Robert Jan van Pelt, born in Haarlem, the Netherlands, in 1955. Ph.D. from Leiden University. Professor in Cultural History at the University of Waterloo, Ontario.
Fellow (1 September 2012 – 31 January 2013)
WHERE, HERE, AND OVER THERE: A TRAVELOGUE OF THE HOLOCAUST TERRORSCAPE
I conducted my NIAS Fellowship as part of the Terrorscape theme group. A new initiative, it gathered a group of people of different backgrounds, allowing me to reach beyond my normal zone of comfort. I conducted for the members of the theme group a five-day site visit to Auschwitz and Kraków. The interaction with associate members of the Terrorscape theme group, who came for a shorter time to join us, also proved particularly useful, especially where it concerned the theory and practice of terrorscape archeology. Whilst at NIAS, I wrote three book chapters, oversaw the publication of an edited book begun in 2011, and worked on my NIAS project Where, Here, and Over There: A Travelogue of the Holocaust Terrorscape. I wrote forty percent of the first deliverable of this project: a 60,000-thousand-word Dutch-language philosophical, historical and practical travel guide to Auschwitz, Bestemming Auschwitz: Een Reisgids.