John heineman biography

Dr. Heineman, who taught at Boston College for 40 years, chaired the History Department from 1970-76 and pursued research in modern Germany (1803-present) and the Third Reich, as well as the history of warfare, the intellectual history of western Europe and religious and Church history. 

But he was particularly interested in the Nazi era: He taught a course, Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich, using a large collection of mostly unpublished primary source documents he had translated. These documents, which he later put online, included material on the Nazi seizure of power and the treatment of Jews during the Third Reich.

Interviewed by The Heights shortly before he retired in 2003, Dr. Heineman said he became fascinated with German history somewhat unexpectedly while an undergraduate at the University of Notre Dame when he took a trip to Europe – a journey made possible by a $500 bequest from his great aunt, who stipulated he use it for travel.

Signing up for a Catholic student tour, Dr. Heineman visited Ireland and England with great anticipation, but came away “faintly disappointed.” Arriving in Germany, however, was “an almost mystical experience” that deepened in the days he spent there. 

“I came back absolutely convinced I wanted to be a German historian,

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