dr. valerie hébert
- ph.d., university of toronto, 2006
- m.a., mcgill university, 1999
- hb.a., mcgill university, 1997
dr. valerie hébert is professor of history and interdisciplinary studies. her teaching areas include world history, 20th century european history, 20th century german history, world war i, human rights, the hitler state, the holocaust, genocide, and the photography of human rights violations and international conflict.
prior to joining lakehead orillia, dr. hebert held a social science and humanities research council of canada post-doctoral fellowship at osgoode hall law school, york university. she also taught courses on the holocaust and genocide at the university of toronto.
dr. hébert has received research fellowships from the social science and humanities research council of canada, the german historical institute, the united states holocaust memorial museum mandel center for advanced holocaust studies, and the martin buber society of hebrew university. she has written on the nuremberg trials and rwanda’s gacaca tribunals, the german resistance figure kurt gerstein, the place of the holocaust in the evolution of human rights law, and holocaust photography. she has presented her work at conferences in canada, the us, the uk, and europe.
publications include:
monograph:
hitler’s generals on trial: the last war crimes tribunal at nuremberg, university press of kansas, 2010 (cloth), 2021 (paperback).
edited collection:
framing the holocaust: photographs of a mass shooting in latvia, 1941. edited by valerie hébert. madison: university of wisconsin press, 2023 (cloth), 2024 (paperback).
essays and articles:
“photographs” in: laura hilton and avinoam patt, eds. understanding and teaching the holocaust. madison: university of wisconsin press, 2020 (cloth); 2022 (paperback).
“the problem of human rights after the holocaust” for the collection: the wiley-blackwell companion to the holocaust. ed. hilary earl and simone gigliotti, wiley-blackwell, 2020.
“hans rothfels, kurt gerstein and the report: a retrospective” for the inaugural issue of the german yearbook of contemporary history vol. 1: holocaust and memory in europe, ed. thomas schlemmer and alan steinweis, berlin: de gruyter oldenbourg, 2016.
“teaching the holocaust with postwar trials,” prism: an interdisciplinary journal for holocaust educators 6 (spring 2014): 85-91.
“befehlsempfänger und helden oder verschwörer und verbrecher? konzeptionen, argumente und probleme im okw-prozeß,” nmt. die nürnberger militärtribunale zwischen geschichte, gerechtigkeit und rechtschöpfung. edited by kim priemel and alexa stiller. hamburger edition (english title: "order followers and heroes or liars and criminals?: concepts, arguments, and problems in the okw-case"), 2013.
“from nuremberg to kigali: on the necessity and impossibility of post-atrocity justice,” lessons and legacies, volume x: back to the sources: perpetrators, victims and bystanders, edited by sara horowitz, northwestern university press, 2012.
“from clean hands to vernichtungskrieg: how the high command case shaped the image of the wehrmacht” in reassessing the nuremberg military tribunals: transitional justice, trial narratives, and historiography. edited by kim priemel and alexa stiller. new york: berghahn books, 2012.
“the politics of punishment: war criminals and the struggle for german reintegration with the west, 1948-1958,” in: after fascism: european case studies in politics, society, and identity since 1945 edited by matthew berg and maria mesner, vienna: lit verlag, 2009.
“disguised resistance? the story of kurt gerstein.” holocaust and genocide studies 20:1(2006): 1-33.
forthcoming:
"perpetrator depictions of violence and the obliteration of evidence" for the volume: cambridge history of the holocaust, vol ii: perpetrating the holocaust: policies, participants, places. edited by juergen matthaeus and mary fulbrook, cambridge: cambridge university press, 2024.
work in progress:
“photography as process, photograph as text: the vocabulary and method of visual analysis” (journal article for holocaust and genocide studies): author
holocaust photography, special issue of holocaust and genocide studies: guest editor
five shots from sdolbunow: photographs of the holocaust by bullets, 1942 (monograph project funded by sshrc insight grant, awarded spring 2020)
media productions:
2023 – interviewee for the podcast series: new books network on framing the holocaust: photographs of a mass shooting in latvia, 1941
https://newbooksnetwork.com/framing-the-holocaust
2023 – interviewee re. framing the holocaust on cbc’s fresh air with ismaila alfa: https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-193-fresh-air/clip/16004783-theyre-nearly-unbearable-look-we-examining-photography
interview for the podcast series on the holocaust, by yad vashem, the world holocaust remembrance center: man on the inside, parts i and ii https://open.spotify.com/episode/6pp5pcrbbc4aia1z6rs7er?si=celyqdxctnun6jlfa5aava and https://open.spotify.com/episode/5bupbura4erwzfedumrgnu?si=wj2dm28kt7uiduruvtcwvw