Detlev Peukert (September 20, 1950 - May 17, 1990) was a German historian, noted for his studies of the relationship between what he called the "spirit of science" and the Holocaust and in social history and the Weimar Republic. Peukert taught modern history at the University of Essen and served as director of the Research Institute for the History of the Nazi Period. Peukert was a member of the German Communist Party until 1978, when he joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany.

One of Peukert's first books was Ruhrarbeiter gegen den Faschismus (Ruhr Workers Against Fascism), a study of anti-Nazi activities amongst the working class of the Ruhr during the Third Reich. Peukert was a leading expert in Alltagsgeschichte (history of everyday life) and his work often examined the effect of Nazi social policies on ordinary Germans and on persecuted groups such as Jews and Roma. In particular, Peukert looked at how in "everyday" life in Nazi Germany, aspects of both "normality" and "criminality" co-existed with another. Peukert was one of the first historians to make a detailed examination of the persecution of the Roma. Peukert often compared Nazi policies towards Roma with Nazi policies towards Jews.

Another related area of interest for Peukert was resistance, opposition and dissent in the Third Reich. Peukert developed a pyramid model starting with "nonconformity" (behavior in private that featured partial rejection of the Nazi regime) running to "refusal of co-operation" (Verweigerung) to "protest", and finally to Widerstand (resistance), which involved total rejection of the Nazi regime.

Peukert often wrote on the social and cultural history of the Weimar Republic whose problems he saw as more severe examples of the problems of modernity.

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