Erhard Roy Wiehn

Biography and Accomplishments

Roy Wiehn, born 1937, studied sociology and history in Munich and Tübingen, Germany, and in the United States; Ph.D. in 1965; 1971/72 Fellow at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences. From 1974 to 2002, Professor for Sociology at the University of Constance and Dean of Social Sciences in the 1980s and 1990s. He also held several guest professorships and served the University of Constance as its representative for the cooperation with Tel Aviv University and the National Economics University as well as the Taras-Schewtschenko University both, in Kiev, Ukraine.

Between 1974 and 2002, he served as advisor to the Friedrich-Naumann Foundation. Since 1992, he is a member of the International Academy Advisory Board for ‘Sociological Papers’ at the Bar-Ilan University in Israel. Since the 1970s, he serves several German-Jewish and Christian-Jewish organizations as founding member and leader in the Lake Constance region. During the past decade, he joined the ‘Martin Buber Society’ and the German-Ukrainian Forum, and founded the German-Rumanian Society of the Lake Constance region.

Awards and Recognition

1985 – Honorable mention in the Golden Book of the Jewish National Fond KKL

1995 – President’s Award of the University of Tel Aviv

1995 – Honorary Doctorate of the National Economics University Kiev, Ukraine

1998-1999 – Honorary Doctorate of the Taras-Schewtschenko University of Kiev, Ukraine

1998-1999 – Federal Service Cross of the Republic of Germany

1999 – Honorary Doctorate of the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University in Iasi, Rumania

2000 – Honorary Diploma of the Ministry of Education for his services to German-Ukrainian cooperation

2001 – Honorary Diploma of the Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany for his “Contribution to the Strengthening of German-Ukrainian Relations and in conjunction with the 10th anniversary of Ukrainian independence.”

2006 Max Kade Visiting Professor at Lafayette College in Easton, Pa., United States.

2003 Diploma of Gratitude of the Pawlow-Clinik, Kiev

2007 Federal Cross of Merit of the National Taras-Schewtschenko-University Kiew.

2009 Honorary Diploma of the Ministry of Science of Ukraine  for 20 years academic and humanitarian collaboration.

Over 150 Holocaust memoirs edited by Professor Roy Wiehn and published by Hartung-Gorre (Konstanz) are available in Skillman Library <http://libcat.lafayette.edu/>. You will find the books when you enter the keyword “Roy Wiehn.”

Max Kade Activities Oct. 23-25, 2006, “Remembering the Past for the Future” Focus on Remembering the Holocaust

Events include two lectures by Holocaust scholar Erhard Roy Wiehn, one at noon, Oct. 23, in the Gendebien Room of Skillman Library entitled “Remembering the Past for the Future,” and the Max Kade Lecture “Kiev Babi Yar: A Forgotten Massacre 65 Years Later” at 8 p.m. Oct. 24, in room 104 of Kirby Hall of Civil Rights. A brown bag lecture by President Daniel Weiss entitled “A Historical Injustice: The Case of Masha Bruskina,” will be held noon, Oct. 25, in the Gendebien Room of Skillman Library.