Frank van Vree (1954) is chair of the board of the research programme.
Van Vree is researcher at the NIOD and professor emeritus of History of War, Conflict and Memory at the University of Amsterdam. Until September 2021, he was director of the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Before that, he was dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Professor of Media Studies at the University of Amsterdam and Erasmus University Rotterdam, visiting scholar at New York University, and fellow at the Netherlands Institute of Advanced Studies. He holds degrees in modern history and philosophy from the universities of Groningen and Leiden.
Van Vree has worked in various fields of research, from modern history and historical culture to media and journalism studies. Among his books and edited volumes are Performing the Past. Memory, History, Identity (eds. with Karin Tilmans and Jay Winter, 2010), De Dynamiek van de Herinnering (ed. with Rob van der Laarse, 2009), and two volumes about the history of the Hollandsche Schouwburg, a deportation center during the Holocaust (2013, 2017). Hs earlier works include his PhD dissertation De Nederlandse pers en Duitsland 1930-1939 (‘The Dutch press and Germany 1930-1939’, 1989), Metamorfose van een dagblad (‘Metamorphosis of a daily newspaper’, 1996) and In de schaduw van Auschwitz (‘In the shadow of Auschwitz’, 1995). For years, he wrote reviews and articles for the Volkskrant, a leading Dutch newspaper, worked for the Groene Amsterdammer, and was an editor at Feit & Fictie. He was also on boards of numerous scientific, cultural and media organizations.