge (forthcoming)
  • Modern Germany. A Global History (with Bernd Grewe and Douglas McGetchin). New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023
  • Hitler’s Monsters. A Supernatural History of the Third Reich. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2017 (Paperback edition, 2018; translated into Italian, Polish, Russian, Czech, Estonian, Croatian, and Chinese)
  • Revisiting the Nazi Occult. Histories, Realities, Legacies (with Monica Black, ed.). Rochester: Camden House, 2015 (Paperback edition, 2019)
  • Transcultural Encounters between Germany and India. Kindred Spirits in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (with Joanne Miyang Cho and Douglas McGetchin, eds.), New York and London: Routledge, 2014
  • Living With Hitler. Liberal Democrats in the Third Reich, 1933-1945. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2009 (translated into Czech)
  • The Price of Exclusion. Ethnicity, National Identity, and the Decline of German Liberalism, 1898-1933. New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2006 (translated into Czech)

Refereed Articles and Book Chapters

  • “Strange Havens? Shanghai, Yunnan, and Manchuria as East Asian ‘Solutions’ to the ‘Jewish Question,’ 1933 – 1941.” Joanne Miyang Cho, Eric Kurlander, Douglas McGetchin, eds., German-Speaking Jewish Refugees in Asia, 1930-1950: Shelter from the Storm? New York and London: Routledge (forthcoming)
  • “Race-thinking, Völkisch-Nationalism, and Eugenics.” Mark Roseman and Dan Stone, eds. Cambridge History of the Holocaust, v. 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (forthcoming)
  • "“In the spirit that all races are equal”? Alternative “Solutions” to the Nazi “Jewish Question” in Wartime Shanghai, 1939 – 1942." Asian Review of World Histories (forthcoming)
  • “Otto Scheel: From National Liberal Theologian to Völkisch Nazi Prophet, 1876-1954.” Julien Reitzenstein and Darren O’Byrne, eds., Handbook Ideologies in National Socialism, v. 1. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2024.
  • “Prelude to Genocide or Late-Stage ‘Territorialism’? The Nazi ‘Madagascar Plan’ in Comparative and Colonial Context, 1936–1940.” Journal of Genocide Research (Fall 2023), 1-26.
  • “Conspiracy thinking and the long historical shadow of Romanticism on authoritarian politics.” (w/ Steven M. Smallpage, Robert L. Askew, Joshua B. Rust). Frontiers in Psychology. Vol. 14 (2023), 1-37.
  • “The Political Mythology of Nazism.” Carol Rittner, ed. Holocaust Education Today: Confronting Extremism, Hate, and Mass Atrocity Crimes. Greensburg, PA: Seton Hill University Press, 2023, 77-92.
  • “Before the ‘Final Solution.’ Toward A Global History of the Nazi ‘Jewish Question’, 1919-1945.” Revue d'histoire de la Shoah. Nr. 215 (March 2022), pp. 291-326.
  • “Hitler as Politician and Dictator.” Klaus Larres, ed. Dictators and Autocrats. Securing Power Across Global Politics. New York and London: Routledge, 2021, pp. 19-37.
  • “Foreword.” Christopher Webster, ed. Photography in the Third Reich: Art, Physiognomy and Propaganda.Cambridge (UK): Open Book Publishers, 2021, pp. VII-XIII.
  • “Liberal Women and National Socialism. (Dis)continuities in Conceptions of Race, Space, and Social Policy, 1930-1939.” Elke Seefried, Ernst Wolfgang Becker, Frank Bajohr und Johannes Hürter, eds. Liberalismus und Nationalsozialismus. Eine Beziehungsgeschichte. Wiesbaden: Steiner 2020, pp. 133-157.
  • “A Response to the Review of Hitler’s Monsters: A Supernatural History of the Third Reich.” Aries. Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism. v.20 (2020), pp. 109-113.
  • “Nazism and Religion.” Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019, pp. 1-37.
  • “Nazismus und Esoterik.” Helmut Reinalter, ed. Handbuch der Verschwörungstheorien. Vienna: Salier, 2018, pp. 194-200.
  • “Liberalism Between Retreat and Accommodation: The Role of Politics, Class, and Ideology, 1930-1934.” Norbert Frei and Kristina Meyer, eds. Wie bürgerlich war der Nationalsozialismus? Göttingen: Wallstein, 2018, pp. 63-77.
  • “Völkisch-Esoteric and Völkisch-Religious Movements in Germany and Austria, 1890-1945.” Michael Fahlbusch, Ingo Haar, Alexander Pinwinkler, eds., Handbuch der völkischen Wissenschaft (2nd Edition). Berlin: De Gruyter, 2017.
  • “Otto Scheel.” Michael Fahlbusch, Ingo Haar, Alexander Pinwinkler, eds., Handbuch der völkischen Wissenschaften (2nd Edition). Berlin: De Gruyter, 2017.
  • “‘One Foot in Atlantis, One in Tibet.' The Roots and Legacies of Nazi Theories on Atlantis, 1890-1945.” Leidschrift: Historische Tijdschrift, v. 42, nr. 1 (January 2017), pp. 81-102.
  • “The Nazi Magician's Controversy: Enlightenment, “Border Science”, and Occultism in the Third Reich. Central European History, v. 48, nr. 4 (December 2015), pp. 498-522.
  • “Hitler's Supernatural Sciences: Astrology, Anthroposophy, and World Ice Theory.” Monica Black and Eric Kurlander, eds., The Nazi Soul Between Science and Religion: Revisiting the Occult Roots of Nazism. Elizabethtown, NY: Camden House, 2015, pp. 132-156.
  • “Liberalism in Imperial Germany, 1871-1918.” Matthew Jefferies, ed., Ashgate Research Companion to Imperial Germany. London: Ashgate, 2015, pp. 91-110.
  • “Between Weimar's Horrors and Hitler's Monsters: The Politics of Race, Nationalism, and Cosmopolitanism in Hanns Heinz Ewers Supernatural Imaginary.'”Rainer Godel, Erdmut Jost und Barry Murnane, eds. Zwischen Popularisierung und Ästhetisierung? Hanns Heinz Ewers und die Moderne. Bielefeld, Moderne Studien (Aisthesis), 2014, pp. 229-256.
  • “The Orientalist Roots of National Socialism? Nazism, Occultism, and South Asian Spirituality, 1919-1945.” Joanne Miyang Cho, Eric Kurlander, and Douglas McGetchin, eds., Transcultural Encounters between Germany and India: Kindred Spirits in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, New York and London, Routledge, 2014, pp. 155-169.
  • “Hitler's Monsters: The Occult Roots of Nazism and the Emergence of the Nazi ‘Supernatural Imaginary.'” German History,v. 30, nr. 4 (December 2012), pp. 528-549.
  • “Between Völkisch and Universal Visions of Empire: Liberal Imperialism in Mitteleuropa, 1890-1918.” Matthew Fitzpatrick, ed., Liberal Imperialism in Europe, London: Palgrave, 2012, pp. 141-166.
  • “Violence, Volksgemeinschaft, and Empire: Interpreting the Third Reich in the Twenty-First Century.” Journal of Contemporary History, 46 (October 2011), nr. 4, pp. 920-934. 
  • “Between Detroit and Moscow: A Left Liberal Third Way in the Third Reich.” Central European History, v. 44, nr. 2 (May 2011), pp. 279-307.
  • “‘I Am No Anti-Semite, but I Am Also No Jew': Liberalism and The ‘Jewish Question' in the Third Reich.” Bulletin of the German Historical Institute, nr. 42, Spring 2008, pp. 49-63.
  • “Otto Scheel.” Michael Fahlbusch and Ingo Haar, eds., Handbuch der völkischen Wissenschaften. Munich: K.G. Saur, 2008, pp. 614-619.
  • “The Landscapes of Liberalism: Particularism and Progressive Politics in Two Borderland Regions.” David Blackbourn and Jim Retallack, eds., Localism, Landscape, and the Dilemmas of Place: Germany 1871-1918, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2007, pp. 124-146.
  • “Völkisch Nationalism and Universalism on the Margins of the Reich: A Comparison of Majority and Minority Liberalism in Germany, 1898-1933.” Mark Roseman, Neil Gregor, and Nils Roemer, eds. Germany From the Margins, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006, pp. 84-103.
  • “New Approaches to Bourgeois Resistance in Germany and Austria, 1933-1945.” History Compass, v. 4, nr. 2 (2006), pp. 275-292.
  • “Negotiating National Socialism: Liberal Non-Conformity and Accommodation in the Period of Gleichschaltung.” Jahrbuch zur Liberalismus-Forschung, v. 17, 2005. pp. 59-76.
  • “Republikanischer Partikularismus als elsäßische Integrationsmodell zwischen Kaiserreich und Nationalsozialismus.” Elke Huwiler und Nicole Wachter, eds., Integrationen des Widerläufigen, Hamburg: LIT-Verlag, 2004, pp. 93-102.
  • “Otto Scheel: National Liberal, Nordmark Prophet.” Michael Fahlbusch and Ingo Haar, ed. German Scholars and Ethnic Cleansing 1920-1945. New York and Oxford: Berghann Books, 2004, pp. 200-212.
  • “Nationalism, Ethnic Preoccupation and the Decline of German Liberalism: A Silesian Case Study, 1898-1933.” The Historian, v. 65, nr. 1, Fall 2002, pp. 95-121.
  • “Multicultural and Assimilationist Models of Ethnopolitical Integration in the Context of the German Nordmark, 1890-1933.” The Global Review of Ethnopolitics, v. 1. nr. 3, March 2002, pp. 39-52.
  • “The Rise of Völkisch Nationalism and the Decline of German Liberalism: A Comparison of Schleswig-Holstein and Silesian Political Cultures, 1912-1924.” European Review of History, v. 9. nr. 1, January 2002, pp. 23-36.