[1] He has published extensively, mostly on German history in the twentieth century, and with a particular focus on the role played by the Roman Catholic church and its interaction with politics.
[2][3] Ulrich von Hehl was born into a Roman Catholic family in Viersen, a manufacturing town in the extreme west of Germany's British occupation zone located between the Dutch frontier and Düsseldorf.
His dissertation concerned the Catholic Church and National Socialism in the Archbishopric of Cologne during the twelve Nazi years.
He received his habilitation (higher academic qualification) in 1987, still from Bonn University, for a piece of biographical work on Chancellor Wilhelm Marx (1863-1946).
[8] Ulrich von Hehl's research focus covers Catholicism in Germany, the "Weimar" period and aspects of the Nazi years.