Citino, who just last month relocated to New Orleans with his wife Roberta, is settling into a position created to help strengthen the Museum’s research and education endeavors. He will work closely with the Museum’s other staff historians as well as its educators and outside consultants, playing a key role in refining the 16-year-old institution’s intellectual agenda.
“We’re delighted to welcome Rob on board in a vital role that will be essential to our future as we collaborate with other scholars, highlight promising new WWII research and launch new teaching and media initiatives,” said Museum President and CEO Gordon H. “Nick” Mueller, PhD. “Rob is an inspired scholar who is deeply committed to public history. His vast knowledge and insights on the powerful legacies of World War II will be invaluable as we begin developing the Institute for the Study of War and Democracy as part of our coming Hall of Democracy pavilion.”
“I’m humbled to join The National WWII Museum at such an exciting time in its development and growth,” said Citino. “The Museum’s immersive exhibits are truly the heart and soul of the institution—those are going to bring audiences in forever. But the Museum also has to present the broadest possible meaning of World War II, which opens possibilities for exploring all approaches and all themes, using new technology, new perspectives and new methodology. We’re just scratching the surface right now, and I think the sky’s the limit for what this place can achieve in the future.”
In addition to his work with the Museum, Citino enjoys close ties with the military establishment – he currently chairs the Historical Advisory Subcommittee of the Department of the Army and has served three years in the education system of the Department of Defense, including one year at West Point and two years at the Army War College. Among Citino’s areas of specialization as a historian is the German military, a pursuit enhanced by his reading fluency in the German language, which he began to study as an undergraduate at Ohio State University.
Citino’s lifelong interest in World War II was sparked when his father, a veteran of the Pacific war, handed him a copy of “Guadalcanal Diary.” “From there, I couldn’t read enough books on World War II,” he recalls. Currently wrapping up work on his 10th book, he can’t seem to write enough either. Among his accolades, Citino’s book “Blitzkrieg to Desert Storm” (2004), an examination of global warfare, won the American Historical Association’s Paul M. Birdsall Prize as well as the Distinguished Book Award of the Society for Military History. Additionally, his book “The Wehrmacht Retreats: Fighting a Lost War, 1943” (2012) earned a second SMH Distinguished Book Award. He is one of the very few historians ever to win the award twice.
Citino is also a regular contributor to World War II Magazine and other publications, and speaks widely about the war. Next October, he will be featured alongside Mueller in an exclusive lecture series on the Museum’s “Normandy & The Seine River” tour, an opportunity for guests not only to examine the history and heroism of World War II in Normandy, but also to explore the rich culture of the French countryside.
A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Rob Citino earned M.A. and Ph.D. degrees at Indiana University.
The National WWII Museum tells the story of the American experience in the war that changed the world—why it was fought, how it was won, and what it means today. Dedicated in 2000 as The National D-Day Museum and now designated by Congress as America's National WWII Museum, it celebrates the American Spirit, teamwork, optimism, courage, and sacrifice of the men and women who served on the battlefront and the Home Front. For more information, call 877-813-3329 or 504-528-1944 or visit nationalww2museum.org. Follow us on Twitter at WWIImuseum or on Facebook.