Dr. Nadège Veldwachter

Professional Background

Nadège Veldwachter is an associate professor of Francophone studies at Purdue University and a founding member of the Center for Genocide and Human Rights Research in Africa and the Diaspora at Northeastern Illinois University. She holds a PhD in Francophone literature from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Dr. Veldwachter specializes in 20th and 21st-century Francophone Caribbean and African literatures and cultures and globalization, with particular expertise in genocide studies and postcolonial historiography. Her research examines the intersections of Jewish and Black histories in the Caribbean during World War II, focusing on themes of forced displacement, memory, and humanitarianism. She has also investigated the experiences of civilians from French colonies (Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guiana, and Réunion) who were deported as political prisoners or Resistance fighters to concentration camps in German-occupied territories during World War II.

Her research has been supported by Purdue's Center for Humanistic Studies and the European Institutes for Advanced Study – Paris. Dr. Veldwachter is the author of Littérature francophone et mondialisation (Editions Karthala, 2012), and her articles have appeared in journals such as Shofar, Small Axe, Journal of Haitian Studies, and Cahiers d'Etudes africaines. She is currently developing a website exploring the legacies of the Holocaust in the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, and Europe.

Fellowship Research

While at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum as a Joyce and Arthur Schechter Fellow, Nadège Veldwachter will conduct research on the experiences of Jewish refugees in Haiti during and after World War II. She aims to highlight the significance of the Caribbean region as a place of asylum for those fleeing persecution during the 1930s and 1940s. 

Dr. Veldwachter plans to utilize the Museum’s archival resources to document the migration trajectories of individuals with connections to Haiti during and after the Holocaust. By examining records of people interned in concentration camps or those who sought refuge in Haiti, the project will illuminate the circumstances surrounding their displacement and resettlement. Analyzing the political and diplomatic forces at play, she aims to offer new insights into Haiti's role within the narratives of Jewish and Holocaust studies.

Residency Period: January 1, 2026–April 30, 2026