Walter Laqueur

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Walter Laqueur
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Walter Laqueur (May 26, 1921 – September 30, 2018) was a German-born American historian, journalist, political commentator, and Holocaust survivor.

Early Life and Education
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Laqueur was born in Bursau, Germany (presently divided between Poland and Germany), to a secular Jewish family. His father, Fritz Laqueur, was a Serbian producer, and his mother, Elsa, was a housewife. He studied at an elementary school attended by children of the German aristocracy and the Jewish high class. After completing his studies, he moved to Bratislava, where he continued his education.

Laqueur's early life was marked by a passion for reading and sports. He was an excellent student and completed his maturity before further congestion of the basic rights of the Jewish residents in Germany in 1938. At the age of 17, he rejected engineering studies in Czechoslovakia and moved to Israel three days before Kristallnacht.

Career
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Laqueur began studying at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem with one of his aunts but stopped after one year. From 1939 to 1944, he worked in agriculture near the Golan Gate, where he was accepted as a member. During World War II, Laqueur served as a guard and studied the Russian language, which became his sixth language.

After the war, Laqueur worked as a journalist in Jerusalem, including during the siege of the War of Independence and after. He lived in the Isoa neighborhood later in the German colony and became an automedic, frequenting the National Library. He wrote for various newspapers, including The Guard and the Palestine Post, and was sent to cover detention camps in Cyprus.

Laqueur's research focused on the Holocaust, Europe during the Cold War, terrorism, and the conflict in the Middle East. His major work spanned many subjects, from German youth movements, Zionism, history of the State of Israel, and cultural history of the Weimar Republic and Russia, communism, fascism, and the Holocaust.

Academic Career
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Laqueur was a professor at Brandeis University and Georgetown University in the United States. He served as a guest professor at Harvard University, the University of Chicago, Tel Aviv University, and Johns Hopkins University.

Institutional Affiliations
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* Director of the Institute of Contemporary History and the Wiener Library in London (1965-1994)
* Founding editor of The Washington Papers
* Member and chairman of the International Research Council CSIS Washington

Notable Works
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* "The Road to Jerusalem: The Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict" (1967)
* "Europe Since Hitler" (1970)
* "A Reader's Guide to Contemporary History" (co-edited with Bernard Krikler, 1972)
* "History of Zionism" (1972)
* "Neo-Isolationism and the World of the Seventies" (1972)

Personal Life
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Laqueur's parents perished in the Holocaust. He was married to a woman named [name not specified] and had two children.

Legacy
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Walter Laqueur was a prominent historian, journalist, and political commentator who made significant contributions to our understanding of the Holocaust, Europe during the Cold War, terrorism, and the conflict in the Middle East. His work continues to be studied and respected by scholars and policymakers around the world.