Stéphane Courtois
| Stéphane Courtois | |
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Courtois in 2009
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| Born |
25 November 1947 Dreux, Eure-et-Loir, France |
| Nationality | France |
| Occupation | Director of Research at CNRS, Professor of History at the Catholic Institute of Higher Studies |
| Known for | Research on communism and communist genocides |
| Awards | Doctor honoris causa from the Free University of Moldova |
| Notes | |
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Director of the journal Communisme, Member of the Scientific Council of the Foundation for Political Innovation (2009–2011)
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Stéphane Courtois (born 25 November 1947) is a French historian and university professor, a Director of research at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), Professor at the Catholic Institute of Higher Studies (ICES) in La Roche-sur-Yon, and Director of a collection specialized in the history of communist movements and regimes.
The Black Book of Communism, a book edited by Courtois, has been translated into numerous languages, sold million of copies, and is considered a standard work on communist genocides.
Courtois is a research director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, in the Géode (group of study and observation of democracy) at Paris West University Nanterre La Défense, as well as a Professor at the Catholic Institute of Higher Studies – ICES. He is editor of the journal Communisme, which he cofounded with Annie Kriegel in 1982, and part of the Cercle de l'Oratoire think tank.
As a student, from 1968 to 1971, Courtois was a Maoist, but he later became an outspoken anticommunist and a strong supporter of democracy, pluralism, human rights, and Rechtsstaat.
Courtois argues that Communism and National Socialism are only slightly different totalitarian systems and that communism is responsible for the murder of around 100 million people in the 20th century. He also argues that the National Socialists adopted their repressive methods from Soviet methods. According to Courtois, "a single-minded focus on the Jewish genocide in an attempt to characterize the Holocaust as a unique atrocity has [...] prevented the assessment of other episodes of comparable magnitude in the Communist world".
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