Curriculum vitae

Dr. Gerben Zaagsma

Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies
University College London
Foster Court, Gower Street
London WC1E 6BT
United Kingdom

email: g.zaagsma@ucl.ac.uk

Place and date of birth: Amsterdam, february 15, 1971.

Education

2003-2008 Ph.D. in History: Department of History and Civilisation, European University

Institute (Florence, Italy). Thesis: “A fresh outburst of the old terror”? Jewish-
born volunteers in the Spanish Civil War.
2000-2001 MA in Yiddish Studies: School of Oriental and African Studies, University of
London. Thesis: Jewish volunteers in the Spanish civil war. A case study of the
Botwin company.
1998 Oxford Yiddish Summer Course (Oxford Institute for Yiddish Studies).
1989-1996 MA in History: Faculty of Arts, University of Groningen, The Netherlands.
Thesis: Music to match the badchn songs. The role of klezmer and klezmorim in
Jewish culture in Europe and the United States of America.
1984-1989 Willem Lodewijk Gymnasium, Groningen, The Netherlands.
1983-1984 Herman Wesselink College, Amstelveen, The Netherlands.

Research & work experience

2008-present Honorary Research Fellow, Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies,

University College London, funded by the Fondation pour la Mémoire de la
Shoah in Paris. Project: “Jewish migrants & politics in Western Europe before
the Holocaust”.
2008-present Designer/maintainer internet portal European History Primary Sources
(http://primary-sources.eui.eu) for EUI, Department of History and Civilisation.
2002-2003 Customer service representative/financial management SNT Nederland/
Transcom.
2001-2002 Editor website Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis Museum, Heerenveen.
1998-2000 Researcher, History Research and Consultancy Center, Faculty of Arts,
University of Groningen, The Netherlands (Geschiedeniswinkel RuG). Various
projects involving archival research, editorial work, cataloguing, multimedia in
museal presentations, general project management & coordination.
1998-2000 Organiser/tour guide: Folkingestraat Synagogue Foundation Groningen;
organisation of exhibitions, public relations, guided tours.
 1997 Lecturer Senior Academy of the University of Groningen (course about the
Jewish community in Groningen).
1996-1997 Freelancer Foundation for the History of Jews in Groningen; co-editor of book
and co-organiser of exhibition on the history of the Jewish community in
Groningen (18 january - 12 march 1997, Folkingestraat Synagogue Groningen).

Relevant publications

Articles

[under review] Zaagsma, Gerben, ‘The Yiddish press as a source in historical research’, European
Journal of Jewish Studies (2010).
[forthcoming] Zaagsma, Gerben, ‘Propaganda or fighting the myth of pakhdones? Naye Prese, the
Popular Front, and the Spanish Civil War’ in: Shiri Goren, Hannah Pressman and Lara Rabinovitch
eds., Choosing Yiddish: Studies in Yiddish Literature, Culture, and History (Wayne State University
Press 2010).
[forthcoming] Zaagsma, Gerben, ‘The Botwin Company’ in: Encyclopedia of Jewish Cultures
(Academy Project in the Simon Dubnow Institute; J.B. Metzler Verlag, 2010).
[forthcoming] Zaagsma, Gerben, ‘Jewish communists in Paris between local and international’,
Simon Dubnow Institute Yearbook 8 (2009).
[forthcoming] Zaagsma, Gerben, ‘Yiddish in Historical Research: Some Reflections’, European
Judaism (Autumn 2009).

Zaagsma, Gerben, ‘ ‘Red Devils’: The Botwin company in the Spanish Civil War’, East European
Jewish Affairs 33/1 (september 2003) 83-99.
Zaagsma, Gerben, ‘Joodse Vrijwilligers in De Spaanse Burgeroorlog: De Botwin Compagnie’,
Groniek. Historisch Tijdschrift 36/158-159 (december 2002) 183-197.
Zaagsma, Gerben, ‘The klezmorim of Prague. About a Jewish musicians guild’, East European
Meetings in Ethnomusicology 7 (2000) 41-48.
Zaagsma, Gerben, ‘De Klezmorim Van Praag. Over een Joods Muzikantengilde’, Groniek. Historisch
Tijdschrift 32/143 (december 1998) 223-230.

Reviews

Rütten, Thomas, Geschichten vom Hippokratischen Eid (CD-ROM Herzog August Bibliothek
Wolfenbüttel: Wiesbaden; Harrassowitz Verlag, 2007) in: Studium 1/4 (2008).

Edited works

Leven en werk van Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis (CD-ROM; Groningen 2000).

Bekkum, Wout van, Joods Leven (Groningen 2000).
Ast-Boiten, Lies and Gerben Zaagsma eds., De Folkingestraat. Geschiedenis van de Joodse
Gemeenschap in Groningen (Groningen 1997).
 Papers

[forthcoming] ‘Transnational dimensions of Jewish political practices in Western Europe before

WWII’, 8th European Social Science History conference (Ghent, Belgium, 13-16 April 2010).
[forthcoming] ‘Discourse analysis and the Yiddish press: some theoretical reflections’, Association
for Jewish Studies 41st Annual Conference (Los Angeles, December 20-22, 2009.
‘The place of Berlin in the transnational networks of Jewish migrant radicals’, Transforming Berlin’s
Urban Space. East European Jewish Migrants in Charlottengrad and the Scheunenviertel, 1918-1939
(Berlin, Juedisches Museum, October 17th-19th 2009).
‘Contemporary European Jewish history on the internet’, Contemporary history in the digital age
(Luxembourg - 15/16 October 2009).
‘Migration and the transformation of Jewish political behaviour - East European Jewish communists
in Western Europe in the interbellum’, GRACEH 2009: “Migration and Movement in European
History” (European University Institute, Florence, 28-30 April 2009).
‘Between propaganda and emancipation: Jewish volunteers in the International Brigades during the
Spanish Civil War’, UC-Utrecht Symposium on Jewish Politics and Political Behavior (Utrecht
University, 1 December 2008).
‘Die Position jüdischer Kommunisten in der französischen kommunistischen Partei am Beispiel ihres
Engagements im Spanischen Bürgerkrieg’, Tagung Politische Praxis kommunistischer Parteien in
Westeuropa und den Volksdemokratien (Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, Paris, 21-22 may 2007);
session Les communistes et les défis de la différence.
‘Jewish Volunteers and the Spanish Civil War’, Workshop Political Violence in Twentieth Century
Europe (European University Institute, Florence, 29-20 september 2006); session The Spanish Civil
War.
'Jewish Volunteers' in the International Brigades: Problems and Concerns’, 5th BIRTHA Conference -
War Without Limits: Spain 1936-1939 and Beyond (Bristol, 17th-19th July 2006); session
International Brigades/International Identities.
'East European Jewish communists in Paris during the Popular Front era', 6th European Social
Science History Conference (Amsterdam, 22-25 March 2006); network Ethnicity and Migration,
session Jewish migrants, refugees and survivors 19302-1950s.
'Constructing community: Naye Prese in the Popular Front era in the 1930s', Yiddish / Jewish
Cultures: Literature, History, Thought in Eastern European Diasporas (New York University, 26-25
february 2006); session Constructing Yiddish in Interwar Europe.
‘Jewish communists in Paris & the Spanish Civil War’, Jüdische Identitäten in Ostmitteleuropa im 19.
und 20. Jahrhundert im Wandel. Neue Perspektiven historisch-kulturwissenschaftlicher Forschung
(Sommerakademie des Herder-Instituts, Marburg 4-15 september 2005).
‘Jewish communists in Paris & the Spanish Civil War’, International Graduate Student Conference in
Jewish Studies (University College London, august 29 - september 3, 2004); session Jews in Interwar
Europe.
‘Jewish volunteers in the Spanish Civil War’, 5th European Social Science History Conference
(Berlin, 24-27 march 2004); network Politics, session Jews and the Left.
Jewish volunteers in the Spanish Civil War’, 7th congress European Association for Jewish Studies
(Amsterdam, 21-25 july 2002); section Modern Jewish History and Social Sciences.
 Seminars

[forthcoming] ‘Jewish Immigrants and Politics in Paris and London in the Interbellum’, Graduate
Seminar, Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies, UCL (27 January 2010).

[forthcoming] Introduction to a screening of Eran Torbiner’s Madrid Before Hanita, Palestinian-

Jewish volunteers in the International Brigades in Spain, Seminar Film Series on Jewish Resistance,
Sussex University (23 November 2009).
‘Heroes for whose cause? Jewish volunteers and the Spanish Civil War in the Parisian Yiddish Press
1936-1939’, Research Seminar L’Histoire Comparée et les Migrations Contemporaines, EHESS Paris
(28 April 2009).
‘Jews in the communist movement: Understanding a controversial encounter’, Modern History
Seminar, University of Edinburgh (11 March 2009).
‘Jewish Participation in the Spanish Civil War', Yiddish Graduate Seminar, UCL (11 February 2009).

Other

2004-2005 Research assistant to prof.dr. H.G. Haupt, Department of History and

Civilization (European University Institute).
2004-2005 Researcher representative at the Department of History and Civilization
(European University Institute).

Languages

Dutch Mother tongue.

English Excellent reading, good speaking and writing.
German Good reading, speaking, writing.
French Good reading, speaking.
Yiddish Good reading, intermediate speaking.
Italian Intermediate reading, basic speaking.
Spanish Basic reading.