20 December 2022
Dr Michael Carter-Sinclair (1959 – 2022)
We pay tribute to Dr Michael Carter-Sinclair, who passed away in November 2022.
Words by Dr Michael Rowe
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 PhD in 2012. His work, both as a doctoral student and subsequently whilst 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. In particular, 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 to his work many qualities. 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 with 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 whilst 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.
The thoughts and sympathies of our community are with his family, friends and colleagues.