Dr. Katrin Paehler
Professor and Graduate Advisor
Office
SCH Schroeder Hall 324
Office Hours
M/W 3.45-5pm & by appointment either in person or via zoom at
https://illinoisstate.zoom.us/j/91237090712
https://illinoisstate.zoom.us/j/91237090712
Office Phone
Email
- About
- Education
- Awards & Honors
- Selected Research
Biography
Dr. Paehler received her MA from the Philipps Universität Marburg, Germany in 1994 and her Ph.D. from American University in Washington, DC in 2004. She has taught at Illinois State University since August 2004 and publishes on Modern German and European history.
Current Courses
HIS 102.001 Europe and the World II
HIS 200.002 Historical Conversations: Introduction to Historiography
Teaching Interests & Areas
Modern European History;
Modern Germany History;
20th Century (Eastern) Europe;
Nazi Germany;
Holocaust;
Genocide Studies;
Film and History;
History and Memory
Research Interests & Areas
Modern Germany;
Nazi Germany & the Holocaust;
Intelligence History;
History and Memory;
Film and History
Ph D Modern European History
American University
Washington, DC
MA German History
Phillips Universitaet Marburg
Marburg, Germany
Outstanding College Researcher
College of Arts & Sciences, Illinois State University
2018
Book, Authored
The Third Reich's Intelligence Services: The Career of Walter Schellenberg
Katrin Paehler.
(2017), Cambridge University Press
Book, Chapter
"The Space Between: Hildegard Beetz, Espionage, and Gender, 1944-1949,"
Katrin Paehler.
(2025), 278-304, 10.2307/jj.31761191.17, Shots in the Dark: Experimentation, Success, and Failure in the Second World War, eds. Jadwiga Biskupska and Sara Casto, Fordham University Press
"Auslandsspionage—Ideologie und Illusion. Das Amt VI des Reichssicherheitshauptamtes,"
Katrin Paehler.
(2019), 97-117, Das Reichssicherheitshauptamt: NS-Terrorzentrale im Zweiten Weltkrieg, ed. Michael Wildt, Hentrich & Hentrich
"Gender and Nazi Espionage: Hildegard Beetz, the Ciano Affair, and Female Agency,"
Katrin Paehler.
(2016), 73-87, Gender and the Second World War: Lessons of War, eds. Corinna Peniston-Bird and Emma Vickers, Palgrave Macmillan
"Verhaftungen, Internierungen, Repatriierungen" & "Verhöre in der 'Mülltonne',"
Katrin Paehler, Peter Hayes.
(2010), Das Amt und die Vergangenheit: Deutsche Diplomaten im Dritten Reich und in der Bundesrepublik,, Karl Blessing Verlag
"The wrong -grad, the wrong victims: Investigating the (West-) German Historiographical Discourse on the Siege of Leningrad,"
Katrin Paehler.
(2008), 31-41, Re-calling the Past—(Re-)Constructing the Past. Collective and Individual Memory of World War II in Russia and Germany, eds. Withold Bonner and Arja Rosenholm, Aleksanteri Institute
"Foreign Intelligence in a New Paradigm: Amt VI of the Reich Main Security Office (RSHA),"
Katrin Paehler.
(2006), 273-299, Secret Intelligence and the Holocaust. Collected Essays from the Colloquium at the City University of New York Graduate Center, ed. David Bankier, Enigma Books and Yad Vashem,
"Ein Spiegel seiner Selbst: Der SD-Ausland in Italien,"
Katrin Paehler.
(2003), 241-266, Nachrichtendienst, politische Elite und Mordeinheit. Der Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsführers SS, ed. Michael Wildt, Hamburger Edition
Book, Edited
A Nazi Past: Recasting German Identity in Postwar Europe
Katrin Paehler, David Messenger.
(2015), The University of Kentucky Press
Creative Works/Broadcast Media
"Secrets and Lies" Ep 9 of World War II with Tom Hanks
Katrin Paehler.
(2026)
"Nazis and Sex Strikes," BBC World News, The History Hour with Max Pearson
Katrin Paehler.
(2025)
The Third Reich History Podcast with Ryan Stackhouse. Spies, Lies, and Nazis—Paehler on the Fine Art of Source Critique.
Katrin Paehler.
(2018)
The Third Reich History Podcast with Ryan Stackhouse: Paehler on her book The Third Reich's Intelligence Service
Katrin Paehler.
(2018)
Journal Article
"Breaking the Post-War Goose-Step: Three Films by Michael Verhoeven,"
Katrin Paehler.
Shofar. In Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies, 28 (4), 41-56, (2010)
"Creating an Alternative Foreign Office: A Reassessment of Office VI of the Reich Main Security Office,"
Katrin Paehler.
Journal of Intelligence History, 8, 27-42, (2008)
Other
"Foreword" to Thomas Boghardt, Covert Legions: U.S. Army Intelligence in Germany, 1944-1949
Katrin Paehler.
De Gruyter, VII-VIII, (2023)
Presentations
From 'Felizitas' to 'Gambit:' Vetting Hildegard Beetz for US Intelligence Work in Berlin and Beyond
Katrin Paehler.
SIH Annual Conference, Washington, DC, February, 2025
Negotiating Involvement in Intelligence: Hildegard Beetz and US Intelligence Efforts in Germany, 1945-1970
Katrin Paehler.
National Intelligence History Conference, Bletchley Park, UK, November, 2024
Espionage, Journalism, and Gender: The Case of Hilde(gard) Beetz/Blum/Purwin
Katrin Paehler.
US Military and the Holocaust, Research Worshop, Washington, DC/Berlin/Online, July 23, 2024
Women Who Work(ed) in Nazi Germany: Hildegard Beetz, Nazi Fluidities, and American Bewilderments
Katrin.
German Studies Association, Annual Meeting, Montreal, October, 2023
Similar in Content, Different in Form: Cape Town's District Six Museum. Yizkor Books, and Communities after Catastrophes"
Katrin Paehler.
Lessons & Legacies 2022, Ottawa, November, 2022
Gender Between Hot & Cold War: Hildegard Beetz and the Making and Unmaking of the 'Ideal Spy'
Katrin Paehler.
Need to Know X: The Intelligence Legacy of World War II and the Onset of the Cold War, London, UK, November 26, 2021
"The District Six Museum in Cape Town, South Africa: A Three-Dimensional Yizkor Book?"
Katrin Paehler.
Memory Studies Association, African Chapter, Pretoria, ZA, October, 2019
Selling Fascism Abroad: "The American Illustrated News: The Bridge Across the Atlantic"
Katrin Paehler.
Symposium on Teaching History and the Social Sciences, Normal, IL, January 27, 2017
It's Almost Thirty-Three and This Won't End Well: Volker Kutscher's Detective Fiction, History, And Current Considerations
Katrin Paehler.
German Studies Association Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, September 30, 2016
The Era of the Witness Ends--Holocaust Education in the 21st Century
Katrin Paehler.
Lecture Series, Jacksonville, IL, March 31, 2016
'Auslandsspionage---Ideologie und Illusion. Das Amt VI des Reichssicherheitshauptamtes
Katrin Paehler.
Topographie des Terrors, Berlin, Germany, November 18, 2014
Greece and the Greek Jewish Community during WWII
Katrin Paehler.
N/A, Athens, June 1, 2014
Spying While Female: Hildegard Beetz, Nazi Espionage, and the Quest for the Ciano Diaries
Katrin Paehler.
Strochlitz Center for Holocaust Studies, The Weiss-Livnat International MA in Holocaust Studies, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel, May 1, 2014
Shadow Wars, Nazi Style: Nazi Germany's Foreign Intelligence and 1944
Katrin Paehler.
1944: Seventy Years On, Sandhurst, UK, April 1, 2014
Gender and Nazi Espionage: Hildegard Beetz, the Ciano Affair, and Female Agency
Katrin Paehler.
Lessons of War: Gender History and the Second World War, Lancaster, UK, September 1, 2013
Filming (West-)German Politics of the Past:" The Example of Michael Verhoeven
Katrin Paehler.
Annual Meeting of the Cultural Studies Association, Chicago, IL, May 1, 2013
How the Spymaster Recast Himself as the Diplomat: Walter Schellenberg, the Western Allies, and Adventures in Storytelling
Katrin Paehler.
NA, Burlington, VT, March 1, 2013
On Book Burning
Katrin Paehler.
N/A, Clinton, IL, December 1, 2009