Career
His biography of General Ludwig Beck provided important source material for William Shirer’s seminal book, “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich”. Wolfgang Foerster, the younger brother of Otfried Foerster, left school in 1894 and joined the Prussian army as an officer cadet (Fahnenjunker). He went on to pursue a career in the army general staff
During the First World War, Foerster served in the general staff of the 5th Army Corps and later became head of the general staff of the 66th Generalkommando.
In 1920 he was discharged from military service with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel (Oberstleutnant). He moved directly into the role of senior archivist at the Reichsarchiv.
There, in 1931, Foerster became director of the history department and, then, in 1937, director of the Research Institute for Army and War History (Forschungsanstalt für Heeresund Kriegsgeschichte), renamed the War History Research Institute (Kriegsgeschichtliche Forschungsanstalt des Heeres) later that year. Finally, in 1944, he was awarded the title of professor
A position he held until his retirement the following year.
He died on October 14, 1963, at the age of 88, in Icking.