It is with great sadness that we learned of the passing of Reinhard R. Doerries, one of the founding members of the IIHA, who died at the end of 2025. He was Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Erlangen–Nürnberg.
Doerries was truly an Atlantic citizen, equally at home in Europe and the United States. He earned a B.A. from Concordia College, an M.F.A. from Ohio University, an M.A. in History from Yale University, and an M.B.A. from INSEAD in Fontainebleau. He initially pursued a career in business consulting in Paris, but his enduring passion for history ultimately led him back to Germany, where he completed his Dr. phil. at Ruhr-University Bochum. His dissertation—later published in English by the University of North Carolina Press as Imperial Challenge—was pivotal in establishing the field of intelligence history in Germany, a research area that at the time was still viewed with considerable suspicion within German academia.
Doerries’ scholarly interests were notably wide-ranging. In addition to intelligence history, his work encompassed Irish history as well as nineteenth-century social, religious, and immigration history. His engaging teaching style and openness to new ideas attracted a large number of students, whom he supported tirelessly and generously throughout their own careers.
Following his Habilitation, Doerries was appointed Professor at the University of Kassel and, a few years later, Full Professor of Modern History at the University of Erlangen–Nürnberg. An influential voice in international scholarly debates—particularly in the field of intelligence history—he authored numerous important works, including Prelude to the Easter Rising: Sir Roger Casement in Imperial Germany; Diplomaten und Agenten. Nachrichtendienste in der Geschichte der deutsch-amerikanischen Beziehungen; and Hitler’s Last Chief of Foreign Intelligence: Allied Interrogations of Walter Schellenberg.