Military Historian, Author, MEDIA ADVISER
WHAT I DO
I am a German military historian, author, writer and producer. As a historian, I specialise in the wartime experience of the German soldier from the Wars of Liberation (1813) to the end of the Second World War (1945).
There’s not enough space here for a full list of my undertakings, but I am the founder and former historical editor of the British ‘Iron Cross Magazine’ and regularly act as a historical consultant to the international media. In this capacity I have worked on several television documentaries, including the BBC’s ‘Great War Interviews’, and most recently as a writer and researcher for five episodes of the acclaimed Netflix-produced documentary series ‘Voices of Liberation’ (UK 2023, see trailer on the right). I wrote and co-produced the two-part documentary ‘Barbarossa: The Lost Diaries’ for the UK’s number one history streaming service, HistoryHit.tv.
Before and during the First World War Centenary, I acted as a German historical consultant and advisor to the First World War Centenary Battlefield Tours Programme of the UK’s UCL Institute of Education and the UK’s Department for Media, Culture and Sport. In 2016, I was the German Historical Consultant for the British National Commemoration of the Centenary of the Battle of the Somme at Westminster Abbey in the presence of Her Majesty The Queen accompanied by The Duke of Edinburgh.
In 2017/2018 I was co-founder and German lead historian of the acclaimed and award-winning ‘Dig Hill 80’ battlefield archaeology project, which led to the discovery of what the international press dubbed the ‘Pompeii of the Western Front’ and the recovery of the remains of over 100 missing German, French, British and Canadian soldiers from the First World War. A life-changing event for me and all those who supported and worked on this (literally) ‘ground-breaking’ project.
In addition to my books, I have written for a number of international military history journals, to date including Iron Cross Magazine (UK), Britain at War Magazine (UK), History of War Magazine (UK and Germany), Military History Monthly (UK), Desperta Ferro (Spain), Batailles & Blindés (France), Aerojournal (France) and Napoleon 1er (France).
In 2018, I was the historical consultant and writer for the video game ’11-11: Memories Retold’, produced by Digixart Entertainment (France), Aardman Animations (UK) and Bandai Namco Entertainment (US).The game was shortlisted for two BAFTA awards in 2019 (‘best British Game’ and ‘Game beyond Entertainment’) and won an International Film Music Critics Award (IFMCA).
I have published in Geology Today: ‘Fortress Wytschaete: geological controls on the German frontline in Flanders, 1914-1917′ (The Geologists’ Association & The Royal Geological Society of London 2020) and lectured at the University of Antwerp (Languages and the First World War Conference, 2014/15). I was curator of the award-winning exhibition ‘Empire, Faith & War: The Sikhs and World War One’ at the Brunei Gallery, SOAS, London in 2014, and was curatorial advisor to the D-Day Story Museum (formerly the D-Day Museum) in Portsmouth, UK during its refurbishment and rebranding. The results of my latest research, on the discovery of the ‘true fate of the Waterloo bones’ and the industrial exploitation of human and animal battlefield remains in the early 19th century, have only recently been published in a peer-reviewed paper by the Centre for Historical Research and Documentation on War and Contemporary Society (Cegesoma, Brussels) in early 2023.
Writer and researcher for VOICES OF LIBERATION is an 11-part documentary series about WWII. Directed by Koen Mortier and produced by CZAR for NETFLIX.
What happened to the bones of the Waterloo battlefield?
Joining Dan Snow on the podcast is Professor Tony Pollard archaeological director of Waterloo Uncovered, historian and scholar Rob Schafer and Bernard Wilkin Senior Researcher at the Royal Belgian State Archive. They discuss their theory about the fate of the Waterloo remains and why so few have survived.
Writer and adviser for ‘11-11: Memories Retold’ (Digixart Entertainment, Aardman Animations)
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
I regularly supply stories to the press – some of the more recent ones you can find here.
“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.
