KEENE, N.H. (MyKeeneNow) – An internationally recognized Holocaust Archaeologist will visit Keene State College next week.

Keene State is partnering with Salem State University in Massachusetts to bring Caroline Sturdy Colls to each campus. KSC’s event is part of the 2024-25 series on “Forensics and Genocide” through the Cohen Institute for Holocaust and Genocide studies.

According to a news release, Sturdy Colls’ research focuses on the application of interdisciplinary approaches to the investigation of Holocaust landscapes, and she conducted the first forensic archaeological investigations at Treblinka Extermination and Labor Camps. She’s authored several books, including Holocaust Archaeologies: Approaches and Future Directions (2015) and Adolf Island: The Nazi Occupation of Alderney (2022). The results of her investigations into the Treblinka camps will be published in an upcoming book.

“More than 900,000 Jewish men, women, and children were murdered at the Treblinka Death Camp during the Holocaust. Because the camp was largely destroyed in 1944, it was long thought that little evidence of the horrors committed there remained,” said Regina Kazyulina, visiting assistant professor and program research associate at the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies.

Sturdy Colls will be at Keene State College on Tuesday September 24th giving a lecture “From Treblinka and Trawniki: Forensic Archaeological Investigations at Sites of Nazi Persecution.”

“Students, faculty, and community members are eagerly anticipating Professor Sturdy Colls’s visit to Keene,” said Kate Gibeault, director of the Cohen Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Keene State. “Her innovative research techniques showcase how interdisciplinary thinking can advance our understanding of the past in powerful ways.”

Registration to attend the event at Keene State in person has closed, but those interested in watching the livestream can register here.

Sturdy Colls will visit Salem State University on Thursday September 26th and give another lecture, “Holocaust Archaeologies: Approaches and New Future Directions.”

Registration to attend the event in Salem in person is still open, you can register for that here, or for Salem’s livestream here.