Language German; Greek Name Heinz Richter | Nationality German | |
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Occupation Historian; professor; author Books A Concise History of Modern Cyprus, 1878-2009 | ||
Heinz A. Richter (born 1939) is a German historian, known for his work on the history of World War II in the Balkans, the history of modern Greece and the modern history of Cyprus.
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Biography
Heinz A. Richter was born on 18 March 1939, in Heilbronn, in northern Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany. He started reading Greek mythology at a very young age and, in high school, his professor of History "excited his interest for classical Greek antiquity." Richter studied History, Political Science and English Literature at the Heidelberg University. He was professor of Greek and Cypriot modern history at the University of Mannheim from 1991 up to 2003.
In his book Griechenland im Zweiten Weltkrieg 1939-1941, Richter provided a narrative account of the war in the Balkans from the Greek and Allied side, using published sources only.
Richter has commented also on the current state of the affairs of Greece, as well as Cyprus.
In November 2014, the University of Crete awarded Richter with a honoris Ph.D. for his historical work. The award provoked protests by Greeks who claimed that the German historian, in his work, has "smeared" the reputation of Cretan resistance and assigned "noble incentives" to the "Nazi invaders." The claims were rejected by the University's authorities.
Awards
Richter was presented by the Greek President, for his "services to Greek history," with the Gold Cross of the Order of the Phoenix, in 2000.