The Hugo Valentin Lecture 2023: Professor Johann Chapoutot

The twentieth Hugo Valentin Lecture is given by Professor Johann Chapoutot. His extensive research on Nazism and the Holocaust has been published in works such as Fascisme, nazisme et régimes autoritaires en Europe, The Law of Blood and Free to Obey. The lecture will take place on 7 November 2023 at 5.15 PM in the Main University Building, lecture hall IV.

The rise of National Socialism in Germany led to death and destruction in Europe. Nevertheless, tens of millions of people believed that the ideology offered a solution to the problems that modernity had given rise to. Far from being a comprehensive repressive system, National Socialism succeeded in convincing and seducing many with a utopian promise of liberation, wealth and protection. During the lecture, Professor Chapoutot will highlight how a deeper knowledge of National Socialism's normative system can enable us to better understand its seductive appeal in Nazi Germany and Europe in the 1930s and 40s as well as today.

Johann Chapoutot is professor of modern history at the University of the Sorbonne. During his career, he has been active as a visiting researcher at Humboldt University and Freie universität, and is a member of L'Institut universitaire de France.