Steffen Kailitz (born 18 May 1969) is a German political scientist and a senior research fellow at the Hannah Arendt Institute for Research on Totalitarianism.

[1] He has also testified as an expert witness before the Federal Constitutional Court, the Parliament of Bavaria and other government authorities.

[2][3] Kailitz earned a PhD in political science at Chemnitz University of Technology in 1999; his doctoral advisor was Eckhard Jesse.

He has worked as a researcher at Chemnitz University of Technology since 1998 and earned his habilitation in 2005.

Following his critical comments regarding the far-right NPD party, the party initiated legal proceedings against him that were eventually dismissed by the court.