Raul Hilberg was an influential American historian, best known for his extensive research on the Holocaust. Born on June 2, 1926, in Vienna, Austria, he fled to the United States in 1939 to escape the Nazi regime. His seminal work, "The Destruction of the European Jews," published in 1961, provided a detailed analysis of the systematic extermination of Jews during World War II. Hilberg's scholarship emphasized the bureaucratic processes and the roles of various institutions in the Holocaust, making him a pioneer in Holocaust studies. He received numerous accolades for his work and contributed significantly to the understanding of the Nazi regime and its impact on Jewish communities in Europe.