Panel Moderator: Dr. Carol Rittner, RSM
“Silence and Voice: Dutch Women During the Holocaust”
Dr. Dienke Hondius
This presentation will focus on the role of Jewish and non-Jewish Dutch women involved in helping Jews find hiding places in the Netherlands during the Holocaust. It is a contribution toward breaking the post-war silence about the roles of Dutch women – both their positive and negative roles – during the Nazi occupation of Holland.
“The Four Phases of Dutch Women in World War II”
Dr. Geert Jan Colijn
The general situation of women in society impacted how historians thought about women in the war. Their roles were impacted by how post-World War II society reflected on the war. This presentation will highlight the relationship between historiography and society at large relative to Dutch women in the war.
“Femininity as Weapon: Female students in the Dutch Resistance”
Ms. Anna Eva Boogaard
This presentation explores how a diverse group of Dutch female students in resistance groups used their femininity in their resistance. These women worked for the Dutch Secret Service, resisted the Nazis, and saved Jewish children and friends. Like many other women, their role has been overlooked by historians, and their stories have disappeared from the narrative. How could this have happened? How should we view the role of these women in a (pre)war society with strong gender roles?
“Doing the Right Thing”
Dr. Pieternella Spruytenburg Avrahami
This personal presentation centers on the moral decisions of the speaker’s maternal grandmother, a devout Catholic, within the complex reality of the Netherlands during the Second World War. Through a combination of memory, personal interpretation, and historical research, it reconstructs the story of the family during and after the war, offering an intimate perspective on ethical choice under occupation.
Invited Speakers – Biographical Notes
Dr. Carol Rittner, RSM
Distinguished Professor Emerita of Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Stockton University, New Jersey (USA), and Honorary President of WHISC – Women in the Holocaust International Study Center, Israel.
Dr. Dienke Hondius
Associate Professor of History at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and staff member of international educational projects at the Anne Frank House, Amsterdam. She initiated the Mapping Hiding Places research project, which maps Jewish hiding places throughout Europe during the Holocaust. In cooperation with the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC, Dr. Hondius directed the oral history project "Bystander Memories: Interviews with non-Jewish Eyewitnesses of the Holocaust.” Among her many publications is Return: Holocaust Survivors and Dutch Anti-Semitism.
Dr. Geert Jan Colijn
Dean emeritus and former professor of political science at Stockton University, New Jersey (USA). Dr. Colijn helped found the Sara and Sam Holocaust Resource Center at Stockton University. He has co-authored and edited several books on the Holocaust and genocide as well as written several dozen articles. He did his undergraduate work at the Universiteit van Amsterdam and holds a Ph.D from Temple University (USA).
Ms. Anna Eva Boogaard
Lecturer in modern history at the University of Amsterdam (UvA). In October 2025, she published her first book De Kriterionmeisjes. Amsterdamse studentes in het verzet (
The Kriterion Girls: Amsterdam Female Students in the Resistance). Before beginning her work at the UvA, Ms. Boogaard worked as a programmer at the Amsterdam 4 and 5 May Committee and as a researcher at the Anne Frank Foundation, where she studied the lives of the fellow housemates of the eight people hiding in the Secret Annex.
Dr. Pieternella Spruytenburg Avrahami
Independent researcher in French literature and retired dance educator.
Received her PhD in French Culture from Bar-Ilan University (2023).