ABSTRACT
When dealing with the question of how (personal or other) losses have influenced historical writing, the German Gerhard Ritter represents an interesting case. He witnessed both world wars, the first as a defeated soldier, the second as a professional historian and a member of the broader anti-Nazi resistance movement. Due to his connection with Carl Goerdeler, Ritter was imprisoned in November 1944. According to Ritter's own words, the experience of the following months until his liberation in April 1945 put his lifework on an entirely new basis. On the one hand, the chapter shows and documents this biographical change, which led Ritter into a sole-searching inquiry about why the Nazis had risen to power. The excerpt from his writing on the history of human rights can be seen as a fine example of this new approach. On the other hand, the chapter adumbrates the extent to which Ritter clung to the cherished ideals of protestant historical writing in Germany also after 1945.
