The acclaimed historian of Imperial Germany and Europe John Röhl has died. John Röhl was a longtime author with Cambridge University Press, where he published his most influential writing over several decades.  

Professor John Röhl (1938-2023)

John Röhl will be especially remembered for his original archival research into the life of Kaiser Wilhelm II, the last German emperor – research that spanned approximately 50 years. He notably published a three-volume biography of Kaiser Wilhelm II, in both German and English, which garnered immense praise. The biography challenged the consensus that the Kaiser was not anti-Semitic, and posited that he set the tone in Germany that made the Holocaust possible.  

Cambridge University Press Head of Trade Publishing Michael Watson, who worked with John Röhl, shared his reflections. 

“I was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of John Röhl, who collaborated with the Press over more than thirty years on meticulously prepared English-language editions of his work including his celebrated three-volume life of Kaiser Wilhelm II. His books were both deeply researched and beautifully written and saw him win numerous awards including the Wolfson Prize and the Einhard Prize for European Biography.”  

“He transformed our understanding of the causes of the First World War and his scholarship will be continue to be an essential point of reference for scholars for decades to come.” 

Head of Trade Publishing, Michael Watson

Examples of John Röhl’s writing can be found via Cambridge University Press. Kaiser Wilhelm II: A Concise Life was an Economist Book of the Year 2014.