Otto Hoetzsch

At the beginning of the 20th century, he was one of the founders of East German research and advocated dealing with the Eastern European states amicably.

In 1899 he obtained a PhD, worked for several newspapers and was active in the Alldeutscher Verband and favoured the creation of a German Navy.

Between 1923 and 1934 he repeatedly travelled to the Soviet Union and founded the Journal Osteuropa (Eastern Europe) which still exists.

Although he was a German nationalist (like many of his contemporaries in 1914 he had enthusiastically welcomed the outbreak of World War I), the Nazis considered him a Bolshevik.

In 1966 his classic text Grundzüge der Geschichte Russlands was translated and published as The Evolution of Russia as part of the "Library of European Civilization" series.