Personal profile
Biography
I gained a PhD in Jewish Studies from the University of Leeds, and since then have worked teaching English Literature, Art History and Jewish History and Culture at Leeds, Reading, York St John and Southampton universities. I was Montague Burton Fellow in Jewish Studies at Leeds from 2016 until my appointment at Northumbria in Sept 2019. Like my teaching, my work is deeply interdisciplinary, and is often collaborative. Many of my recent projects have been carried out with Nicholas Chare (University of Montreal), with whom I have co-edited two and co-authored four books. In Matters of Testimony (2015), we engaged with the ‘Scrolls of Auschwitz’, the manuscripts written by the prisoners forced to work in the gas chambers of Birkenau, the Sonderkommando (SK). Following on from that work, The Auschwitz Sonderkommando (2019) considered post-war witness borne by survivors of SK in trials, memoirs, video interviews and films. I have also published articles and chapters on cultural representations of the SK. My research therefore addresses general questions of Holocaust testimony, memory and representation.
Education/Academic qualification
Other Courses, PhD, Modernism, Antisemitism and Jewish Identity in the Writing and Publishing of John Rodker, University of Leeds
1 Jun 2005 → 31 Dec 2099
Award Date: 1 Jun 2005
Fingerprint
- 1 Similar Profiles
-
The Faces of Auschwitz: Digital Colourisation, Ethics and the Archive
Williams, D. & Watkins, L., 17 Feb 2025, In: Visual Studies. 40, 1, p. 85-100 16 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile1 Citation (Scopus)268 Downloads (Pure) -
The Routledge Handbook to Auschwitz-Birkenau
Cushman, S. M. (Editor), Pettitt, J. (Editor) & Williams, D. (Editor), 12 Aug 2025, 1st ed. London: Routledge. 450 p.Research output: Book/Report › Anthology › peer-review
1 Citation (Scopus) -
The Clinical Witness: Conflict, Catastrophe and Medical Testimony
Chare, N. (Editor), Barnett, N. (Editor) & Williams, D. (Editor), 4 Sept 2025, 1st ed. London: Routledge. 304 p.Research output: Book/Report › Anthology › peer-review
-
Testimonies of Resistance: Representations of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Sonderkommando
Chare, N. (Editor) & Williams, D. (Editor), 18 Sept 2019, Oxford; New York: Berghahn Books Inc. 398 p.Research output: Book/Report › Anthology › peer-review
-
Matters of Testimony: Interpreting the Scrolls of Auschwitz
Chare, N. & Williams, D., Dec 2015, New York & Oxford: Berghahn Books Inc. 264 p.Research output: Book/Report › Book › peer-review
8 Citations (Scopus)
Activities
- 1 Publication Peer-review
-
Holocaust and Genocide Studies (Journal)
Williams, D. (Reviewer)
2023 → …Activity: Publication peer-review and editorial work › Publication Peer-review