Ronald Smelser

Ronald Smelser PhD
Born	1942 (age 74–75) U.S.
Residence	United States
Occupation	Professor of history, author, editor
Academic background
Alma mater	University of Wisconsin
Academic work
Era	20th century
Institutions	University of Utah
Main interests	Modern European history, historiography
Notable works	Books on the history of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust

Ronald Smelser (born 1942) is an American historian, an author and a former professor of history at the University of Utah. He specialises in modern European history, including the history of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. He is the author, together with the historian Edward J. Davies, of the 2008 book The Myth of the Eastern Front: The Nazi-Soviet War in American Popular Culture.

Smelser obtained his M.A. in history in 1966 and his Ph.D. in history in 1970 from the University of Wisconsin. Concurrent with his education in the United States, he also attended two German universities: University of Marburg and University of Bonn. After finishing his doctoral work, he was appointed as an assistant professor at Alma College (Michigan) and was a visiting professor at Iowa State University. In 1978, Smelser was appointed an associate professor at the University of Utah; he became a full professor in 1983. Concurrently with his role at the University of Utah, he taught classes at the Free University of Berlin during the summer. He retired from the University in the 2010s, and, as of 2016, is Professor Emeritus at the school.

Smelser is a historian of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. He is the author of several books including The Sudeten Problem 1933–1938: Volkstumspolitik and the Formulation of Nazi Foreign Policy and Robert Ley: Hitler's Labor Front Leader. Both books have been translated into German. He has also published seven edited or co-edited books and numerous articles. Smelser is the former president of the German Studies Association and the Conference Group for the journal Central European History, as well as a former member of the American Advisory Board of the German Historical Institute in Washington. D.C. In 2001, Smelser brought the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's Nazi Olympics exhibit to the University of Utah as part of the Cultural Olympiad.

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