Peter Hayes

Peter F. Hayes (born 1946) is an American historian and professor emeritus at Northwestern University, renowned for his expertise on the Holocaust, Nazi Germany, and corporate complicity in Nazi crimes, authoring or editing 14 books including the prize-winning Industry and Ideology: IG Farben in the Nazi Era (1987). His notable works also encompass Why? Explaining the Holocaust (2017) and Profits and Persecution: German Big Business in the Nazi Economy and the Holocaust (2025), earning awards such as the Biennial Book Prize from the Conference Group for Central European History and the National Leadership Award from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. He formerly chaired the Academic Committee of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum and is recognized as a leading scholar on industry in Nazi Germany.