Manuela Achilles is an associate professor of German and history with a joint appointment in the Department of German and in the Corcoran Department of History. In addition to the European Studies Program, she directs the Center for German Studies at UVA. Professor Achilles' research combines the historical study of German history and culture with theoretical analyses. She has published broadly on the political culture of Weimar democracy and is completing a book length-study of constitutional patriotism and the desire for democracy in Weimar Germany. Her second research interest revolves around green practices and ideas.

Together with Dana Elzey, she has put together an edited volume that explores the German Energy Transition to renewables with the aim to engender a fruitful transatlantic discussion between Germany and the United States. Her teaching interests include: Weimar and Nazi Germany, Germans and Jews, Hitler in History and Fiction, Fascism in Global Perspective, Apocalyptic Histories, and Cultures of Memory.

Professor Achilles is working on a new book project, Hitler and the Holocaust: History and Legacy, which provides a concise and adaptable survey of the German dictator and his genocidal regime within an interdisciplinary and transnational framework. The focus is on deeply intertwined processes of biographical and societal radicalization that culminated in the targeted murder of six million European Jews. Progressing from deeply contextualized historical biography to the societal normalization of hatred and genocide, the study shows that Hitler did not pursue his murderous politics on his own. Both his rise and regime depended on the support of ordinary German men and women as well as collaboration in allied territories. While there would have been no Holocaust without Hitler, understanding his role in the Holocaust requires us to broaden our perspective to the enablers and followers that empowered him. Concluding with a discussion of Hitler’s changing representations and legacies today, the book will:     

1. Survey the relevant scholarly literature and key sources for a broad readership.  
2. Separate historical facts from fictions and expose the various Hitler myths that continue to impact our understanding of the man and his genocidal regime to this day.  
3. Explain Hitler’s biography and the Holocaust in terms of intertwined social and political processes of cumulative radicalization situated within larger historical contexts.  
4. Reflect on Hitler’s legacy as we are entering a new phase in the history of Holocaust remembrance characterized by the transition from communicative to cultural memory.