Mary Fulbrook

Mary Fulbrook
Name	Mary Fulbrook
Birth date	1951
Birth place	Oxford
Nationality	British
Occupation	Historian, Professor
Alma mater	University of Oxford, University of Manchester
Notable works	"A History of Germany 1918–2014", "The People's State"
Awards	Leverhulme Trust Fellowship, British Academy Fellow

Mary Fulbrook

Mary Fulbrook is a British historian and academic known for her scholarship on Germany, Nazi Germany, East Germany, and twentieth century European history. She has held posts at University College London, Birkbeck, University of London, and the University of Warwick, producing influential monographs and editing volumes that have shaped debates across Modern European History, Holocaust studies, Comparative History, and Transnational History.

Early life and education

Fulbrook was born in Oxford and educated at St Hilda's College, Oxford and the University of Manchester, where she studied History and completed doctoral work under supervisors active in German Studies and Contemporary History. Her formative education connected her with scholars associated with All Souls College, Oxford, the Institute of Historical Research, and networks centered on Weimar Republic research and Cold War studies. Early influences included scholarship from figures linked to Frankfurt School, Isaiah Berlin, and historians engaged with archives in Berlin and Bonn.

Academic career

Fulbrook's academic career includes posts at University College London, where she taught modules interacting with departments such as German Department, UCL and interdisciplinary centres like the School of European Languages, Culture and Society. She later joined Birkbeck, University of London as Professor of Modern European History and moved to the University of Warwick as Professor and Head of the Department of History. Her work has been supported by grants from the Leverhulme Trust, the Economic and Social Research Council, and fellowships at institutions including the Institute for Advanced Study and the European University Institute. She has served on editorial boards for journals connected to German History (journal), Contemporary European History, and international publishers such as Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press.

Research and major works

Fulbrook's research addresses German reunification, National Socialism, GDR social history, and the legacies of Third Reich judicial practices. Major monographs include "The People's State", a study of East Germany that engages archival material from the Stasi and ministries in East Berlin; "A History of Germany 1918–2014", a synthetic survey used in undergraduate curricula alongside texts by Hans-Ulrich Wehler, Ian Kershaw, Richard J. Evans, and Eric D. Weitz; and "German National Identity" which dialogues with scholarship from Benedict Anderson, Eric Hobsbawm, and Anthony D. Smith. Her edited volumes have gathered contributions from scholars at Free University of Berlin, Humboldt University of Berlin, University of Oxford, Yale University, and Harvard University. Fulbrook has mined archives including the Bundesarchiv, regional state archives in Saxony and Thuringia, and collections held at the British Library and the National Archives (United Kingdom). Her methodological approaches connect microhistory practiced by scholars from Frankfurt am Main with comparative frameworks advanced at centers like the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science and the Centre for Contemporary History (Zentrum für Zeithistorische Forschung).

Awards and honours

Fulbrook has been elected a Fellow of the British Academy and received research funding from the Leverhulme Trust and the Arts and Humanities Research Council. She has held visiting fellowships at institutions including the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) in Vienna and the University of Michigan's Centre for European Studies. Her books have been shortlisted for prizes administered by organizations such as the Royal Historical Society and featured in lists curated by the Times Higher Education and the German Historical Institute.

Public engagement and media appearances

Fulbrook has contributed to public debates on German reunification, Holocaust remembrance, and European Union integration through broadcasts on BBC Radio 4, commentary for The Guardian, and appearances on panel discussions hosted by Chatham House and the Royal Society of Arts. She has participated in documentary consultations for broadcasters including BBC Two and Channel 4, contributed essays to exhibition catalogues at institutions like the Imperial War Museum and the Jewish Museum Berlin, and given keynote lectures at conferences organized by International Consortium of German Studies and the Association for Contemporary German Studies.

Personal life

Fulbrook has balanced academic roles with advisory work for heritage organizations and involvement in civic initiatives tied to Berlin remembrance projects and European cultural exchange programs. She has supervised doctoral students who have taken academic positions at University of Cambridge, University of Edinburgh, and King's College London. Outside academia, she has engaged with archives and cultural institutions in Prague, Warsaw, and Vienna.

Category:British historians Category:Fellows of the British Academy Category:Historians of Germany