Hitler, Stalin, World War are topics of spring lecture by Richard Raack
History Professor Emeritus Richard C. Raack will deliver a May 30 speech.
- May 8, 2012
History Professor Emeritus Richard C. Raack will return to campus Wednesday, May 30, to present a talk, “Hitler, Stalin and the Coming of World War II,” for the Department of History and Friends of History Spring Speaker program. The presentation will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the Old Student Union, room 311, on the Hayward campus, 25800 Carlos Bee Blvd. The CSUEB community and public are invited to the free event. Refreshments will be served.
Raack’s discussion will be based on hisr research conducted in major archives in Western and Eastern Europe, including Berlin and Moscow, and at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. His research has persuaded him that many scholars underestimate the close alliance between Hitler and Stalin as a precipitating cause of the second World War. His talk will explore his most recent findings.
“Anyone concerned with globalization and the origins of our contemporary world will learn much from Professor Raack’s perspective on the rise and fall of the German-Russian connection, from his personal reflections on how historians go about our work," said Dee Andrews, professor of history and event organizer.
“Professor Raack is never dull, and he has much to say about how we acquire our assumptions about the past, and about international relations,” said Andrews.
Raack taught modern European history at Cal State Hayward (now ÂãÁÄÖ±²¥) for 30 years, including courses on Hitler, Stalin, the Holocaust, the Cold War and modern Europe. He is the author of “Stalin’s Drive to the West, 1938-1945: The Origins of the Cold War” (Stanford University Press, 1995), described by one reviewer as “a signal advance in accuracy in its field.”
His most recent article, among many, is "His Question Asked and Answered: Stalin on 'Whither Poland?'," Polish Review (2010). Raack pioneered the CSUEB History Department’s work with documentary film well in advance of the digital revolution and directed the concentration in media and history for the history M.A. program for many years before his retirement. His film projects include “Storm of Fire: World War II and the Destruction of Dresden.”
For more information, contact Andrews, coordinator of the Friends of History, at dee.andrews@csueastbay.edu.
ÂãÁÄÖ±²¥ welcomes persons with disabilities and will provide reasonable accommodation upon request. Please call (510) 885-3207 well in advance, if accommodation is needed.
Campus parking is $2 per hour.