Herman Van Goethem

(Mortsel, Belgium, 1958) is a historian, jurist, professor and general director of the Holocaust Museum Kazerne Dossin in Mechelen. His work focuses on Flemish history, the history of photography, and the persecution of Jews during WWII. Van Goethem translates this material into approachable non-fiction, such as The Monarchy and 'the end of Belgium' and Leopold III - The King, the Country, the War, which was nominated for the Gouden Uil. Since October 2016 he has been rector of the University of Antwerp, where he wants to welcome more students from underprivileged backgrounds. "There are too few talented youths from disadvantaged communities within intellectual streams of education", he said during an interview with ScienceGuide. Van Goethem is currently working on a book derived from his scientific research since 2005 - Antwerp, 1942: Four seasons. Using police archives, judicial files and diaries as primary sources, he describes how the police behaviour gradually slipped into extreme violence and how society gradually accepted it.