Dr. Kristin Semmens

Before joining the History Department, I studied at the University of British Columbia (BA Honours in History), the University of Victoria (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.