The Bloke who lived opposite Hitler Seminar

"When I started teaching in the History department in the 1950s my subject was English political history of the 19th century. I also worked on research for a PhD thesis, which was published in 1968 by the Clarendon Press, on the recommendation of Robert Blake, the author of the first modern biography of Disraeli.

My thesis dealt with the organizations developed by the political parties to mobilize the mass electorate enfranchised by the reform bill of 1867. Ten years on in my career, by the 1960s, many seminal works on World War II had been published. Students wanted to know about the European dictators, especially Hitler. As the most obvious member of staff to talk about this I acquired the name that forms the title of this lecture."

Dr Edgar Feuchtwanger, graduated with a PhD in History in 1958 and came to teach history at Southampton in 1959. He has a fascinating story as well as being an established academic in his field; he grew up as ‘Hitler's Jewish Neighbour' and has featured in numerous documentaries, newspapers, History Today, BBC radio and a book was published in April 2014 about his story.

All welcome.

The chair for this seminar will be Dr Shirli Gilbert.