Celebrated historian returns for sell-out crowds

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On Tuesday, December 2, leading historian and academic, Sir Ian Kershaw, delivered a much anticipated talk to a packed University House as part of The Exchange programme of lectures.

Widely regarded as one of the world's foremost experts on Nazism and Hitler, Kershaw's willingness to return to Hitler for this talk came as something of a surprise, him having vowed never again to lecture on the subject ten years ago in 1998.

Organised jointly between the History and Politics Societies, the sell-out event drew a wide audience from both University students and staff,as well as from members of the local community and beyond.

Kershaw gave a wide-ranging and engaging talk that covered the entire span of Hitler's political career, from his lowly beginnings as a Vienna down-and-out, through his meteoric rise to power on the wave of economic depression in theearly 1930s, to his eventual suicide in 1945.

Kershaw then received anumberof questions from the floor. Afterwards, the debate continued in the Interval bar, with drinks and a buffet. Kershaw described his return to the University as a "pleasure".

After studying at Liverpool and Oxford, Kershaw has enjoyed a prolific career, holding professorships at the Universities of Manchester, Ruhr and Nottingham before joining the University of Sheffield's Department of History in 1989, in the capacity of Professor of Modern History. He has recently retired.

Kershaw has written a number of influential books on Hitler and The Third Reich, his most recent publication being a single-volume version of his renowned biography of Adolf Hitler, entitled Hitler. He was also involved with the BAFTA-winning BBC Television series, 'The Nazis: A Warning from History', BBC2's 'War of the Century', and the BBC's 'Timewatch' programmes on 'Operation Sealion', where he acted as historical advisor.

He was knighted in 2002 for Services to History.

Begun in 2007, The Exchange programme is still in its infancy but aims to open minds and generate a forum for discussion and debate amongst the University community through attracting prestigious political and public figures to the Students' Union. Previous high profile speakers at Exchange events have included Alistair Campbell, celebrated sociologist and adviser to Gordon Brown, Anthony Giddens, and University of Sheffield graduate and former Home Secretary, David Blunkett.

Joe Oliver, a second year history student at the University and involved in the coordinating of the event, stressed the importance of Kershaw's lecture. He said, "In years to come, people will view this era of Sir Ian's career as the period in which he shifted greater emphasis to the irreplaceable nature of Hitler in the functioning of the Third Reich."

Phil Woods