The Battle of Kursk

Dr. Karsten Heinz Schönbach holds a doctorate in history and specialises in research into fascism and military history, particularly for the period of the Second World War. He is the last student of Professor Wolfgang Wippermann (* 29 January 1945 in Wesermünde; † 3 January 2021 in Berlin), the last chair holder among German fascism researchers.
Dr. Schönbach studied economics, German studies and history at the Humboldt University of Berlin and the Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald. In 2012, he completed his doctorate at the Free University of Berlin under Professor Wippermann with the thesis „Die deutschen Konzerne und der Nationalsozialismus 1926 – 1943“ [The German Corporations and National Socialism 1926-1943], which is regarded as the standard work on the relationship between large industrial cooperations and Hitler’s government. In total, he has produced more than ten publications on fascism research in recent years.
To date, Dr. Schönbach’s work has focused on the relationship between the Nazi leadership and industrial magnates before and during the World War II. In this respect, his research to date has concentrated on the organization of the war economy – in particular war financing and the balance of power in the Nazi economic apparatus.
Based on his previous insights and findings, Dr. Schönbach is therefore an opponent of the so-called „Hitler legend“ in research, which de facto declares Hitler to be the „lone perpetrator“ with regard to the central political and military plans and decisions of the Nazi leadership and the resulting crimes.
In 2022, Dr. Schönbach began to expand his research from the economic to the military side of German warfare. The book „The Battle of Kursk“, first published by Lander & Børg in German in January 2024, marks the start of a whole series of research projects on the second half of the war (1943 – 1945).