Honored Persons

 

Oliver Rathkolb

Oliver Rathkolb (born November 3, 1955 in Vienna) is an Austrian historian, he also studied law. Oliver Rathkolb holds a professorship at the Institute for Contemporary History at the University of Vienna. During his career, Rathkolb dealt with Viennese street names and their origins as well as with youth and democracy. He is known as a specialist for the post-war period in Austria and never shied away from delicate topics. He dealt intensively with the denazification between 1945 and 1955. After Rathkolb received the teaching license in 1993 as a lecturer in Modern History, he often was a guest lecturer outside of Vienna in the following years. His teaching stations include the University of Salzburg, Duke University, the University of Maryland, Harvard and the University of Chicago. From 2005 to 2008, the historian was director of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for European History and the Public. In March 2008, Oliver Rathkolb was appointed professor at the Institute for Contemporary History of the University of Vienna, which he headed from October 2008 to September 2012 as a board member. Since October 2009 he has been spokesman for the initiative group "European Historical Dictatorship and Transformation Research". For his scientific achievements Oliver Rathkolb has been honored several times. 2011 he received the Cross of Honor for Science and Art First Class and 2013 the Prize of the City of Vienna for Humanities and Social Sciences.