Wolfgang Benz

Wolfgang Benz (born 9 June 1941) is a German historian and antisemitism researcher. He was professor and the director of the Center for Research on Antisemitism of the Technische Universität Berlin from 1990 to 2011. He is considered to be one of the most renowned and well-known historians in modern Germany, and one of the foremost scholars on antisemitism studies. He has been referred to as the "doyen" of antisemitism research. Benz has been carrying out work on data received after the opening of government archives in Eastern Europe in the 1990s resulting in the adjustment of the death tolls that had been published in the pioneering works by Raul Hilberg, Lucy Dawidowicz and Martin Gilbert. He concluded in 1999:

Comparing Islamophobia and Antisemitism Benz claimed in early 2010 in connection with the Minaret controversy in Switzerland that "anti-Semites of the 19th Century and some detractors of the Islam of the 21st Century work with similar methods on their concept of the enemy" and warned against the global discrimination of Muslims, which he saw as a "declaration of war against tolerance and democracy". He was criticized by historian Julius H. Schoeps who claimed Benz's suggestions are "dubious – if not dangerous" and by journalist Henryk M. Broder, pointing out that 'Islamophobia' – unlike Antisemitism – has a real basis, e.g. terrorist acts, the way dissidents are treated in Islamic countries etc. The educationist Micha Brumlik, however, has argued that as far as social-psychological aspect is concerned, Benz was right when comparing today's Islamophobia and antisemitism of the late 19th and early 20th century. The historian Norbert Frei agreed with Brumlik.

Opposition to Polish monument Benz opposed the construction of a monument in Berlin to honor Poles who were victims of the German occupation between 1939 and 1945. He preferred the idea of constructing a documentation center to portray the Nazi annihilation policies, the occupation and its effects on all affected peoples.

Awards As a result of his work, Wolfgang Benz has received multiple awards. Most noticeable is the Geschwister-Scholl-Preis he won in 1992, and shared with Barbara Distel. He received the "Gegen Vergessen – Für Demokratie" prize in 2012, from the organization Gegen Vergessen – Für Demokratie.