Helmut Lethen, cultural historian, dies at 87

Helmut Lethen, a prominent German cultural historian and literary scholar, has passed away at the age of 87.

Lethen was widely recognized for his 2014 book, "Der Schatten des Fotografen" (The Photographer's Shadow). In this work, he explored Robert Capa's war photographs, earning him the Leipzig Book Fair Prize in the Non-Fiction category that year. The book offered an autobiographically tinged examination of the intersection of photography, conflict, and historical memory.

Born in Mönchengladbach in 1939, Lethen had a distinguished academic career. He taught at Utrecht University from 1977 to 1996 before taking a chair in Modern German Literature at the University of Rostock. From 2007 to 2016, he led the International Research Center for Cultural Studies in Vienna.

His most significant work is often considered to be "Verhaltenslehren der Kälte – Lebensversuche zwischen den Kriegen" (Behavioral Doctrines of Coldness – Life Experiments Between the Wars). In this study, Lethen analyzed how authors such as Bertolt Brecht, Ernst Jünger, and Helmuth Plessner promoted behavioral doctrines emphasizing hardness and resilience during the Weimar Republic and interwar period. Lethen's own memoirs, "Denn für dieses Leben ist der Mensch nicht schlau genug" (For this life, man is not clever enough), were published in 2020.