Gina Herrmann

Gina Herrmann is a Professor of Spanish and Romance Languages at the School of Global Studies and Languages, University of Oregon, where she also serves as Director of Undergraduate Studies. Her academic work bridges literature, history, and political theory, with a focus on antifascist resistance, Holocaust studies, and gendered memory in 20th-century Europe.

Her educational background includes a B.A. and Ph.D. from Cornell University and an M.A. from Columbia University, along with a Certificate in Oral History from the Columbia University Center for Oral History Research. This interdisciplinary training underpins her methodologically rigorous scholarship.

Herrmann’s research centers on communist and leftist movements, particularly the roles of women in resistance against Franco and Hitler. She explores how political identity is formed through trauma, incarceration, and ideological commitment. Her work draws on oral histories, literary texts, and archival materials to reconstruct the lived experiences of marginalized actors in European fascism and resistance. Key themes include political subjectivity, state terror, gendered violence, and cultural memory.

Her recent publications reflect a trajectory from Spanish communist memoirs to transnational Holocaust studies and gendered resistance. The articles demonstrate a consistent focus on marginalized voices, especially women, and explore intersections of literature, history, and human rights. Topics range from Spanish women in the French Resistance and slave labor in Nazi camps to the cultural representations of Trotsky’s assassination and the politics of mass graves under Franco.

• National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship (2017-18)
• Holocaust Education Foundation Fellow (2016)
• US Holocaust Memorial Museum Silberman Seminar (2015)
• University of Oregon Presidential Fellowship for Humanities (2020)
• University of Oregon Outstanding Graduate Faculty Mentor (2017)
• Norman H. Brown Faculty Fellow (2019-2021)

Herrmann has been a dedicated mentor to graduate students, recognized with the Outstanding Graduate Faculty Mentor award. She has secured competitive grants from the NEH, US Holocaust Memorial Museum, and internal university sources. Her public scholarship includes directing teacher institutes through the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archive (ALBA), where she also serves as Vice-Chair, promoting human rights education and historical memory. Her work is deeply committed to experiential learning and civic engagement.

While not explicitly mentioning a lab, her research involves extensive fieldwork in oral history and archival research, often in collaboration with international scholars and institutions such as ALBA, the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, and European presses. Her projects are inherently collaborative and interdisciplinary, involving editorial teams, public symposia, and pedagogical outreach.