Leo Santifaller (24 July 1890 in Kastelruth – 5 September 1974 in Vienna) was an Austrian historian of South Tyrolean origin.
Immediately after the end of the World War, from 1918, archival holdings in Innsbruck and Vienna that had been created in South Tyrol were delivered to Italy in accordance with the principle of provenance.
While Santifaller was planning his habilitation in Munich, Paul Fridolin Kehr made a decisive contribution to his life by offering him the first assistant position at the Monumenta Germaniae Historica (MGH) in Berlin.
In November 1929, Santifaller succeeded Franz Kampers appointed full professor of History and modern times at the University of Breslau.
Santifaller refused to flee the city, which had been bombed since September 1944, stayed with his sick wife in Vienna and continued teaching until mid-March 1945.
As early as April 1945, Santifaller began again with his scientific work, among other things, the Vienna Diplomata department of the MGH was reconstituted, which is now the edition of the diplomas of Konrad III.
[7] Santifaller's main research interests were the history of South Tyrol, diplomacy, the Liber Diurnus and the Ottonian-Salian imperial church system.