Biographies
Laurence Rees (producer and writer of the Auschwitz
series and Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ book)
Laurence Rees is currently Creative Director of Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ History, and is
perhaps best known for writing and producing The Nazis: A Warning from
History which won him many awards including a Bafta, an International
Documentary Association Award and a Broadcasting Press Guild Award.
He went on to write and produce two other acclaimed series on World
War Two: War of the Century about the Hitler/Stalin war and Horror in
the East about the war against Japan.
In 1994, Laurence launched the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's historical biography strand Reputations.
He was also editor of Timewatch for a number of years and under his
editorship the strand won three Emmy Awards in three years.
Laurence's commitment to furthering innovation and accessibility in
history film-making is immense.
He recently conceived and executive produced Pyramid and Colosseum.
These 60-minute dramas with state-of-the-art computer special effects
transmitted on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ ONE to large audiences.
Pyramid became the most watched history programme ever made by the
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ.
In 2005 he will receive an honorary doctorate from the University of
Sheffield for his contribution to history and television.
Laurence has written five books: a novel, Electric Beach (Weidenfeld
and Nicolson 1990); Selling Politics (Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Books 1992); The Nazis: A
Warning from History (Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Books 1997); War of the Century (Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Books
1999) and Horror in the East (Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Books 2001).
Professor Sir Ian Kershaw (series historical and script
consultant)
Sir Ian Kershaw is widely regarded as one of the world's leading experts
on Hitler and the Third Reich.
He is a fellow of the British Academy and the Royal Historical Society,
and was knighted earlier this year for services to history.
Sir Ian is best known for his hugely important and influential work
on Hitler.
His published work includes The Nazi Dictatorship: Problems and Perspectives
of Interpretation (fourth edition, Hodder Arnold 2000); The Hitler Myth:
Image and Reality in the Third Reich (Oxford Paperbacks in both English,
in 1987, and German) and Hitler: Profiles in Power (Longman, revised
edition, 2001).
But most famous is probably his two-part biography of Hitler that was
published in 1998 and 2000 under the titles Hubris and Nemesis (Penguin
Books 2001).
Sir Ian has been a leading figure in overturning much of the traditional
thinking about Hitler and the Third Reich, concentrating on the people
around Hitler, the atmosphere in Germany and the social climate that
made possible Hitler's rise to power and its terrible consequences.
Sir Ian was a consultant both on the Bafta Award-winning The Nazis:
A Warning from History (1997) and on the acclaimed War of the Century
(1999) about the war between Hitler and Stalin.
Professor David Cesarani (series consultant)
David Cesarani is Professor of Twentieth-Century Jewish History and
Culture at Royal Holloway College, London University, a leading British
expert on Jewish history.
He held the prestigious position of Director of the Institute of Contemporary
History and Wiener Library between 1989 and 2000.
The Wiener Library, established in 1933, is the world's oldest institution
for the study of Nazi Germany and, later, the fate of German Jewry,
the Holocaust and its aftermath.
David has been involved actively in the prosecution of war criminals,
and was a consultant between 1987 and 1991 to the All-Party Parliamentary
War Crimes Group, and Principal Researcher of its report on the Entry
of Nazi War Criminals and Collaborators in the UK 1945-1950.
His research on this culminated in the important and acclaimed book,
Justice Delayed: How Britain Became a Refuge for Nazi War Criminals
(Mandarin 1992; updated and republished in 2000).
His work on Nazi war crimes led him to write and edit books on many
aspects of the Holocaust.
His most recent work is the acclaimed Eichmann: His Life and Crimes
(William Heinemann 2004).
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