Jürgen Rohwer

Jürgen Rohwer (24 May 192424 July 2015) was a German military historian and professor of history at the University of Stuttgart. Rohwer wrote more than 400 books and essays on World War II naval history and military intelligence, which gained him worldwide recognition as a prominent historian and a leading authority on U-boats.

Biography Rohwer was born in Friedrichroda. After leaving school in 1942, he entered the Kriegsmarine as an officer candidate (crew VI/42). During World War II he served on several German warships, including destroyer Z24, Sperrbrecher 104/Martha, and minesweeper M-502.

In 1954 he received his doctoral degree at Hamburg University for his dissertation on German-American relations from 1937 to 1941. In 1959 he became the director of the Bibliothek für Zeitgeschichte in Stuttgart. During his tenure, the library became an internationally renowned institution for military history and especially the war at sea. In the 1970s, Rohwer researched the history of cryptanalysis in World War II and especially the decoding of Enigma by the British and Polish scientists. Jürgen Rohwer retired in 1989.