Ott earned a doctoral degree in 1959 with a thesis on the history of
Saint Blaise Abbey in the
Black Forest. From 1972 to 1997, he was chair of economic and social history at the
University of Freiburg. In 1980, he wrote a biography of
Hans Filbinger alongside and . He was a member of the scientific advisory board of the research center
Forschungsstelle Widerstand gegen den Nationalsozialismus im deutschen Südwesten, headed by at the
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. He held discussions with pastor , who talked of the inequity within concentration camps between clergy and their fellow prisoners. From 1952, Ott had been a member of and, since 1988, the of
Cartellverband. Ott died in
Merzhausen on 22 January 2022, at the age of 90. ==Works==