Dr. Kristin Semmens
Position
Contact
Credentials
BA (UBC), MA (UVic), PhD (Cambridge)
Area of expertise
Modern European History, German History, the Holocaust, Public History, History of Tourism
Office Hours
Fall 2024: Monday and Thursday 11:30 – 12:30 or by appointment (in-person or Zoom)
Bio
Before joining the History Department, I studied at the University of British Columbia (BA Honours in History), the 番茄社区 (MA in History) and the University of Cambridge, UK (PhD in History).
I specialize in German history over the 20th century, with special interest and expertise in Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. My first book, Seeing Hitler’s Germany: Tourism in the Third Reich, offers an in depth look at state-run and commercial tourism under the Nazi regime. My second book, a short introduction to the Third Reich intended for undergraduates and university instructors, Under the Swastika in Nazi Germany, will be coming out with Bloomsbury in 2023. I also teach classes in public history: how we learn about the past outside academia, whether it be in museums, historical fiction or even video games.
I was honoured to be the recipient of UVic’s 2013 Gilian Sherwin Award, UVic’s 2020 Faculty of Humanities Award for Teaching Excellence and the Canadian Historical Association’s inaugural Excellence in Teaching with Primary Sources Award in 2020. I am also a seven-time winner of the UVic History Department’s “Most Valuable Professor” Award.
Selected publications
Under the Swastika in Nazi Germany (Bloomsbury: 2023).
"A Holiday from the Nazis? Everyday Tourism in the Third Reich", in Lisa Pine (ed). Life and Times in Nazi Germany (Palgrave Macmillan: 2016).
"'Tourism and autarky are conceptually incompatible': international tourism conferences in the Third Reich", in Eric Zuelow (ed). Touring beyond the Nation: A Transnational Approach to European Tourism (Ashgate: 2011).
Seeing Hitler's Germany: Tourism in the Third Reich (Palgrave Macmillan: 2005).
Courses
HSTR 115 | The Second World War |
HSTR 240A | Europe, Renaissance to the French Revolution |
HSTR 240B | Europe, Napoleon to the European Union |
HSTR 344B | Europe Between Two World Wars |
HSTR 350B | Weimar and Nazi Germany |
HSTR 450 | The Holocaust |
HSTR 515A | Public History |
GMST 580 | Introduction to Holocaust Studies |