Dienke Hondius |
Dr. Dienke Hondius, PhD (born May 25, 1960) is an assistant professor of contemporary history at VU University. She is also an advisor and staff member at the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam and has conducted extensive research on contemporary anti-Semitism, Holocaust studies, and racism in the Netherlands.
Background
In 1984, Hondius joined the educational department of the Anne Frank House and in 1985, she helped create “Anne Frank in the World, 1929-1945” the first traveling Anne Frank exhibition. In 1990, Hondius presented the travelling exhibition “The World of Anne Frank” to Nelson Mandela, when Mandela, recently released from South African prison, visited the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France. [i] Dienke Hondius received her doctorate from the University of Amsterdam in 1999 from the Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences. She wrote her dissertation on acceptance and avoidance of ethnic and religious difference in mixed marriages in the Netherlands[ii].
She taught at Erasmus University Rotterdam and University Utrecht from 2000 to 2008 and joined the faculty at VU Amsterdam in 2004[iii]. In addition, from 2004 to 2010 she contributed to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Project Eyewitnesses of the Holocaust, an oral history project on the survivors, bystanders, and perpetrators to the Holocaust.[iv] In 2012, she created the first Google map of Amsterdam slave owners from 1863.[v]
Work
Holocaust Studies and Anti-Semitism
Hondius examines Holocaust remembrance through oral history and stands at the forefront of the Holocaust Studies field in her use of interviews and testimonies in research. In 2003, she published an English edition of Return: Holocaust Survivors and Dutch Anti-Semitism, a book that chronicled the rise in anti-Semitism after the Second World War through archive research and eyewitness memories.[vi] Hondius expanded her work in memory studies of the Holocaust in her book Lessons of War: Education about World War Two Since 1945, which examined the educational memory of the Holocaust and the tension between national pride and national shame in the remembrance of the Second World War in the Netherlands.[vii]
Racism
Hondius is one of the Netherlands’ leading researchers in European race relations and slavery. Hondius explores racial ambivalence in Europe in her 2014 book, Blackness in Western Europe. [viii] Through the book and her research project Mapping Slavery, a Google Map and guide of European slave owner residences and black heritage locations, Hondius aims to increase the visibility of the Netherlands slave history and encourage conversations on race relations.
[i] "Nelson Mandela on the Diary of Anne Frank." Anne Frank. Anne Frank House, n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2015. <http://www.annefrank.org/en/Anne-Frank/The-diary-of-Anne-Frank/Nelson-Mandela-on-Anne-Frank/>.
[ii] Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. "Dr. D.G. (Dienke) Hondius." Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Faculteit Der Lettern. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2015. <http://www.let.vu.nl/nl/organisatie-van-de-faculteit/wetenschappelijk-personeel/medewerkers-alfabetisch/medewerkers-e-k/dr-d-g-hondius/index.asp>.
[iii] Ibid
[iv] United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. "International Database of Oral History Testimonies." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2015. <http://www.ushmm.org/online/oral-history/detail.php?SurveyId=226&letter=U&ord=127>.
[v] Hondius, Dienke. "Dienke Hondius." Linked in. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2015. <https://www.linkedin.com/pub/dienke-hondius/16/397/517?trk=pub-pbmap>.
[vi] Hondius, Dienke. Return: Holocaust Survivors and Dutch Anti-Semitism. Westport: Praeger, 2003. Print.
[vii] Kolen, Jan. CLUE Annual Report 2010. Rep. VU University, n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2015. <http://clue.nu/cluemedia/pdf/original/JaarverslagCLUE2010.pdf>.
[viii] Hondius, Dienke. Blackness in Western Europe: Racial Patterns of Paternalism and Exclusion. New Brunswick: Transaction, 2014. Print.
Background
In 1984, Hondius joined the educational department of the Anne Frank House and in 1985, she helped create “Anne Frank in the World, 1929-1945” the first traveling Anne Frank exhibition. In 1990, Hondius presented the travelling exhibition “The World of Anne Frank” to Nelson Mandela, when Mandela, recently released from South African prison, visited the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France. [i] Dienke Hondius received her doctorate from the University of Amsterdam in 1999 from the Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences. She wrote her dissertation on acceptance and avoidance of ethnic and religious difference in mixed marriages in the Netherlands[ii].
She taught at Erasmus University Rotterdam and University Utrecht from 2000 to 2008 and joined the faculty at VU Amsterdam in 2004[iii]. In addition, from 2004 to 2010 she contributed to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Project Eyewitnesses of the Holocaust, an oral history project on the survivors, bystanders, and perpetrators to the Holocaust.[iv] In 2012, she created the first Google map of Amsterdam slave owners from 1863.[v]
Work
Holocaust Studies and Anti-Semitism
Hondius examines Holocaust remembrance through oral history and stands at the forefront of the Holocaust Studies field in her use of interviews and testimonies in research. In 2003, she published an English edition of Return: Holocaust Survivors and Dutch Anti-Semitism, a book that chronicled the rise in anti-Semitism after the Second World War through archive research and eyewitness memories.[vi] Hondius expanded her work in memory studies of the Holocaust in her book Lessons of War: Education about World War Two Since 1945, which examined the educational memory of the Holocaust and the tension between national pride and national shame in the remembrance of the Second World War in the Netherlands.[vii]
Racism
Hondius is one of the Netherlands’ leading researchers in European race relations and slavery. Hondius explores racial ambivalence in Europe in her 2014 book, Blackness in Western Europe. [viii] Through the book and her research project Mapping Slavery, a Google Map and guide of European slave owner residences and black heritage locations, Hondius aims to increase the visibility of the Netherlands slave history and encourage conversations on race relations.
[i] "Nelson Mandela on the Diary of Anne Frank." Anne Frank. Anne Frank House, n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2015. <http://www.annefrank.org/en/Anne-Frank/The-diary-of-Anne-Frank/Nelson-Mandela-on-Anne-Frank/>.
[ii] Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. "Dr. D.G. (Dienke) Hondius." Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Faculteit Der Lettern. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2015. <http://www.let.vu.nl/nl/organisatie-van-de-faculteit/wetenschappelijk-personeel/medewerkers-alfabetisch/medewerkers-e-k/dr-d-g-hondius/index.asp>.
[iii] Ibid
[iv] United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. "International Database of Oral History Testimonies." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2015. <http://www.ushmm.org/online/oral-history/detail.php?SurveyId=226&letter=U&ord=127>.
[v] Hondius, Dienke. "Dienke Hondius." Linked in. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2015. <https://www.linkedin.com/pub/dienke-hondius/16/397/517?trk=pub-pbmap>.
[vi] Hondius, Dienke. Return: Holocaust Survivors and Dutch Anti-Semitism. Westport: Praeger, 2003. Print.
[vii] Kolen, Jan. CLUE Annual Report 2010. Rep. VU University, n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2015. <http://clue.nu/cluemedia/pdf/original/JaarverslagCLUE2010.pdf>.
[viii] Hondius, Dienke. Blackness in Western Europe: Racial Patterns of Paternalism and Exclusion. New Brunswick: Transaction, 2014. Print.