Benjamin Hett

Benjamin Hett was born in Rochester, New York but grew up in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, leaving him with a lifelong if mostly heartbreaking attachment to the Edmonton Oilers of the NHL. He earned a BA in Political Science and English Literature from the University of Alberta (1987) and then a JD from the University of Toronto (1990). Four years of legal practice – it felt like eight – convinced him to return to the University of Toronto for an MA in History (1995) before he moved on to Harvard for a PhD (2001). For two years he taught in the History and Literature program at Harvard alongside advising graduate students at the Harvard Law School. In 2003 he joined the faculty of Hunter College and in 2006 that of the Graduate Center, CUNY.

Hett’s work has dealt with a number of themes, from the theory and practice of criminal law in Germany, through the coming to power of the Nazis and the legacy of National Socialism in postwar Germany, to the work of West German intelligence services in the 1950s. He is the author of six books (Death in the Tiergarten, 2004; Crossing Hitler, 2008; Burning the Reichstag, 2014; The Death of Democracy, 2018; Otto John – Patriot oder Verräter, 2019, with Michael Wala; and The Nazi Menace, 2020) and a number of articles. Hett has been a recipient of the Annelise Thimme and Hans Rosenberg Prizes for the best article and best book, respectively, on German history by a North American scholar; the Fraenkel Prize from the Wiener Library in London; and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the American Council of Learned Societies.

Awards: 

• 2019: Vine Award (Canadian Jewish Literature), History Category, for Death of Democracy
• 2015: Hans Rosenberg Book Prize from the Central European History Society, for the best book on German history by a North American Scholar to appear in 2014, for Burning the Reichstag (co-winner)
• 2014: Hunter College Presidential Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activity
• 2009: John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship
• 2009: American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Fellowship
• 2007: Ernst Fraenkel Prize in Contemporary History from the Wiener Library, London, for Crossing Hitler.
• 2005: Annalise Thimme Prize from the Conference Group on Central European History, for the best article on German history by a North American scholar to appear in 2003 or 2004.
• 2002: Harold K. Gross Prize from the Harvard University Department of History, for the best dissertation of the year.
• 2002: Finalist for the Fritz Stern Dissertation Prize from the German Historical Institute, for the best dissertation of the year from a North American graduate student.
• 1999-2000: DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) Doctoral Stipendium
• 1996-2000: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Doctoral Fellowship

• Harvard University (PhD)

• The Nazi Menace: Hitler, Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin, and the Road to War (New York: Henry Holt, 2020)
• Otto John – Patriot oder Verräter: eine deutsche Biographie, co-written with Michael Wala (Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt, 2019)
• The Death of Democracy: Hitler's Rise to Power and the Downfall of the Weimar Republic (New York: Henry Holt, 2018); named among the year's best history books by the Daily Telegraph and The Times (London) 2018.
• Burning the Reichstag: An Investigation Into The Third Reich's Enduring Mystery (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014); 2015: Hans Rosenberg Book Prize from the Central European History Society, for the best book on Germany history by a North American Scholar to appear in 2014.
• Crossing Hitler: The Man Who Put the Nazis on the Witness Stand·(Oxford University Press, 2008).
• Death in the Tiergarten: Murder and Criminal Justice in the Kaiser's Berlin, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2004).
• "The 'Captain of Koepenick' and the Transformation of German Criminal Justice, 1891-1914",·Central European History·36 (1), 2003.