Gunnar Heinsohn (*1943 in Gdynia/Poland, emeritus professor at Universität Bremen (University of Bremen/Germany) has studied sociology, history, psychology, economics and religious studies at the Freie Universität Berlin. He has earned - with best possible marks - a university diploma in sociology in 1971 as well as doctorates (both summa cum laude) in sociology (1973), and in economics (1982). From 1976 to 1978 he has lived in Israel. His publication list exceeds 750 titles including more than thirty monographies. Since 1984 he has been a tenured professor at Universität Bremen where he has served, from 1993-2009, as speaker of Europe's first university institute devoted to comparative genocide research, the Raphael-Lemkin-Institut für Xenophobie und Genozidforschung [Institute for xenophobia and genocide research]. In recent years, he has been involved in fierce controversies over his proposals of limiting to five years the reception of welfare benefits in Germany, with the goal of limiting the birth rate among the nations poor and immigrant populations.
His research focuses on the HISTORY AND THEORY OF CIVILIZATION with special emphasis on (i) Population/Childhood/Family, (ii) Economy, (iii) Religion, (iv) Genocide/War, and (v) Chronology.
Major subjects of Population/Childhood/Family were dealt with in (1) Vorschulerziehung in der bürgerlichen Gesellschaft [1991; 'Pre-school Education in Modern Times'] (Frankfurt am Main: S. Fischer 1974). (2) Theorie des Kindergartens und der Spielpädagogik ['Theory of the Kindergarten and Play-Pedagogy'] (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1975; co-author: B.M.C. Knieper; translations into Danish and Swedish). (3) Theorie des Familienrechts: Geschlechtsrollenaufhebung, Kindesvernachlässigung, Geburtenrückgang [1974; 'Theory of Family Law: Diminishing Sex Role differences, Child Negligence and Falling Birth Rates'] (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 19762, co-author: R. Knieper). (4) The Bancruptcy of the Economics of Population: Why Economists have Failed to Develop an Economic Theory of the Production of Human Beings, (Universität Bremen: Forschungsgruppe 'Postkeynesianische Ökonomie', als Diskussionsbeiträge zur Politischen Ökonomie, Nr. 21, 1979, co-author: O. Steiger); (5) Menschenproduktion: Allgemeine Bevölkerungstheorie der Neuzeit ['Production of Human Beings: General Theory of Population in Modern Times'] (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1979; 1986; co-authors: R. Knieper and O. Steiger).
In the field of Economics appeared (6) Das Kibbuz-Modell - Bestandsaufnahme einer alternativen Wirtschafts- und Lebensform nach sieben Jahrzehnten [ 'The Kibbutz as a Model: An Alternative Economy and Life Style after Seven Decades'] (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1982). (7) Privateigentum, Patriarchat, Geldwirtschaft. Eine sozialtheoretische Rekonstruktion zur Antike ['Private Ownership, Patriarchy and the Monetary Economy: A Socio-theoretical Reconstruction of Occidental Antiquity'] (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp 1984). (8) Eigentum, Zins und Geld: Ungelöste Rätsel der Wirtschaftswissenschaft ['Property, Interest and Money: Unsolved Enigmas of Economics'] (Reinbek: Rowohlt, 1996; co-author: O. Steiger; corr. 5th ed Marburg: Metropolis 2009). (9) Kontroversen der Geldentstehung: Streit um die Anfänge des Geldes ['Controversies on the Origin of Money'] (Universität Bremen: Institut für Konjunktur und Strukturforschung, als IKSF Discussion Paper, Nr. 11, 1997, co-author: O. Steiger); (10) Das Eurosystem und die Verletzung der Zentralbankregeln: Was man darüber wissen muß und was dazu gerne verschwiegen wird ['The Euro-System and the Violation of the Art of Central Banking'] (St. Gallen: Managementzentrum [MZSG], 2000, co-author: O. Steiger). (11) The Property Theory of Interest and Money (London&New York: Routledge ["What Is Money?"]; co-author: O. Steiger). (12) Geld und Zins: Gemeinverständliche Grundlegung der Wirtschaftstheorie ["Money and Interest: A Popular Foundation of Economics"] (St. Gallen: Managementzentrum [MZSG], 2001). (13) Eigentumstheorie des Wirtschaftens versus Wirtschaftstheorie ohne Eigentum ['Property Theory of the Economy versus Economic Theory without Property' (Marburg: Metropolis, 2002, co-author: O. Steiger). (14) Eigentumsökonomik ["Property Economics"] (Marburg: Metropolis, 2006, 2008, co-author: O. Steiger). (15) A Property Economics Explanation of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis (Social Science Research Network [SSRN] 2008). (16) Property Theory of the Market; Social Science Research Network [SSRN] 2009. In the Encyclopedia of Economic Works covering the most inspiring 650 works in economics of altogether 460 authors worldwide from antiquity to the 20th century, the author is the only living scholar of the German language area represented with four different studies (followed by Reinhard Selten [*1930; Nobel Price 1994] with three texts). See D. Herz and V. Weinberger, eds., Lexikon ökonomischer Werke: 650 wegweisende Schriften von der Antike bis ins 20. Jahrhundert, Düsseldorf: Wirtschaft und Finanzen, 2006, pp. 186-190. The money explanation of Eigentum, Zins und Geld [(8) above] is, since 2000, represented in the Geldmuseum der Deutschen Bundesbank (Money-Museum of the German Bundesbank, Frankfurt am Main) in juxtaposition with the money views of Aristotle, Adam Smith, Bernard Laum, and John Maynard Keynes.
Matters of Religion became the subject of (17) Theorie des Tötungsverbotes ['Theory of the Prohibition of Killing'] (Pamphlet 7 of L`invitation au voyage zu Alfred Sohn-Rethel (Festschrift zum 80. Geburtstag), Bremen: Wassmann, 1979). (18) Was ist Antisemitismus? - Der Ursprung von Monotheismus und Judenhaß - Warum Antizionismus? ['What is anti-Semitism? - The Origin of Monotheism and anti-Judaism. - Why anti-Zionism?'] (Frankfurt am Main: Eichborn, 1988). (19) Die Erschaffung der Götter: Das Opfer als Ursprung der Religion ['The Formation of the Gods: Sacrifice and the Origin of Religion'] (Reinbek: Rowohlt, 1997).
Genocide and other mega-killings were dealt with in (20) Die Vernichtung der weisen Frauen: Beiträge zur Theorie und Geschichte von Bevölkerung und Kindheit ['The Elimination of the Wise Women: Contributions to the Theory and History of Population and Childhood'] (München: Heyne [19851], 20055; co-author: O. Steiger; translation into Swedish). (21) Warum Auschwitz? Hitlers Plan und die Ratlosigkeit der Nachwelt ['Why Auschwitz? Hitler's Plan and The Perplexity of Holocaust Scholars'] (Reinbek: Rowohlt, 1995; translation into French in prep.). (22) Was wollte Hitler? Auschwitz und die Lehre von den drei Weltzeitaltern ['What Was Hitler's Motive? Auschwitz and the Doctrine of the three Universal Epochs'] (Bremen: Raphael-Lemkin-Institut für Xenophobie- und Genozidforschung, 1996). (23) Anfang und Ende des Klimawahns ['Rise and Fall of the Climate Scare'] (St. Gallen: Managementzentrum [MZSG], 1997). (24) Post-Genocidal Reconciliation in Rwanda: Are There Lessons from Germany? (Universität Bremen: Raphael-Lemkin-Institut für Xenophobie- und Genozidforschung / Schriftenreihe Bd. 3, 1997). (25) Inflation and Witchcraft or the Birth of Political Economy: The Case of Jean Bodin Reconsidered (Universität Bremen: Institut für Konjunktur und Strukturforschung, als IKSF Discussion Paper, Nr. 8, 1997, co-autho: O. Steiger). (26) GUlag und Auschwitz: Ein Wort zur Klärung der Differenz ['GULag and Auschwitz: A Word on their Difference'] (Universität Bremen: Raphael-Lemkin-Institut für Xenophobie- und Genozidforschung / Schriftenreihe Bd. 6, 1998); (27) Lexikon der Völkermorde ["Encyclopedia of Genocides"] (Reinbek: Rowohlt, 1998, 1999; Swedish and Bulgarian translations in prep.). (28) "Why Was the Holocaust a Uniquely Unique Genocide," Journal of Genocide Research II/2, 2000). (29) "Jüdische Sklaven Hitlerdeutschlands: Wie viele überlebten 1945 den Genozid und wie viele könnten im Jahr 2000 noch leben?" ['Jewish Slaves of Hitler's Germany: How Many Have Survived the Genocide in 1945 and How Many Could Still Be Alive in 2000)'] (Universität Bremen: Raphael-Lemkin-Institut für Xeno-phobie- und Genozidforschung / Schriftenreihe Bd. 9, 2001). (30) Entry "Genocide" (International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, London: Elsevier, 2001); (31) Söhne und Weltmacht (['Sons and World Power'] Zuerich: Orell & Füssli, 2003). 'Sons and World Power' (a scholastic bestseller with 10th impression in 2008 and Dutch, Japanese as well as and Polish editions in 2008/2009) tries to illuminate the role of youth bulges in mega-killings of past, present, and future. From 2005 to 2009, the author gave lectures on the subject to Germany's secret services (BND; BfV), commanders of major NATO forces, Germany's National Academy of Security Policy as well as its Ministry of the Interior. He has published on the subject in the major news papers and magazines of the German language area as well as in the Wall Street Journal, the International Herald Tribune, Le Monde, the Financial Times, the Weekly Standard, NRC-Handelsblad (Amsterdam) etc. Together with Philippe Bourcier de Carbon (Paris), he was the only expert from continental Europe consulted for the study "The Graying of the Great Powers" by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS; Washington DC 2008).
On Chronology were published (32) Nullpunkt Abraham. Abraham und die Chronologien Mesopotamiens und Ägyptens ['Point Zero: Abraham and the Chronologies of Mesopotamia and Egypt'] (Basel: PAF, 1987). (33) Wie alt ist das Menschengeschlecht? [1991; 'How Ancient Is Mankind?'] (München: Gräfelfing 1996, 2003. (34) Die Sumerer gab es nicht: Von den Phantom-Imperien der Lehrbücher zur wirklichen Epochenabfolge in der "Zivilisationswiege" Südmesopotamien ['Have the enigmatic Sumerians been the lost Chaldaeans: From the Phantom Empires of Modern Textbooks to the Real Sequence of Epochs in Southern Mesopotamia's "Cradle of Civilization"' (Frankfurt am Main: Eichborn, 1988). (35) Wann lebten die Pharaonen? Archäologische und technologische Grundlagen für eine Neuschreibung der Geschichte Ägyptens und der übrigen Welt [19901; 'When Did the Pharaohs Thrive? Archaeological and Technological Foundations for the Re-writing of Ancient History'] (Frankfurt/Main: Eichborn, 1990; München: Mantis, 1997, 2065; co-author: H. Illig). (36) Wer herrschte im Industal? Die wiedergefundenen Imperien der Meder und der Perser [1993; 'Who Ruled in the Indus Valley? The Rediscovery of the Medish and Akhaemenid Empires'] (Gräfelfing: Mantis, 19972). (37) Assyrerkönige gleich Perserherrscher! Die Assyrienfunde bestätigen das Achämenidenreich [1992; 'Assyrian Kings as Persian Rulers in Assyrian Garb: The Archaeology of Assyria Confirms the Existence of the Akhaemenid Empire'] (Gräfelfing: Mantis, 19962). (38) Empires Lost and Found: Stratigraphy and the Search for the Great Powers of the Past, in CAIS (The Circle of Ancient Iranian Studies ) 2006a. (39) Cyaxares: Media's Great King in Egypt, Assyria & Iran, in CAIS (The Circle of Ancient Iranian Studies) 2006b; CAIS (The Circle of Ancient Iranian Studies) 2006b; (40) "Die Wiederher- stellung der alten Geschichte" ['The Reconstruction of Ancient History'], introduction to the new edition of Die Sumerer gab es nicht (see (34) above), Gräfelging: Mantis 2007, pp. 9-65).
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