Lecture by Pieter van den Heede, Erasmus University, Rotterdam (NL) as part of the "History@Play" series.

How can we promote critical understandings of the Second World War and Holocaust via gaming as a format? In this lecture, Pieter Van den Heede discusses how the war, and the Holocaust in particular, are simulated in currently available games, and to what extent game designs can be leveraged to highlight alternative perspectives. He will do so in light of recent debates in the field of Holocaust & Genocide Studies, in particular in relation to the work of Frank Bajohr, Andrea Löw and Dirk Moses.

Pieter Van den Heede is a lecturer and researcher at the History Department of Erasmus University Rotterdam. His research focuses on historical culture (i.e. how people in the past and present relate to the past), public history, history didactics and digital humanities. In 2021, he completed his PhD dissertation on how digital games depict the Second World War, and what it means for people to play these games.

The lecture will be followed by a reception.