The Europe Center is jointly housed in the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and the Stanford Global Studies Division.
Stanford University and German publishing house Suhrkamp Verlag are pleased to jointly sponsor the international lecture and publication series devoted to new work by Stanford faculty on contemporary and historical subjects. Hosted at Stanford by the Forum on Contemporary Europe at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, and in Berlin by Suhrkamp, this series responds to the need for insight and trans-Atlantic dialogue on today's most pressing issues. Senior scholars whose work has earned influence on discussion and policy are selected to bring their voice to this prominent public forum. Each lecture addresses issues affecting today's wide range of critical areas including international relations, politics, history, science, and culture.
This lecture summarizes the argument of a forthcoming book (Suhrkamp, Princeton University Press) that Stalin's crimes of the 1930s should be considered genocide. This requires a review of historical/legal concepts of genocide and of the mass killing of the period itself.
Norman Naimark is the Robert and Florence McDonnell Professor of East
European Studies: a professor of history; core faculty member of FSI's Forum on
Contemporary Europe; and an FSI senior fellow by courtesy. He is an expert on
modern East European, Balkan, and Russian history. His current research focuses
on the history of genocide in the 20th century and on postwar Soviet policy in
Europe. He is author of the critically acclaimed volumes: The Russians in
Germany: The History of the Soviet Zone of Germany, 1945-1949 (Harvard
1995) and Fires
of Hatred: Ethnic Cleansing in 20th Century Europe (Harvard 2001). Most
recently, he has co-edited books on Yugoslavia and its
Historians (Stanford 2003), Soviet Politics in Austria, 1945-1955:
Documents from the Russian Archives (in German and Russian, Austrian
Academy of Sciences, 2006), and The Lost Transcripts of the
Politburo (Yale 2008).
The series is also supported by the Division of Humanities and Sciences,the Stanford Humanities Center, Department of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages, and the German Stanford Club.
Levinthal Hall
CISAC
Stanford University
Encina Hall, C235
Stanford, CA 94305-6165
Norman M. Naimark is the Robert and Florence McDonnell Professor of East European Studies, a Professor of History and (by courtesy) of German Studies, and Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution and (by courtesy) of the Freeman-Spogli Institute for International Studies. Norman formerly served as the Sakurako and William Fisher Family Director of the Stanford Global Studies Division, the Burke Family Director of the Bing Overseas Studies Program, the Convener of the European Forum (predecessor to The Europe Center), Chair of the History Department, and the Director of Stanford’s Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies.
Norman earned his Ph.D. in History from Stanford University in 1972 and before returning to join the faculty in 1988, he was a professor of history at Boston University and a fellow of the Russian Research Center at Harvard. He also held the visiting Catherine Wasserman Davis Chair of Slavic Studies at Wellesley College. He has been awarded the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (1996), the Richard W. Lyman Award for outstanding faculty volunteer service (1995), and the Dean's Teaching Award from Stanford University for 1991-92 and 2002-3.
Norman is interested in modern Eastern European and Russian history and his research focuses on Soviet policies and actions in Europe after World War II and on genocide and ethnic cleansing in the twentieth century. His published monographs on these topics include The History of the "Proletariat": The Emergence of Marxism in the Kingdom of Poland, 1870–1887 (1979, Columbia University Press), Terrorists and Social Democrats: The Russian Revolutionary Movement under Alexander III (1983, Harvard University Press), The Russians in Germany: The History of The Soviet Zone of Occupation, 1945–1949 (1995, Harvard University Press), The Establishment of Communist Regimes in Eastern Europe (1998, Westview Press), Fires of Hatred: Ethnic Cleansing In 20th Century Europe (2001, Harvard University Press), Stalin's Genocides (2010, Princeton University Press), and Genocide: A World History (2016, Oxford University Press). Naimark’s latest book, Stalin and the Fate of Europe: The Postwar Struggle for Sovereignty (Harvard 2019), explores seven case studies that illuminate Soviet policy in Europe and European attempts to build new, independent countries after World War II.
CISAC Conference Room
