Stéphane Courtois

Stéphane Courtois (; born 25 November 1947) is a French historian and university professor, a director of research at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), professor at the Catholic Institute of Higher Studies (ICES) in La Roche-sur-Yon, and director of a collection specialized in the history of communist movements and communist states.

''The Black Book of Communism'', a 1997 book edited by Courtois, has been translated into numerous languages, sold millions of copies, and is considered one of the most influential and controversial books written about the history of communism in the 20th century and state socialist regimes. In the first chapter of the book, Courtois argued that Communism and Nazism are similar totalitarian systems and that Communism was responsible for the murder of around 100 million people in the 20th century. Courtois' attempt to equate the two has been polemically effective, but controversial due to his numbers and his choice of which countries and events to compare, as well as being revisionist.

Courtois is a research director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, in the ''Géode'' (group of study and observation of democracy) at Paris West University Nanterre La Défense. He is also a professor at the Catholic Institute of Higher Studies – ICES. He is editor of the journal ''Communisme'', which he cofounded with Annie Kriegel in 1982, and part of the ''Cercle de l'Oratoire'' think tank.

As a student, from 1968 to 1971, Courtois was a Maoist, but he later became a strong supporter of democracy, pluralism, and the rule of law. Provided by Wikipedia