Dr. Helmut Schmitz

Biography

Helmut Schmitz is a Professor in the Department of German at the University of Warwick, where he has been teaching since 1992. He holds an MA and PhD from Warwick University, obtained in 1992 and 1996, respectively. His research primarily focuses on contemporary German literature, particularly in the post-war period, and how it represents themes related to National Socialism and the Holocaust. Schmitz has authored a monograph on the representations of National Socialism in post-1990 German fiction and has edited several volumes concerning German wartime suffering. His interdisciplinary work includes involvement in AHRC-funded projects that analyze narratives of normalization in post-unification Germany and collective memory through family narratives in contemporary literature. He coordinates with German Studies colleagues across several universities in Germany and Italy, organizing conferences centered on contemporary German literature. Recently, Schmitz was awarded a Leverhulme Research Fellowship to investigate literary representations of love and intimacy in German literature from a variety of theoretical perspectives. He teaches modules covering 18th to 20th-century German literature and philosophy, including critical analyses of works by authors such as Bertolt Brecht and issues surrounding post-war German poetry.

Research Interests

Experience