Steffi de Jong
About
Steffi de Jong joined the Department of Historical and Classical Studies at NTNU as an associate professor for Public History and History Didactics in 2023. Her research interests include museum studies, cultural memory studies, sound studies, digital history and the history of re-enactment. She is currently working on a project on the origins of re-enactment in the 19th century financed by the Gerda Henkel Foundation, as well as on a project on the representation of history in VR. She has recently finished a project on computer-based representations of concentration and extermination camps financed by the Grimme Forschungskolleg.
Steffi de Jong obtained her Phd from NTNU in 2012. Her book The Witness as Object. Video Testimony in Memorial Museum was published in 2018 by Berghahn Books. Before re-joining NTNU she worked as a lecturer at Maastricht University and as an assistant professor at the University of Cologne.
She has published internationally on the figure of the witness, the museal representation of history, digital Holocaust memory and sound in museums.
Since 2023
Associate professor for Public History and History Didactics at NTNU
2014-2023
Assistant professor at the Institute for Contemporary History at the University of Cologne
2013-2014
Tutor at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Maastricht University
2008 - 2012
Phd Candidate in the Research Project Exhibiting Europe at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim.
Phd Thesis: Musealising the Witness. Video Testimonies in Holocaust and Second World War Museums.
2009-2010
Research stay at the Institute for European Ethnology at the Humboldt University, Berlin.
2007-2008
MA Analysing Europe at Maastricht University and the Jagiellon University in Krakow.
MA thesis: Europe on Show: Exhibiting European Culture and History in Museums.
2006-2007
European Voluntary Service at the Office for International Relations of the Province of Padua.
2003-2006
BA in English Literature and Drama/Theatre Studies at Royal Holloway, University of London (First Class Honours).
Research
The history of re-enactment with a focus on performative, immersive and authenticating practices for transmitting and appropriating history through attitudes, artists' festivals, historical processions and archaeological experiments in the 19th century
The history of public history with a focus on the German speaking and Scandinavian countries
The history of the senses with a focus on sound in museums
New media and memory with a focus on the digital memory of the Holocaust
The figure of the witness to history between cultural and communicative memory, public history and oral history
Publications
2023
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de Jong, Steffi.
(2023)
The Simulated Witness. Empathy and Embodiment in VR Experiences of Former Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camps.
History and Memory
Academic article
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de Jong, Steffi.
(2023)
Zeitreisen nach Auschwitz. Die Veränderung des Holocaustgedenkens durch Virtual Reality.
Beiträge zur Geschichte der nationalsozialistischen Verfolgung
Academic article
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de Jong, Steffi.
(2023)
Die Zeitzeug*in.
Academic chapter
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de Jong, Steffi.
(2023)
Book Review: Hughes, Judith M.: The Perversion of Holocaust Memory. Writing and Rewriting the Past after 1989.
Neue Politische Literatur
Professional article
2021
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de Jong, Steffi.
(2021)
Vor Gettysburg. Vorläufer des Reenactments im 19. Jahrhundert.
Academic chapter
2018
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de Jong, Steffi.
(2018)
The Witness as Object. Video Testimony in Memorial Museums.
Berghahn Books
Academic monograph
-
de Jong, Steffi.
(2018)
»Wir sollten auch die Lücken in der Überlieferung aufzeigen.«
Steffi de Jong im Interview mit Alexander Kraus zum Umgang mit
Zeitzeugnissen in Holocaustausstellungen.
Non-fiction chapter
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de Jong, Steffi.
(2018)
Sentimental Education. Sound and Silence in History Museums.
Museum and Society (M&S)
Academic article
-
de Jong, Steffi.
(2018)
Museum.
Encyclopedia chapter
2016
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de Jong, Steffi.
(2016)
Book Review: von Stieglitz, Leo & Brune, Thomas (eds.) (2015). Hin und Her. Dialoge in Museen zur Alltagskultur. Aktuelle Positionen zur Besucherpartizipation (Back and Forth. Dialogs in Museums on Everyday Culture. Current Positions on the Participation of Visitors). Bielefeld: transcript.
Bayerisches jahrbuch für Volkskunde
Book review
2015
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de Jong, Steffi.
(2015)
Exhibition Review: Polin – Museum of the History of Polish Jews. In WerkstattGeschichte 69, pp.83-88.
WerkstattGeschichte
Book review
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de Jong, Steffi.
(2015)
Meijer-van Mensch, Léontine & Tietmeyer, Elisabeth (eds.) (2013). Participative Strategies in Collecting the Present. Berliner Blätter. Ethnographische und ethnologische Beiträge,.
Bayerisches jahrbuch für Volkskunde
Book review
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de Jong, Steffi.
(2015)
Mediatised Memory. Video Testimonies in Museums.
Non-fiction chapter
2013
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de Jong, Steffi.
(2013)
Im Spiegel der Geschichten. Objekte und Zeitzeugenvideos in Museen des Holocaust und des Zweiten Weltkriegs.
WerkstattGeschichte
Academic article
2012
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de Jong, Steffi;
Krankenhagen, Stefan;
Scholze-Irrlitz, Leonore;
Storeide, Anette Homlong.
(2012)
Musealising the Witness: Video Testimonies in Holocaust and Second World War Museums.
Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet
Doctoral thesis
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de Jong, Steffi.
(2012)
Who is History? The use of autobiographical accounts in history museums.
Academic chapter
2011
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de Jong, Steffi.
(2011)
Bewegte Objekte. Zur Musealisierung des Zeitzeugen.
Academic chapter
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de Jong, Steffi.
(2011)
Is This Us? The Construction of European Woman/Man in the Exhibition It's Our History!.
Culture Unbound. Journal of Current Cultural Research
Academic article
Journal publications
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de Jong, Steffi.
(2023)
The Simulated Witness. Empathy and Embodiment in VR Experiences of Former Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camps.
History and Memory
Academic article
-
de Jong, Steffi.
(2015)
Exhibition Review: Polin – Museum of the History of Polish Jews. In WerkstattGeschichte 69, pp.83-88.
WerkstattGeschichte
Book review
-
de Jong, Steffi.
(2015)
Meijer-van Mensch, Léontine & Tietmeyer, Elisabeth (eds.) (2013). Participative Strategies in Collecting the Present. Berliner Blätter. Ethnographische und ethnologische Beiträge,.
Bayerisches jahrbuch für Volkskunde
Book review
-
de Jong, Steffi.
(2016)
Book Review: von Stieglitz, Leo & Brune, Thomas (eds.) (2015). Hin und Her. Dialoge in Museen zur Alltagskultur. Aktuelle Positionen zur Besucherpartizipation (Back and Forth. Dialogs in Museums on Everyday Culture. Current Positions on the Participation of Visitors). Bielefeld: transcript.
Bayerisches jahrbuch für Volkskunde
Book review
-
de Jong, Steffi.
(2023)
Zeitreisen nach Auschwitz. Die Veränderung des Holocaustgedenkens durch Virtual Reality.
Beiträge zur Geschichte der nationalsozialistischen Verfolgung
Academic article
-
de Jong, Steffi.
(2018)
Sentimental Education. Sound and Silence in History Museums.
Museum and Society (M&S)
Academic article
-
de Jong, Steffi.
(2013)
Im Spiegel der Geschichten. Objekte und Zeitzeugenvideos in Museen des Holocaust und des Zweiten Weltkriegs.
WerkstattGeschichte
Academic article
-
de Jong, Steffi.
(2023)
Book Review: Hughes, Judith M.: The Perversion of Holocaust Memory. Writing and Rewriting the Past after 1989.
Neue Politische Literatur
Professional article
-
de Jong, Steffi.
(2011)
Is This Us? The Construction of European Woman/Man in the Exhibition It's Our History!.
Culture Unbound. Journal of Current Cultural Research
Academic article
Books
-
de Jong, Steffi.
(2018)
The Witness as Object. Video Testimony in Memorial Museums.
Berghahn Books
Academic monograph
Part of book/report
-
de Jong, Steffi.
(2023)
Die Zeitzeug*in.
Academic chapter
-
de Jong, Steffi.
(2011)
Bewegte Objekte. Zur Musealisierung des Zeitzeugen.
Academic chapter
-
de Jong, Steffi.
(2015)
Mediatised Memory. Video Testimonies in Museums.
Non-fiction chapter
-
de Jong, Steffi.
(2018)
»Wir sollten auch die Lücken in der Überlieferung aufzeigen.«
Steffi de Jong im Interview mit Alexander Kraus zum Umgang mit
Zeitzeugnissen in Holocaustausstellungen.
Non-fiction chapter
-
de Jong, Steffi.
(2018)
Museum.
Encyclopedia chapter
-
de Jong, Steffi.
(2021)
Vor Gettysburg. Vorläufer des Reenactments im 19. Jahrhundert.
Academic chapter
-
de Jong, Steffi.
(2012)
Who is History? The use of autobiographical accounts in history museums.
Academic chapter
Student thesis or dissertation
-
de Jong, Steffi;
Krankenhagen, Stefan;
Scholze-Irrlitz, Leonore;
Storeide, Anette Homlong.
(2012)
Musealising the Witness: Video Testimonies in Holocaust and Second World War Museums.
Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet
Doctoral thesis
Teaching
Courses
Outreach
2024
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Lecturede Jong, Steffi. (2024) Re-Discovering the Past by Re-enacting it: German Artist Festivals. Konferanse Hest og Høytid
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Lecturede Jong, Steffi. (2024) Die Ära der Zeitzeug*in. Vergangenheit, Gegenwart, Zukunft. Presentation for the members of the project Zeugenschaft? #Erinnerungslabor
2023
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Interview
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Conference lecturede Jong, Steffi. (2023) Presentation on the “Post-Witness Era” as part of the Workshop Connecting with the Past – Art, Memory, Place, at the Falstad Centre. orkshop Connecting with the Past – Art, Memory, Place
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Conference lecturede Jong, Steffi. (2023) „Wiederbelebte Vergangenheit. Frühe Reenactments im 19. Jahrhundert in und außerhalb Kölns“ (The Recovered Past. Early Reeanctment in the 19th century in and around Cologne), at the conference, Fokus Karneval: Zwischen Festkultur, politischer Spannung und immateriellem Kulturerbe (Focus Carneval: between festival culture, political tension and immaterial heritage), Cologne. Fokus Karneval: Zwischen Festkultur, politischer Spannung und immateriellem Kulturerbe
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Conference lecturede Jong, Steffi. (2023) “Digital Reconstructions of Concentration Camps”. Digitization of Memory Practices and Heritage
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Conference lecturede Jong, Steffi. (2023) together with Juliane Tomann and Christoph Sommer, organizer of the panel Immersed in the Past: Historizing Practices of Embodied History, with the pape “A World History in Pantomimical Representations. Attitudes as a Form of Public History”, at the International Conference of the Memory Studies Association, Leicester. International Conference of the Memory Studies Association
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Lecturede Jong, Steffi. (2023) Wiederbelebte Vergangenheit. Frühe Reenactments im 19. Jahrhundert in und außerhalb Kölns. Fokus Karneval: Zwischen Festkultur, politischer Spannung und immateriellem Kulturerbe
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Interview
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Interviewde Jong, Steffi; Meershoek, Peter. (2023) Concentratiekamp als virtualreality-ervaring: waar ligt de grens tussen wat wel en niet kan?, in The Parool.
2015
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Conference lecturede Jong, Steffi. (2015) von Hologrammen und sprechenden Füchsen - Holocausterinnerung 3.0. #erinnern_kontrovers
2011
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Conference lecturede Jong, Steffi. (2011) Exhibiting History/Exhibiting Memory. Some reflections on the use of video testimonies in Holocaust and Second World War Museums. From Mass Murder to Exhibition: Museum Representations in Transatlantic Comparison
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Conference lecturede Jong, Steffi. (2011) The Figure of the Witness in Second World War Museums. Exhibiting Europe Conference
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Conference lecturede Jong, Steffi. (2011) Musealisierte Erinnerung. Zur Figur des Zeitzeugen in zeithistorischen Museen ausserhalb Deutschlands. Zeitzeugen im Museum
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Conference lecturede Jong, Steffi. (2011) Exhibiting Memory - Video Testimonies in Second World War and Holocaust Museums. Social Memory and Survivor Communities: Bergen-Belsen in Comparative Perspective
2010
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Conference lecturede Jong, Steffi. (2010) Authentische Schauobjekte? Zeizeugeninterviews in zeithistorischen Museen. Erzählte Authentizität - Authentizität des Erzählens
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Conference lecture
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Conference lecturede Jong, Steffi. (2010) Video Testimonies in History Museum. Kulver seminar-workshop Re-visioning the museal objects between things and signs
2009
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Conference lecturede Jong, Steffi. (2009) Musealising the witness: The staging of First-Person Testimonies in European Second World War Museums and Exhibitions. Museums and Biographies
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Conference lecturede Jong, Steffi. (2009) "Whose history? The figure of the witness in museums". The figure of the witness