Dr. Raimund Lammersdorf, former GHI Research Fellow from 1997 to 2002, passes away at the age of 56

On January 28, 2017, former GHI research fellow Dr. Raimund Lammersdorf died of cancer at the age of 56. Dr. Lammersdorf joined the GHI in 1997 and stayed on until 2002. From his student days onward, Raimund Lammersdorf was a devoted historian of the United States. He studied at the University of Cologne, at the Free University of Berlin, where he earned his doctorate, and at Stanford University. In 1989 he became a research fellow at the Free University’s John F. Kennedy-Institute from where he moved on to the Technical University Chemnitz as an assistant professor in 1994. Two years later, he was awarded a fellowship by the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. After leaving the GHI, Dr. Lammersdorf returned to Germany and worked in various capacities, including executive director, for the Bayerische Amerika-Akademie and the Bayerisches Amerikahaus. As a scholar, Raimund Lammersdorf is best known for his work on US foreign relations. His book Anfänge einer Weltmacht. Theodore Roosevelt und die transatlantischen Beziehungen, 1901-1909, published in 1994, won him wide recognition. At the GHI, he focused on the transition of West Germany’s political culture from authoritarianism to liberal democracy, a project which was close to his heart and which he pursued with considerable critical energy. His life, full of intellectual pursuits and personal achievement, was sadly cut short by a terminal illness he faced with admirable fortitude. Dr. Lammersdorf is surivived by his wife Vera and his two children Miriam and Marcel. 

Manfred Berg and Philipp Gassert