Karl A. Schleunes

Karl A. Schleunes

The world lost a truly "gentle" man Saturday, May 15, with the death of Karl Albert Schleunes, a father, grandfather, uncle, friend, as well as a recognized wit and a true scholar. Karl, who had been ill for several months, recently moved from Greensboro to Charlotte, first into a rehab center, then into his new home with Brenda, his wife of 56 years.

Karl is known throughout the world of Holocaust research for his book, The Twisted Road to Auschwitz, published in 1970. The book offers his study of the Nazis and what he, Schleunes, called "The Final Solution to the Jewish Question". In the 1960's, along with a handful of European and American scholars, Karl helped establish a new field in modern historical studies. His groundbreaking research in the Berlin Document Center, which holds materials captured from the Germans, provided him with evidence to produce an exhaustive analysis of the policies which led to the murders of six million Jews. The Twisted Road to Auschwitz is a landmark in Holocaust historiography. Christopher Browning states, "Karl's interpretation of the Final Solution as a product of unplanned evolution rather than premeditated 'grand design' triggered a debate that has energized Holocaust scholarship over the decades. In 1990, the reissue in paperback of this true classic was a most welcome event to anyone teaching or studying the Holocaust." Another Historian, Claudia Koonz, identifies Schleunes's work "as essential reading for anyone trying to make sense of the enduring global problems of genocide."

Schleunes holds a BA from Lakeland College Wisconsin and an MA and PHD from the University of Minnesota. A UNC Greensboro faculty member for forty-five years, he also taught at the University of Illinois and the University of Cape Town. His publications include The Twisted Road to Auschwitz, Schooling and Society: The Politics of Education in Prussia and Bavaria, Legislating the Holocaust, and several chapters of the forthcoming Yad Vashem official history of the Holocaust. He is also co-editor of Lesson and Legacies XI. Schleunes has been working on a book project that looks at the same problems as the Twisted Road but is drawn from the fifty years of information garnered since the launching of his book published a half century ago and, in fact, still in print. As Karl said, "I learned a lot in fifty years; the book didn't learn anything."

Karl will be remembered for his many years of workshops sponsored by the North Carolina Council on the Holocaust for high school teachers across the state and as the honoree of the Schleunes Lectures which annually bring a well-known Holocaust scholar to speak at Greensboro College, an event sponsored by Richard and Jane Levy.

In addition to scholarly pursuits, Karl was known for his special side cars often requested for fundraisers because of their popularity and for his wit—the quick come back, the dry comment, the creator of jokes, and the winner of the "Worst Joke Contest" sponsored by the Greensboro News and Record. His favorites were bad jokes (groaners) which caused a close friend to remark, "in my world view, Karl Schleunes invented the "dad" joke, which in those days we called the "bad" joke."

Karl was born on April 21, 1937, in Kiel, Wisconsin. As a product of that state, he was a proud fan of the Green Bay Packers, bratwurst, and beer. He was the youngest child of Henry F. Schleunes and Adelia Eickhoff Schleunes of Kiel. He leaves to mourn him, his wife, Brenda; daughter, Anna; son-in-law, Michael Wilson; grandsons, Henry Walker and Nathaniel Karl Wilson; and brother-in-law, Joseph Pursel; nieces and nephews: Jelane Gosse, Henry Bub, Luann Lohoff, Kenneth Bub, Barbara Woepse, Karen Kelly, Linda Schleunes, Mark Schleunes, Jane Stolzman, Karen Grundahl, Joli Dall'Osto, Rebekah Pursel, and Amanda Pursel; along with many friends and colleagues. Preceding him in death were his parents; sisters, Arliine Bub and Ellen Kolpack; brother, Merlin Schleunes; nephew, Roger Bub; and niece, Kathy Quandt.

A service of celebration and remembrance will be held at Congregational UCC, 400 West Radiance Dr. in Greensboro on Thursday, June 10, 2021 at 4:00 pm. In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to the Schleunes Scholarship Fund or Jackson Library at UNC Greensboro.

Arrangements are being handled by the Robertson Funeral Home in Charlotte.