The series of studies on the German inflation, which Professor Feldman co-authored and co-edited with a number of eminent German scholars in the 1970s, led to yet another classic work, nothing less than  “a masterpiece” according to his colleagues at UC,  The Great Disorder. Politics, Economics, and Society in the German Inflation, 1914-1924, published in 1993. It won him a best-book award in 1995 from the Conference Group for Central European History of the American Historical Association. His investigation of the German insurance industry and its involvement with the National Socialist regime resulted, in 2001, in the prize-winning book (the award being made by the German Studies Association) Allianz and the German Insurance Business, 1933-1945.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Gerald Feldman, together with German and American scholars, published a history of the Deutsche Bank from its beginnings to recent times. He continued to be deeply engaged in research of German and, more recently, Austrian banks during the period of National Socialism. He charted new paths in investigating the extent of the collaboration of German business with the Nazi regime, and although he was never formally trained in economic or business history, he produced major work in that field. He had a passion for work in the archives, an unwavering commitment to original research, and an unflagging energy in the pursuit of historical explanation. “He wanted to understand the deeper forces driving German and European History,” said John Connelly, an associate professor of history at UC Berkeley. “He was working on history at the foundation.”

Gerald Feldman was the recipient of many prizes and honors in recognition of his scholarly contributions, including, in September 2000, the prestigious Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. “His published work,” as a close colleague and friend recently said, “will continue to influence our understanding of German and European history for decades to come.”

At the beginning of 1994, he took over the directorship of the UC Center for German and European Studies, a research center serving all campuses of the University.  In 2000, the Center became part of the newly formed Institute of European Studies, where Professor Feldman served as Founding Director until 2006.  Under his leadership, both the Center and the Institute provided generous funding for countless students and faculty whose research focused on Europe. This legacy continues today.

Gerald Feldman was renowned for his devotion to his students. No American historian of Germany, the UC Berkeley history professor Margaret Anderson commented, trained more doctoral students, virtually all of whom hold teaching positions, some of them quite prominent, in the United States and abroad.  “Generations of undergraduates,” she added, “sat spell-bound through lectures characterized by their depth of information, analytical bite, and wit.”  Similarly, with respect to his scholarly activities, as Professor Connelly noted, “Gerry Feldman was a man of boundless dedication to scholarship and never too tired to contribute to academic meetings on his many interests anywhere in the world.”  Indeed, he was constantly either organizing or taking part in international conferences and meetings. “He was also a man of great culture with whom you could talk about anything ­ literature, music, cuisine. Like all great historians, he loved life.”

Gerald Feldman is survived by his wife Norma von Ragenfeld-Feldman and his two children, Aaron Joseph Feldman and Deborah Eve Feldman. The family asks that, in lieu of flowers, a donation be made to the UC Department of History in honor of Professor Feldman and in support of graduate students in German history.

— News Division, UC Berkeley