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Jean-Michel Turcotte

Adjunct Research Professor

Jean-Michel Turcotte is a historian at the Directorate of History and Heritage (DHH), Department of National Defence. Before moving to Ottawa, he completed a PhD in history at Université Laval in 2018, and thereafter, undertook postdoctoral fellowships in Berlin, Potsdam and Mainz in Germany. As a specialist of war and armed conflict, his research interests encompass the history of wartime captivity, humanitarianism, international humanitarian law and Canadian international and military history. At DHH, he is currently co-authors of the Official History of Canadian Military Observers in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, 1954-1973 as well as working on an Official History of Canadian Peace Support Operations, 1945-1971.

He welcomes collaborations, including requests for co-supervision of graduate students, and is looking forward to working closely with Carleton historians, students, and others.

Other Affiliations

2024                                             The Northern Mariner

2023                                              Bill Graham Center for Contemporary International History

Previous Positions

2020 – 2023                                  Leibniz Institute of European History (IEG), Mainz

2019 – 2020                                  Chair of War Studies, University of Potsdam

2018 – 2019                                  John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies, Free University, Berlin

Recent Fellowships

2022                                              Post-doctoral Fellowship, German Historical Institute, Washington

2022                                              German Historical Institute in Paris

2020 – 2023                                  Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (Canada)

2019                                              Transatlantic Studies Association/Halle Foundation

2018 – 2020                                  Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et Culture

2018                                              Harry S. Truman Presidential Library

2017                                              Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Research School, DAAD

2014 – 2017                                  Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et Culture

2015                                              Doctoral Fellowship, German Historical Institute, Washington

2013                                              Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst (DAAD), interDaf e.V am Herder-Institut der Universität Leipzig, Germany

2012                                              Association internationale d’études québécoises (AIEQ)

Selected Publications

[Book]

Comment traiter les « soldats d’Hitler » ? Les relations interalliées et la détention des prisonniers de guerre allemands (1939-1945) [What to do with Hitler’s Soldiers? Interallied Relations and the Captivity of German Prisoners of War, 1939-1945], Ottawa: University Press of Ottawa, 2022, 406 p.

Comment traiter les « soldats d’Hitler » ? – University of Ottawa Press

[Peer-Reviewed Articles]

Jean-Michel Turcotte and John MacFarlane, “Between Frustration and Success: The Canadian Military Experience on the International Commission of Control and Supervision in Vietnam, 1973,” Journal of Military History, Vol. 89, No. 1, January 2025, pp. 128–54.

“The Major Humanitarian Dilemma of Neutrality. The International Committee of the Red Cross and Prisoners of War in Korea, 1950–1953,” Humanity: An International Journal of Human Rights, Humanitarianism, and Development, vol. 13, Issue 3 (2022): 263–280.

“Le fonctionnalisme en pratique : la diplomatie canadienne face à l’affaire de Koje-Do durant la guerre de Corée,” Canadian Historical Review, vol. 103, Issue 2 (2022): 277–302.

“Une coopération complexe entre humanitaires et militaires : Le Comité international de la Croix-Rouge et le Commandement des Nations Unies durant la guerre de Corée,” Relations Internationales, vol. 186, Issue 2 (2021): 65–82.

“A Truly Ambivalent Collaboration: Canadian-British Wartime Relation and German Prisoners of War, 1940–1945,” International History Review, vol. 42, Issue 3 (2020): 526–542.

“‘An Important Contribution to the Allied War Effort.’ Canada and North Atlantic Intelligence Exchange on German POWs, 1940–1945,” Intelligence and National Security, vol. 34, Issue 2 (2019): 289–306.

“Collaborer avec le Commonwealth? Les relations canado-britanniques et la détention de guerre au Canada, 1940–1945,” Canadian Historical Review, vol. 99, Issue 3 (2018): 428–455.

“To have a friendly co-operation between Canadians and Americans. Les prisonniers de guerres allemands en Amérique du Nord, 1940-1945. Objet d’une cooperation américo-canadienne,” Bulletin d’histoire Politique, vol. 26, Issue 3 (2018): 105–127.

“La participation canadienne à la rééducation des prisonniers de guerre allemands : l’expérience du camp de Sorel au Québec, 1945–1946,” Revue Cap-Aux-Diamants, no 132 (2018) : 12–14.

“Bowmanville, October 1942: The ‘Shackling Crisis’ and the German Prisoners of War in Canada,” in Johannes Paulmann, Marc Palen, Andrew Tompson and Fabian Klose, Online Atlas on the History of Humanitarianism and Human Rights, 2018. http://hhr-atlas.ieg-mainz.de/articles/turcotte-bowmanville

“To have a friendly co-operation between Canadians and AmericansThe Canada–U.S. Relationship Regarding German Prisoners of War, 1940–1945,” Diplomacy & Statecraft, vol. 28, Issue 3 (2017): 383–402.

“Entre appui et condamnation, la presse britannique et la campagne de bombardements stratégiques sur l’Allemagne (1939–1945),” Guerres mondiales et conflits contemporains, vol. 258, Issue 2 (2015): 105–124.

[Book Chapters]

“Civilian internees, common criminals or dangerous Communists? The International Committee of the Red Cross, the United Nations Command and Internment in South Korean, 1950–1953,” in Gabriele Anderl, Linda Erker, Christoph Renprecht (ed.), Internment Refugee Camps: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives (Bielefeld, Transcript-verlag, 2023): 125–136.