Dr Michael Carter-Sinclair
(PhD History, 2012)
Visiting Research Fellow in the Department of History, Dr Michael Carter-Sinclair passed away on 19 November 2022, after a long period of illness.
Michael was a Visiting Research Fellow in the Department of History at King’s, where he obtained his doctorate in 2012. His work, both as a doctoral student and subsequently while holding a research fellowship, looks at the political culture of Vienna in the final decades of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and during the First Austrian Republic. It charts the transformation of a metropolis celebrated as a melting pot of cultural diversity into one where a virulent antisemitism took over ‘polite’ society.
Michael brought many qualities to his work. These included, first and foremost, a commitment to combatting prejudice and injustice in the present. To this mission must be added a love of Vienna, which remained undimmed despite recognition of its troubled past. Fortunately, Michael’s health held up sufficiently long for him to complete his book, Vienna’s ‘Respectable’ Antisemites: A Study of the Christian Social Movement, published by Manchester University Press in 2021. It is his most important legacy to the discipline of history.
Apart from his research, Michael also taught undergraduate history students for several years while at King’s. He combined a culture of high expectations in the classroom with a capacity to encourage and inspire. This enabled even those lacking in self-confidence to grow. They too constitute a legacy left by Michael’s deep sense of humanity and commitment to equality.
Some of his other topics during his lectures included the Second World War and European history from the 1970s and onwards. He also spoke different languages, such as French, German and Spanish, and learned how to speak Czech, as this helped broaden and hone his interests even further for his research projects relating to German-Czech conflicts.
After a long period of illness, Michael passed away in November 2022. He will be truly missed by his family, friends, colleagues and students.