My name is Lola van der Made and I am a PhD researcher at the University of Utrecht in the political history department.

My project is called The Ties of Traditions: local socio-cultural patterns and the Holocaust in the Netherlands (1925-1950) and concerns, as the name implies, local socio-cultural dynamics during the genocide process of the Holocaust. By taking a micro comparative approach to the Jewish persecution in its local, socio-cultural embedment, this research project seeks to move beyond national narratives of the Holocaust and focuses on local communities and the Jewish-Gentile relations within these communities. The goal is to research, explore and analyse the pre-existing local cultural customs and social structures and the effect of these on the genocide process and, vice versa, how the genocide process impacted the local cultural customs and social structures. This is not political history in the sense that I will not focus on local political dynamics. However, it does concern the effect of political shifts, discrimination and violence on ordinary life.

I am very eager to visit the archives. I will be using personal documents, such as diaries, but also sources from local associations and local newspapers. Both large and small archives are on my visiting list, some of which are not thoroughly researched yet. I am very excited about what I will find!

I am very happy to be part of the PhD council and look forward to cooperating with the research institute, to meet other researchers in the field, and to organising informative and fun events.