Hugh Trevor-Roper

Hugh Trevor-Roper

Hugh Redwald Trevor-Roper (15 January 1914 – 27 January 2003) was an English historian of early modern Britain and Nazi Germany and Regius Professor of Modern History at Oxford. He was made a life peer in 1979 on the advice of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, choosing the title Baron Dacre of Glanton.

In academe, Trevor-Roper was known not so much for his books as for his lively intellectual controversies with fellow historians. His most successful book emerged from his assignment as a British intelligence officer in 1945 to discover what happened in the last days of Hitler's bunker. From his interviews with a range of witnesses and study of surviving documents he demonstrated to the satisfaction of most analysts that Hitler was dead and had not escaped from Berlin. His book The Last Days of Hitler was a popular and critical success. However, his reputation was seriously damaged in 1983 when after a brief examination he authenticated the Hitler Diaries, which were subsequently shown to be forgeries.