"Sexual Violence on the Eastern Front: A Study of World War Two Occupation Politics"
Professional Background
Ms. Wendy Jo Gertjejanssen received an M.A. in European history and a B.A. in Russian language and literature, Russian area studies, and German literature from the University of Minnesota. During her fellowship at the Museum, she was a Ph.D. candidate in history at the University of Minnesota. For her Charles H. Revson Foundation Fellowship for Archival Research, Ms. Gertjejanssen conducted research for her project “Sexual Violence on the Eastern Front: A Study of World War Two Occupation Politics.”
Ms. Gertjejanssen is the recipient of grants from the University of Minnesota and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) to support her research. She has been a teaching and research assistant at the University of Minnesota and a German language instructor at University Language Center in Minneapolis. Ms. Gertjejanssen has taught several courses at the University of Minnesota and Metro State University.
Fellowship Research
During her tenure at the Museum, Ms. Gertjejanssen researched sexual violence in the Nazi-occupied East. She studied the rape of Jewish women to determine to what extent sexual violence was an intrinsic aspect of Nazi racial politics. She used the Museum’s archival and oral history collections to complete her research.
Ms. Gertjejanssen was in residence at the Mandel Center from September 15 to December 6, 2002.