Why are you a historian of Nazi Germany? 

My German, Ukrainian and Canadian grandparents told stories about their experiences during the Second World War. I wanted to put those personal narratives into context. 

What’s the most important lesson history has taught you? 

Pretty simple: that the past – and present – are complicated.

Which history book has had the greatest influence on you? 

Ian Kershaw’s two-volume biography of Adolf Hitler (Hubris and Nemesis).

What book in your field should everyone read? 

Claudia Koonz’s Mothers in the Fatherland.

Which moment would you most like to go back to?

I’d go clubbing in Weimar-era Berlin (if I can also go back to being 20).

Which historian has had the greatest influence on you? 

Richard Evans. He challenged me to ask the big questions.

Which person in history would you most like to have met? 

Friedrich Ebert, the Weimar Republic’s first president.

How many languages do you have? 

My German is fluent but outdated (friends joke that I sound like I’m from the 1930s).

Is there an important historical text you have not read? 

I admit it: I have not read Mein Kampf cover to cover.

What historical topic have you changed your mind on? 

I have greatly widened my definition of what constituted resistance by the victims of Nazi persecution. Reducing suffering and struggling to stay alive ‘count’ in my book.

What is the most common misconception about your field? 

That the Nazi regime was based on terror alone.

Who is the most underrated person in history… 

Edith Wolff (and others like her).

… and the most overrated?

Christopher Columbus. 

What’s the most exciting field in history today? 

Environmental history.

What’s your favourite archive? 

The Digital Picture Archives of the German Federal Archives.

What’s the best museum?

The Jewish Museum in Berlin.

What technology has changed the world the most? 

Google.

Recommend us a historical novel... 

Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada.

... and a historical drama? 

Marc Rothemund’s Sophie Scholl – The Final Days. 

You can solve one historical mystery. What is it? 

Was there a written Führer Order for the ‘Final Solution’ that was never found? Unlikely, but I’d like to know.

Kristin Semmens is Associate Professor of History at the University of Victoria and the author of Under the Swastika in Nazi Germany (Bloomsbury, 2023).