Lionel Kochan

Lionel Edmond Kochan (20 August 1922 – 25 September 2005) was a British historian, journalist and publisher. He is best known for his work in Jewish history, having become an academic historian in his 30s and formerly specialising in European history.

Early life and education Kochan was educated at Haberdasher Aske School, an all-boys independent school in London. Having been awarded an open scholarship, he studied modern languages at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1942. He wrote for The Jewish Observer and the Middle East Review. He also returned to university studies and was a doctoral student of Sir Charles Webster at the London School of Economics. He completed his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in European history in 1951 with a doctoral thesis titled "German-Russian relations, 1921–1936".

His first academic post was as a lecturer in European history at the University of Edinburgh from 1959 to 1964.

His scholarly writing became increasingly concerned with Jewish history.

Selected works Acton on History (1954) Russia and the Weimar Republic (1954) Pogrom: 10 November 1938 (1957) The Making of Modern Russia (1962) The Struggle for Germany 1914–45 (1963) Russia in Revolution 1890–1918 (1966) The Jews in Soviet Russia since 1917 (1970) editor The Russian Revolution (1970) The Jewish Family Album: The Life of a People in Photographs (1974) editor with Miriam Kochan The Jew and His History (1977) The Scapegoats: the Exodus of the Remnants of Polish Jewry (1979) with Josef Banas Jews, Idols and Messiahs: The Challenge from History (1990) The Jewish Renaissance and Some of Its Discontents (1992) Beyond the Graven Image: A Jewish View (1997) The making of modern Russia: from Kiev Rus' to the collapse of the Soviet Union 3rd edition (1997) with John L. H. Keep The Making of Western Jewry, 1600–1819 (2004)