Elke Weesjes Ph.D.
Email: [email protected] & [email protected]
EDUCATION
2006-2012 Doctor of Philosophy in Contemporary History, University of Sussex, Brighton (UK). Dissertation Title: Children of the Red Flag. Growing up in a Communist Family during the Cold War: A Comparative Analysis of the British and Dutch Communist Movement
1998-2004 BA in History & MA in Contemporary History, VU University Amsterdam (NL) Thesis Title: De Communistische Beweging in Nederland – Isolatie en Cooperatie 1945-1995.
APPOINTMENTS, AFFILIATIONS, AND RELEVANT WORK EXPERIENCE
2024 – present: Adjunct Associate Professor, Kingsborough Community College, Brooklyn, NY
2023 – present: Adjunct Assistant Professor, Stockton University, Galloway, NJ
2022 – 24: Adjunct Assistant Professor, Kingsborough Community College, Brooklyn, NY
2021 – 2025: Director Kingsborough Holocaust Center, Brooklyn, NY
2021 – 22: Substitute Assistant Professor Kingsborough Community College, Brooklyn, NY
2019 – 21: Adjunct Assistant Professor Kingsborough Community College, Brooklyn, NY
2019 – 21: Visiting Research Fellow International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam, (NL)
2014 – 20: Associate, Paula A. Madrid, Psy.D. & Associates, Psychological Evaluations for Immigration Proceedings & Consultation, Brooklyn, NY
2013 – 17: Research Associate, Center for Disaster and Risk Analysis, Colorado State University, CO
2014 – 17: Professional Research Assistant and Editor-in-chief Natural Hazards Observer, Natural Hazards Center, University of Colorado- Boulder, CO (full-time position)
2014: United Nations Correspondent/Assistant Editor, MediaGlobal United Nations HQ,
New York City, NY
2014: Oral History Instructor, Young Adult Learning Program, Brooklyn Public Library,
Brooklyn, NY
2010 – 13: Editor-in-chief, United Academics Journal of Social Sciences (UAJSS) Amsterdam/New York (full-time position)
2007 – 09: Instructor European History/Adjunct Lecturer, University of Sussex, Brighton (UK)
2001 – 02: Research Assistant, International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam (NL)
AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION
History of radical movements in Western Europe and the United States, working-class family history, Holocaust studies, oral history and public memories, and history of subcultures.
EDITED VOLUMES
BOOKS
BOOK CHAPTERS
2026 Elke Weesjes. “Upbringing and Pedagogy”, The Oxford Handbook of Global Socialist Culture (Oxford: Oxford University Press, forthcoming, October 2026).
2025 Elke Weesjes. “Verzetsverleden als politieke voetbal: Het verbod van de Hannie Schaft-herdenking in 1951” in Sophie van den Bergh, Pepijn de Koning en Matthijs Kuipers, ed. Tachtig jaar herinneren, herdenken en vieren (Amsterdam: Boom, forthcoming 2025).
2024 Elke Weesjes. “Jamaican Music in the United States – The Story of Percussionist Larry McDonald” in Elke Weesjes and Matthew Worley, ed. Music, Subcultures, and Migration: Routes and Roots (Milton Park: Routledge, 2024).
2015 Elke Weesjes. “Precious Water – The Impact of Drought on Farming Communities in Southwest Kansas” in Michèle Companion, ed. Disasters’ Impact on Livelihood and Cultural Survival: Losses, Opportunities, and Mitigation (Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2015) pp. 105-123.
PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL ARTICLES
2025 Elke Weesjes, “My Father the Klansman: White Supremacist Families in the American South 1954–1989”, in Journal of Southern History (Houston: The Southern Historical Association, forthcoming 2025).
2023 Rudi Wester and Elke Weesjes, “The many lives of writer Jef Last (1898 -1972): Anti-fascist, socialist, humanist and gay rights activist” in Twentieth Century Communism. A Journal of International History, Issue 25 (London: Lawrence and Wishart, 2023).
Elke Weesjes, “Blending Soviet and Dutch Culture: Communist Family Life in the Netherlands 1945–1965” Journal of Labor and Society, 27(2), pp. 248-273. https://doi.org/10.1163/24714607-bja10135 (Leiden: Brill, 2023)
ACADEMIC AWARDS
2024 Recipient of an NEH Public Scholar Grant ($60,000)
2023 Recipient of the Mark Schonwetter Holocaust Education Foundation Grant ($500)
2022 Recipient of a Mellon/ACLS Community College Faculty Fellowship ($40,000)
2006 Recipient of the Solomon Award – 4-year Ph.D. bursary (full payment of fees and $26,000 stipend)
OTHER PUBLICATIONS (SELECTION)
2021 Elke Weesjes, “Introduction: Sexuality, Respectability and Communism” in Twentieth Century Communism. A Journal of International History, Issue 20: pp. 4-13 (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 2021)
2021 Elke Weesjes, “’ By Being Out and Outspoken, I Contributed to the Normalisation of Homosexuality in the Netherlands’: an interview with Evelien Eshuis, Dutch Communist MP 1982-1986” in Twentieth Century Communism. A Journal of International History, Issue 20: pp. 136-145 (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 2021)
2016 Elke Weesjes. “Saving Mona Lisa – Paris Floods Underscore Museum Vulnerability to Climate Change” Disaster Research 660, August 26, 2016
2016 Elke Weesjes. “Of Women and Water – How Drought Exacerbates Gender Inequality in India” Disaster Research 659, May 14, 2016.
2016 Elke Weesjes. “Weakened Resolve – Flint Crisis Hasn’t Steeled the Nation against the Health Risks of Lead” Disaster Research 656, March 11, 2016.
2016 Elke Weesjes. “Zooming in on Zika – From Harmless Virus to Global Health Issue” Disaster Research 656, March 11, 2016.
2016 Elke Weesjes. “Breathing Easy in Porter Ranch? – Residents Return Home with Some Doubts” Disaster Research 655, February 26, 2016.
2015 Elke Weesjes. “A Creative Rebirth – Public Art and Community Recovery in Christchurch” Natural Hazards Observer Vol. XL (2), 2015
2015 Elke Weesjes. “A Knitted Flood Wall – Visual Artist Martina O’Brien” Natural Hazards Observer Vol. XL (1), 2015.
2015 Elke Weesjes. “Worth Thousands of Words – Will a Picture Spark Action in Europe’s Refugee Crisis?” Disaster Research 648, September 4, 2016.
2015 Elke Weesjes. “Ending an Era of Epidemic – Nations Show Success in Reducing Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV” Disaster Research 647, August 21, 2015.
2015 Elke Weesjes. “Nepal Races Against Time to Provide Aid as the Monsoon Season Looms” Disaster Research 645, May 22, 2015.
2015 Elke Weesjes. “Eyal Gever – Exploring the Intersection of Destruction and Beauty” Natural Hazards Observer Vol. XXXIX (6), 2015.
2015 Elke Weesjes. “Great Plains or Great Desert – America’s Breadbasket is Running Dry” Natural Hazards Observer Vol. XXXIX (4), 2015.
2014 Elke Weesjes. “SIDS conference will not address issues of environmental refugees” MediaGlobal News, August 29, 2014.
2013 Elke Weesjes. “Second Face – Helping Acid Victims in South Asia” United Academics Magazine October 16, 2013.
2013 Elke Weesjes. “Parents Behind Bars – Perpetuating Mass Incarceration in the US” United Academics Magazine, June 11.
2013 Elke Weesjes. “Drawn in the USA – Wall Art in Bedford-Stuyvesant” A-Magazine Akzo Nobel Corporate – Youth and Culture (Issue 14)
2013 Elke Weesjes & Lori Peek. “Surviving Sandy: Staying Put in Far Rockaway” United Academics Magazine, January 31.
2013 Elke Weesjes. “Vilified, Misinterpreted, and Celebrated: The Life and Works of Thomas Robert Malthus 1766-1834” United Academics Journal of Social Sciences, Vol. 3, Issue 15, 2013.
2012 Elke Weesjes. “A Day at the Races – Winterhur’s Annual Point to Point” Picture This – ABC News, May 10, 2012.
2011 Elke Weesjes. “Rhyming Revolutions – Is it 1989 All Over Again?” United Academics Magazine, February 2011.
2011 Elke Weesjes. “Hannah Arendt: Rabid Anti-Semite or Brilliant Political Thinker” United Academics Journal of Social Sciences Vol 1, Issue 6, 2011.
2011 Elke Weesjes. “Hannie Schaft: Resistance Fighter and Cold War Victim” United Academics Journal of Social Sciences Vol., Issue 5, 2011.
BOOK & DOCUMENTARY REVIEWS (SELECTION)
2021 Elke Weesjes. Review of “The Chronology of Revolution: Communism, Culture, and Civil Society in Twentieth-Century Britain” by Ben Harker in Labour/Le Travail Volume 88, 2021.
2018 Elke Weesjes. Review of The Communist and the Communist’s Daughter by Jane Lazarre in Twentieth Century Communism. A Journal of International History, Issue 14, London: Lawrence & Wishart, 2018.
2016 Elke Weesjes. Review of Blackout by Callie T. Wiser. Natural Hazards Observer Vol. XL (6), 2016.
2016 Elke Weesjes. Review of Fatal Isolation. The Devastating Paris Heat Wave of 2003 by Richard C. Keller. Natural Hazards Observer Vol. XL (4), 2016.
2015 Elke Weesjes. Review of Standing in the Need – Culture, Comfort, and Coming Home after Katrina by Katherine E. Browne. Natural Hazards Observer Vol. XL (2), 2015.
2015 Elke Weesjes. Review of Children of Katrina by Alice Fothergill and Lori Peek. Natural Hazards Observer Vol. XL (1), 2015.
2012 Elke Weesjes. Review of Behind the Backlash: Muslim Americans after 9/11 by Lori Peek. United Academics Journal of Social Sciences United Academics Journal of Social Sciences, Vol 2, Issue 5, 2012.
2012 Elke Weesjes. Review of 33 Revolutions per Minute – A History of Protest Music by Dorian Lynskey. United Academics Journal of Social Sciences, Vol 2, Issue 4, 2012.
2012 Elke Weesjes. Review of Keep on Pushing – Black Power Music from Blues to Hip-Hop by Denise Sullivan. United Academics Journal of Social Sciences, Vol 2, Issue 3, 2012.
2012 Elke Weesjes. Review of Mao’s Great Famine by Frank Dikotter. United Academics Magazine, February 28, 2012.
2007 Elke Weesjes. Review of Party People, Communist Lives – Explorations in Biography by John McIlroy, Kevin Morgan, and Alan Campbell (eds.) University of Sussex Journal of Contemporary History Issue 11, 2007.
RESEARCH PROJECTS
Elke Weesjes. Children of the Klan – Growing up in the Southern Far Right 1950-1990 (Funded by: Mellon/ACLS Community College Faculty Fellowship).
Lori Peek (Principal Investigator) Jennifer Tobin-Gurley and Elke Weesjes. Disaster Preparedness among Childcare Providers in Colorado (Funded by: Federal Emergency Management Agency, National Preparedness Division, Region VIII)
Kathleen Tierney and Adam Rose (Principal Investigators), Liesel Ritchie (Co-Principal Investigator), Allison Madera, and Elke Weesjes. An Integrated Approach to Measuring Dynamic Economic Resilience Following Disasters (Funded by: National Science Foundation)
REPORT
Prelog, Andrew, Elke Weesjes, Lori Peek, Meagan Templeton-Lynch, Rachel Prelog, Sara Gill, and Andrea Akers. 2014. “Childcare and Natural Hazards: State of Colorado,” Fort Collins, CO: Center for Disaster and Risk Analysis, Colorado State University (Funded by: Federal Emergency Management Agency)
CONFERENCE PAPERS/GUEST LECTURES
2024 Elke Weesjes. “Oral History en Communistische Kinderen”. Invited speaker, Oral History Werkgroep, Huizinga Instituut, Utrecht, December 2024.
2024 Elke Weesjes. “Niki Means Victory – But Over What?” Invited speaker, a panel on the afterlives of history and dogmatic upbringing in Greece and beyond, SPUI25/University of Amsterdam, June 2024.
2023 Elke Weesjes. “Crosses and Swastikas: The Klan’s Complex Relationship with the German American Bund”, Invited speaker, traveling USHMM exhibit “America and the Holocaust”, at New York City College of Technology, December 2023.
2023 Elke Weesjes. “Communistische gezinnen in Naoorlogs Nederland”, Panel and book launch, SPUI25/University of Amsterdam, April 2023.
2022 Elke Weesjes. “Children of the Klan”. Organizer and speaker, “From Parent to Child? Intergenerational Transmission of Hate” panel, Kingsborough Community College, November 2023.
2022 Elke Weesjes. “Growing Up With, and Breaking Free From, the Ku Klux Klan.” Annual Oral History Association Meeting Walking Through the Fire: Human Perseverance in Times of Turmoil, Los Angeles, October 2022.
2022 Elke Weesjes. “My Father the Klansman: Growing up in the American Far Right”. Invited Guest Speaker Wagner College, Staten Island, NY, October 2022.
2022 Elke Weesjes. “Growing Up Communist in the Netherlands and Britain: Childhood, Political Activism, and Identity Formation”, book presentation at the Marx Memorial Library, London (UK), June 2022.
2022 Elke Weesjes. “Growing Up Communist in the Netherlands and Britain: Childhood, Political Activism, and Identity Formation”, book presentation at the Working Class Movement Library, Salford (UK), June 2022.
2022 Elke Weesjes. “Camping with Communists – Communist Family Life in the Netherlands 1945-1965”, Invited Guest Speaker – The Comintern and the ‘Cultural International’, workshop at Liverpool John Moores University (UK), June 2022.
2022 Elke Weesjes. “Red Lives – Growing Up Communist in Britain and the Netherlands”, Digital Book Talk Series Kingsborough Community College, April 2022.
2019 Elke Weesjes. “The Voyage of the SS St. Louis – America and the Holocaust” The College Experience Kingsborough Community College, Brooklyn Public Library, Stone Avenue Branch, Brooklyn, NY.
2019 Elke Weesjes. “Communist Daughters – In the Vanguard of Feminism.” Work-in-Progress Seminar Kingsborough Community College, Brooklyn, NY.
2014 Elke Weesjes. “Neighborhoods in Transition – Murals in Bedford-Stuyvesant” Keynote Speaker – Bedford Public Library, Brooklyn, NY.
2013 Elke Weesjes. “A ‘Natural’ Disaster? The Impact of Drought on Farming Communities in Kansas,” Invited Guest Speaker – Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO.
2013 Larry McDonald, Elke Weesjes. “The History of Reggae Music: An Evening with Larry McDonald,” Invited Guest Speakers – University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, WI.
2011 Elke Weesjes. “Communist Identity: The Private vs. the Public Sphere,” Conference: Communism and Youth in the Twentieth Century, University of Reading (UK).
2010 Elke Weesjes. “Heroes or Villains? The Impact of the Cold War on the Legacy of the Dutch Communist Resistance,” Conference: Memories of War; New Narratives and Untold Stories, Greenwich University (UK).
2009 Elke Weesjes. “Children of the Red Flag. Growing up in a Communist Family during the Cold War,” Work-in-Progress Seminar: History Department University of Sussex, Brighton (UK).
2009 Elke Weesjes. “Doctor Spock or Makarenko? A Communist Upbringing in the Netherlands and Britain 1940-1970,” Conference: Memories, Narratives and Histories, University of Sussex, Brighton (UK).
2009 Elke Weesjes. “Communist: People of a New Kind? Comparing Dutch and British Communist Views on Class, Education, and Work”, Post Graduate Workshop: the University of Sussex, Brighton (UK).
2006 Elke Weesjes. “Children of the Red Flag. Growing up in a Communist Family: A Comparative Research of the British and Dutch Communist Movement 1940-1975,” Work-in-Progress Seminar: International Institute for Social History, Amsterdam (NL).
EDITORIAL POSITIONS
2024-Present Editorial Board: Subcultures and Social Change book series, Manchester: Manchester University Press
2019-Present Editorial Board: Twentieth Century Communism – A Journal of International History London: Lawrence & Wishart
2015-2017 Co-Editor: Unscheduled Events, International Sociological Association (ISA),
International Research Committee on the Sociology of Disasters (RC39)
2013 Review Board: Twentieth Century Communism – A Journal of International History London: Lawrence & Wishart
2008-2009 Co-Editor: Sussex Journal of Contemporary History, University of Sussex
ACTIVITIES AT PROFESSIONAL MEETINGS
2023 Moderator and organizer, “Jewish Resisters in the Netherlands During World War II: A Panel on Commemoration and Trauma”, Kingsborough Community College, November 6, 2023.
2023 Moderator and organizer, “An Interfaith Conversation on Antisemitism: A Panel on Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial Among Young People”, Kingsborough Community College, April 2023.
2022 Speaker and organizer, “From Parent to Child?”: A Panel on the Intergenerational Transmission of Hate”, Kingsborough Community College, November 2022.
2022 Moderator and Organizer, Screening “There Were Good People Doing Extraordinary Deeds” Leo Ullman’s Story and Q& A with Leo Ullman, Kingsborough Community College, November 2022.
2022 Moderator, “Who Will Write Our History”, Screening and Q&A with filmmaker Roberta Grossman, Heroines of the Holocaust – New Frameworks of Resistance International Symposium, Wagner College, June 2022.
2022 Moderator and Organizer, “The Art of Survival: Friedl Dicker-Brandeis and Children’s Art at Theresienstadt”, Lecture by Megan Brandow-Faller, Kingsborough Community College Holocaust Center, April 2022.
2022 Moderator and Organizer, “Who Will Write Our History”, Screening and Q&A with filmmaker Roberta Grossman, Kingsborough Community College Holocaust Center, April 2022.
2022 Host, “And the Rest is History…Life After Kingsborough”, digital student panel Kingsborough Community College, April 2022.
2022 Moderator and Organizer, “Capturing the Unspeakable: Art as a Tool in Learning About the Holocaust” by Dr. Laura Morowitz, digital event at the Kingsborough Holocaust Center, March 2022.
2021 Speaker, Organization of American Historians’s small discussion group on the organization’s Standards for Employment and their proposed Bill of Rights.
2016 Moderator and Organizer, “Memorializing Disaster: Monuments, Quilts, and Other Markers” Natural Hazards Workshop (University of Colorado) Broomfield, CO, July 2016.
2015 Moderator and Organizer, “Art and Culture in Disaster Recovery” Natural Hazards Workshop (University of Colorado), Broomfield, CO, July 2015.
2014 Moderator and Organizer, “Neighborhoods in Transition – Murals in Bedford Stuyvesant: An Evening of Engaging Talks about Community, Wall Art, and Gentrification”.
COURSES TAUGHT
Introduction to U.S. Government – Kingsborough Community College, Brooklyn NY
Civil Rights Movement and Related Movements – Kingsborough Community College, Brooklyn NY
History of the U.S. Far Right 1915 – Present – Stockton University, Galloway NJ
American History I (American Civilization I) – Kingsborough Community College, Brooklyn NY
History of New York City – Kingsborough Community College, Brooklyn NY
Intro Women’s & Gender Studies – Kingsborough Community College, Brooklyn NY
Women in American History – Kingsborough Community College, Brooklyn NY
Europe in the Twentieth Century – Kingsborough Community College, Brooklyn NY
Europe: Napoleon to Hitler, 1789 to 1945 – Kingsborough Community College, Brooklyn NY
The Nazi Holocaust – Kingsborough Community College, Brooklyn NY
Toleration and Persecution – The University of Sussex, Brighton UK
CERTIFICATIONS
2020 Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC)
2020 Online Teaching Essentials (OTE)
MEMBERSHIPS
2021 – 2023 Oral History Association
2015 – 2017 International Sociological Association
OTHER EXPERIENCES
2023: Curator, “Within and Beyond Exclusionary Communities: White Supremacy and Racism in the United States”, The Master of Arts in Holocaust and Genocide Studies Program, Stockton University.
2022: Learning Community Program – Kingsborough Community College
2022 – present: Affiliated Scholar Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Crimes Against Humanity, The Graduate Center City University of New York
2021- present: Curriculum Committee – Kingsborough Community College
2022 Liberal Arts Seminar (LAS) syllabus development seminar – Kingsborough Community College
2021- 2023: Faculty Mentor Writing Fellow – Kingsborough Community College
2019 – 2020: Faculty Mentor Honors Program – Kingsborough Community College
2014 – 2017: Quick Response Grant Reviewer – Natural Hazards Center, Colorado University
2014: Curator, “A Neighborhood in Transition – Murals in Bedford-Stuyvesant” – Exhibition at Brooklyn Public Library, Bedford Branch
2007: Instructor/Educator Training Workshop – University of Sussex
