Military Historian, Author, MEDIA ADVISER
WHAT I DO
Military Historian, Author, Media Adviser
I am a German military historian, author, writer, and producer specializing in the wartime experience of the German soldier from the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815) to the end of World War II. My research interests encompass the human experience of war, military culture, and the use of ego-documents like diaries and letters.
I have extensive experience as a historical consultant for international media. I have contributed to numerous television documentaries, including the BBC’s “Great War Interviews” and the acclaimed Netflix series “Voices of Liberation.” As a producer and writer I regularly work for HistoryHit.tv
During the World War I Centenary, I served as a consultant for the UK’s Department for Media, Culture and Sport and the UCL Institute of Education. In 2016, I was honored to be the German Historical Consultant for the British National Commemoration of the Centenary of the Battle of the Somme.
In 2017/2018, I co-founded and led the “Dig Hill 80” project, an award-winning archaeological excavation that uncovered the remains of over 100 soldiers from World War I. This groundbreaking project shed new light on the realities of trench warfare and the human cost of the conflict. I am the creator and former historical editor of ‘Iron Cross Magazine’.
My work has been published in numerous international military history journals and magazines. I curated the exhibition “Empire, Faith & War: The Sikhs and World War One” in London in 2014 and served as a curatorial advisor for the D-Day Story Museum in Portsmouth.
My latest research about the fate of those killed during the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 and the industrial exploitation of human bone in the early 19th century has been reported on world-wide.
I continue to engage in research, writing, and media projects that explore the complexities of military history and the human experience of war.
BOOKS
FRITZ AND TOMMY
‘One of the few genuinely transnational books about the First World War’ – Dan Snow
‘This is a book whose content is likely to be pillaged by future writers.’ – The Western Front Association
BLOOD, DUST AND SNOW
‘Unvarnished, absorbing, gritty and pulling no punches. One of the best accounts of war on the Eastern Front I have ever read.’ – Dr. Peter Caddick-Adams
‘An erudite, well-written, thoughtful account of the harsh realities of combat on the Eastern Front in World War Two’ – Roger Moorhouse
THE IRON CROSS: A CULTURAL AND COMBAT HISTORY 1813-2008
[Placeholder Cover] Greenhill Books, TBC 2024
BONES OF CONTENTION: THE INDUSTRIAL EXPLOITATION OF HUMAN BONES IN THE MODERN AGE (BELGIAN STATE ARCHIVES, STUDIA 176)
‘It was thought that the remains of the brave who died on the battlefields would be treated with respect and that they would serve to keep the memory of the people alive. Instead, it turns out, they were used for commercial gain. The authors and editors of this work, Bernard Wilkin and Robin Schäfer, enable us to follow this surprising journey of the dead” – Charles Bonaparte’
March 2024 (OUT NOW)
Recent Press (English language only)
“Now we know where the dead went! – Did grave robbers plunder battlefields?” – SCIENCE MAGAZINE
“Were bones of 1800s battlefield dead dug up for fertilizer and sugar?” – WASHINGTON POST
“Digging up Waterloo’s Secrets” – THE BRUSSELS TIMES
“Tears of a monster: Unearthed WWI diary of German U-boat officer reveals his heartbreak at losing crewmates and pining for his girlfriend… before going on to order massacre of thousands of Jews in WWII” – Mail Online
“A beloved husband, the father of British cryptology and a liar who abandoned his wife… How German WWI rifle plucked from No Man’s Land has revealed astonishing life stories of its former owners” – Mail Online
“Praise for Red Baron’s brother from father of British ace he killed” – The Sunday Times
Also published in the Mail Online
“It is a physical punch in the guts, raw, sensual and violent’: German historian ROBIN SCHÄFER gives his expert view on Netflix’s new big screen adaptation of classic WWI novel All Quiet on the Western Front” – Mail Online
‘Tanks a lot! Never-before-seen pictures show how Germans captured British tanks and used them against their former owners in First World War’ – Mail Online
“Experts say bones of 20,000 British and French soldiers were ground down and used to make white sugar” — This is without doubt the most important research I ever did or will do, the results went viral in the world-wide press. [Peer-reviewed paper coming in January 2023] – Mail Online
Paris Match coverage (French)
“The (not so) Great Escapes: From soot-coated men found in a fireplace to tunnellers just 10 INCHES from the wall… British officers’ unsuccessful bids to flee Nazi PoW camp ‘Castle Tittmoning’ are revealed” – Mail Online
“Tears of a monster: Unearthed WWI diary of German U-boat officer reveals his heartbreak at losing crewmates and pining for his girlfriend… before going on to order massacre of thousands of Jews in WWII” – Mail Online
The 2018 ‘Dig Hill 80’ battlefield archaeology project, which I joint founded together with Professor Peter Doyle and Simon Verdegem, was a life changing event for all of those who participated – myself included. You can find reports about it in the press and TV news world wide. Here is only one of hundreds of press links.
