Percy Ernst Schramm

Percy Ernst Schramm (14 October 1894 in Hamburg – 21 November 1970 in Göttingen) was a German historian.

Much of his work focused on medieval political symbolism and ritual, particularly the ideology of the medieval state, including the ways in which the rulers of the Holy Roman Empire in the Middle Ages represented their authority through images and rituals, as well as the transmission of ideas about the Roman Empire in medieval political and religious thought. His work is still considered a foundational contribution to the fields of art history and political theory. Schramm is also known for his works on the history of the city-state of Hamburg, including his monumental work Nine Generations that focuses on his own family and more broadly on the leading Hanseatic families of Hamburg over three centuries. Schramm is also well-known to military historians as the official staff diarist of the German High Command during World War II and a key witness at the Nuremberg Trials. He served as a Professor of History at the University of Göttingen from 1929 to 1963, with an interruption during the war when he held the rank of major and served as staff diarist.

Schramm was born to a wealthy and cosmopolitan family in Hamburg, that belonged to the class of Hanseatic families. His father, Max Schramm, was a lawyer, senator and second mayor (i.e. deputy mayor) from 1925 to 1928. His grandfather Ernst Schramm (1812–1882) had been a major sugar merchant in Hamburg and Brazil. His mother Olga O'Swald, grandniece of William Henry O'Swald, also belonged to a prominent Hanseatic family.

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