Gerhard Raff


Gerhard Raff is a German historian, editor and publisher, well known around Swabia for his writings on history in the Swabian dialect of German, e.g. in a weekly column for the Stuttgarter Zeitung.

Life

Born shortly after the end of World War II to a farmer and winemaker family on the then rural outskirts of the capital of the former Württemberg, Stuttgart, Raff studied history and Protestant Theology at the renowned Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen. In 1984, he earned a PhD in history there. His dissertation dealt with the origins of the House of Württemberg, i.e., the ruling dynasty of the state of Württemberg from the Middle Ages until the German Revolution of 1918–1919.
That thesis was published in 1988 and thus far has been followed up by two additional volumes on the history of Württemberg in 1993 and 2002, with a fourth one to be published shortly.
Raff donates all revenues and royalties from his lectures and publications to charitable causes, especially, but not exclusively, in the field of preservation of sites of historical interest, e.g. for a pilgrim's hostel on the Way of St. James at La Faba or for the restoration of Ulm Minster.

List of works

Hie gut Wirtemberg allewege I: Das Haus Württemberg von Graf Ulrich dem Stifter bis Herzog Ludwig. Mit einer Einleitung von Hansmartin Decker-Hauff. Stuttgart 1988
Hie gut Wirtemberg allewege II: Das Haus Württemberg von Herzog Friedrich I. bis Herzog Eberhard III. Mit den Linien Stuttgart, Mömpelgard, Weiltingen, Neuenbürg, Neuenstadt am Kocher und Oels in Schlesien, Degerloch 1993
Hie gut Wirtemberg allewege III: Das Haus Württemberg von Herzog Wilhelm Ludwig bis Herzog Friedrich Karl. Mit den Linien Stuttgart, Winnental, Neuenstadt am Kocher, Neuenbürg, Mömpelgard und Oels, Bernstadt und Juliusburg in Schlesien und Weiltingen. Degerloch 2002
Chronik der Stadt Stuttgart 1954–1960
Herr, schmeiß Hirn ra!, 1985
Mehr Hirn!, 1995, mit Illustrationen von Loriot
Raffs Raritäten, 1998
Die schwäbische Geschichte, 2000
Eiserne Ration für furchtlose und treue Württemberger, 2003