The MSA has been deeply saddened to learn of the sudden death of Wulf Kansteiner, less than a month after he stepped down from the presidency of our organization. We offer our heartfelt condolences to his family and to his many friends.

With his passing at the young age of 60, memory scholars across the world have lost a founding figure and a wonderful colleague. Trained as a historian of the Holocaust and an expert on the post-war history of Europe, Wulf was one of the first among his peers to acknowledge the importance of memory as an avenue of research into the long-term legacy of genocide. In Pursuit of German Memory (Ohio UP, 2006) offered a pathbreaking account of the role of television in shaping the collective memory of the Holocaust, and it remains a key point of reference. So too does his “Finding Meaning in Memory: A Methodological Critique of Collective Memory Studies” (2002): cited thousands of times, that article presciently and provocatively challenged us to think in more complex ways about the phenomenon of collective memory. Over the course of the following decades, Wulf went on to offer many illuminating perspectives on post-War memory cultures in captivating lectures as well as print. Besides co-editing such works as The Politics of Memory in Postwar Europe (2006) and Probing the Ethics of Holocaust Culture (2016), he was firmly committed to promoting young talent in our field, among other things through his active participation with doctoral students in the annual meetings of the Mnemonics network. His love of debate and refusal to accept commonplaces will remain an inspiration.

In addition to being a leader in research, Wulf was also a leader in more strategic ways. He was one of the founders of the flagship Memory Studies (Sage) and continued to be actively involved as one of its editors. From his position as Professor of Memory Studies and Contemporary European History at Aarhus University, Denmark, he was involved in the EU-Horizon project UNREST as well as in multiple other national and international collaborations. These activities all speak to his huge commitment to our field. Most importantly for the MSA, he served on the Executive Committee before becoming one of our co-presidents in the last three years. In these roles his insightful and moderating voice has been of immense importance. His calm authority in guiding difficult discussions and his generosity as a listener has helped define the Association as it is today. We will remember not only his intellectual rigor and critical acumen, but also his humor, his energy, his warmth, and his unfailing collegiality.

The MSA community will miss him greatly. He had still so much to offer.

Ann Rigney, president
Barbara Törnquist-Plewa, president-elect
Joanna Wawrzyniak, past-president