Debbie Lackerstein

Dr. Debbie Lackerstein is a Senior Lecturer in History and Postgraduate Coursework Coordinator in the School of Humanities & Social Sciences at UNSW Canberra, University of New South Wales. She holds a PhD in French history from the University of Adelaide and joined the university in 1988, where she has taught numerous undergraduate and postgraduate courses in modern European history, including to trainee military officers. Her teaching portfolio encompasses the Second World War, the Holocaust, genocide, resistance, collaboration, national identity, and trauma.

Debbie Lackerstein's research specializations include the Second World War in occupied Europe (1939-1945), the Holocaust, Vichy France, resistance and collaboration, intellectual history of the 1930s and 1940s, national identity, right-wing thought and activist groups, comparative genocide, liberation of the Nazi camps, and trauma. Her major publication is the monograph National Regeneration in Vichy France: Ideas and Policies, 1930-1944 (Ashgate, Farnham, 2012). Key book chapters feature 'Reflecting on the Unimaginable: The Challenge of Teaching the History of Genocide' in Military Ethics Education and the Holocaust (Taylor & Francis, 2025) and 'Medical Responses to the Liberation of the Nazi Camps, April-May 1945' in War Wounds: Medicine and the Trauma of Conflict (Exisle, Auckland, 2012). Selected journal articles comprise 'Death in the Cathedral: the Long Battle over French National Identity and the Legacy of Vichy' (Australian Journal of Politics & History, 2014), 'La France Eternelle: A Contested Ideal, Vichy and the Present' (French History and Civilization, 2015), 'Reflecting on Genocide: Teaching Trainee Officers at UNSW, Canberra' (Australian Humanities Review, 2018), and 'Liberation of the Camps' (Wartime, 2015). Her current research project investigates perspectives on the 1945 liberation of the camps, complemented by work on French national identity.

Lackerstein serves as a Scientia Education Academy Fellow (2022-2026), reflecting her commitment to educational innovation, and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2019. She has presented at conferences including HERDSA 2024 on academic resilience and wellbeing, and UNSW Canberra's event on the military's role in genocide prevention and response (2024). Her contributions extend to UNSW communities focused on first-year experience and online education resources, enhancing teaching practices in military and humanities contexts.