Hilary Earl is professor of Modern European History and Genocide studies at Nipissing University in North Bay. Her research and teaching interests include the history of the Nazi Holocaust, comparative genocide, war crimes trials of high and mid-ranking Nazis, perpetrator testimony, atrocity film and photography, and the cultural impact of the Holocaust and genocide in the twenty-first century. Her work examines the tensions between what perpetrators say and how they behave. She has published in a variety of journals and essay collections and her book, The Nuremberg SS-Einsatzgruppen Trial, 1945-1958: Atrocity, Law, and History won the 2010 Hans Rosenberg prize for the best book in German history. Professor Earl discusses her book in this podcast.
She has also co-edited two important collections in Holocaust studies, Lessons and Legacies XI: Expanding Perspectives on the Holocaust in a Changing World (2014) and The Wiley Handbook on the Holocaust (in press). Her new project, “Murder on the Beach is a case study of a single Einsatzgruppen execution in Liepaja, Latvia in photographs, on film, and in testimony, 1941.” She was recently awarded a two-year Social Sciences and Humanities Insight Development Research grant for this project. She is also working on a number of other projects including a study of the integration of Nazi war criminals back into German society and a documentary film on the SS perpetrators. In 2015, she had the honour to be the Neuberger Holocaust Scholar in Residence during Holocaust Education Week in Toronto. In 2017 and again in 2019, she taught a third-year experiential learning course, Into that Darkness: Memory of the Holocaust in Poland. The course involved taking 10 students to spend two weeks in Poland. Done in partnership with Polish Holocaust educators and expert guides, the group visited sites of Polish-Jewish history and toured specific museums in order to learn in a hands-on way about various dimensions of the Holocaust. She is active in the community of scholars who work in the field of Holocaust studies.
Professor Deidre Butler and the Zelikovitz Centre for Jewish Studies were awarded an eCampus grant to develop online resources to educate about the Holocaust and antisemitism. Professor Earl was invited to work on this initiative, titled, “Hear Our Voices: Holocaust survivors share their stories of trauma and hate”. The planned course consists of four modules. Professor Earl’s research and experience working on SS perpetrators and perpetrator testimonies make her an excellent fit for Module Four “Antisemitism and Race”. She will be analyzing survivor stories and exploring how these and oral history interviews with perpetrators illustrate the ways in which Jewishness exceeds the boundaries of race.
Publications: https://nipissingu.academia.edu/HilaryEarl