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Professor Hanna Diamond
Professor of French History
- Media commentator
- Available for postgraduate supervision
Overview
My work revolves around the social and cultural history of France during the Second World War and memory of this period. I have a particular interest in gender and am interested in reconstructing people's everyday experiences of these traumatic events.
I have worked in an advisory role for with the Musée de la Libération de Paris - musée Leclerc - musée Jean Moulin and co-curated with the museum director, their 2020 exhibition 1940: Les Parisiens dans l’exode/ 1940: Parisians in the exodus .You can read Jon Henley's feature on it in The Guardian and our short film of the exhibition here.
I have recently secured a 2-year Leverhulme Fellowship (2021-2023) to work on the wartime activities of international star Josephine Baker. Read my recent article which recounts some episodes of Josephine Baker's wartime activities.
I use a variety of sources for my research including oral and written testimony and am interested in how these sources can contribute to conveying the past in museum exhibitions. In relation to digital testimony, I have developed an interactive website (http://www.fleeinghitler.org/) to enable people to post family stories of their experiences of Occupied Europe during the Second World War.
I work with a number of non-academic partners in the UK and abroad including professionals in the creative industries (radio, television, film and theatre directors, producers, script-writers) and in the curatorial sector in the UK and France. In particular, I have recently worked with Wall to Wall Productions, the BBC, Like A Shot Entertainment, the SNCF (French Railways) and a number of French museums and archives.
Publication
2025
- Diamond, H. 2025. Josephine Baker’s secret war: The African American star who fought for France and freedom. Yale University Press.
2024
- Diamond, H. and Warmsley, C. 2024. Civil war as fratiricidal conflict? Re-examining the case of violence against women in Liberation France. In: Leira-Castinera, F. J. and Sakkas, J. eds. Patterns of Violence Behind the Lines in Europe’s Civil Wars. Palgrave Macmillan
2020
- Diamond, H. 2020. 1940: les Parisiens dans l'exode. Paris: Paris Musées.
2019
- Diamond, H. 2019. The return of the Republic: crowd photography and the Liberation in Toulouse 1944-45. French Politics, Culture and Society 37(1), pp. 90-116. (10.3167/fpcs.2019.370106)
2017
- Diamond, H. 2017. Preserving and displaying everyday life: Digital stories of escape from France during the Second World War. Essays in French Literature and Culture 54, pp. 61-82.
2014
- Diamond, H. 2014. France in 1940: images of refugees. In: Martens, S. and Prauser, S. eds. La guerre de 1940 se battre, subir, se souvenir. Presse Universitaires de Septrentrion, pp. 195-209.
2013
- Diamond, H. 2013. ‘Prisoners of the Peace’: German Prisoners-of-War in rural France 1944–48. European History Quarterly 43(3), pp. 442-463. (10.1177/0265691413490885)
2012
- Diamond, H. and Gorrara, C. J. 2012. Reframing war: histories and memories of the Second World War in the photography of Julia Pirotte. Modern and Contemporary France 20(4), pp. 453-471. (10.1080/09639489.2012.720434)
2011
- Diamond, H. 2011. Miners, masculinity and the 'Bataille du Charbon' in France 1944-1948. Modern and Contemporary France 19(1), pp. 69-84. (10.1080/09639489.2010.540004)
2010
- Diamond, H. 2010. Behind enemy lines. Gender, passing and the special operations executive in the Second World War [Review]. Women's History Review 9(5), pp. 797-798. (10.1080/09612025.2010.524021)
2009
- Diamond, H. and Bornat, J. 2009. Histoire orale et histoire des femmes. La contribution anglo-saxonne. In: Dermenjian, G. and Thaud, F. eds. Quand les femmes témoignent: histoire orale, histoire des femmes, mémoire des femmes. Paris: Éd. Publisud, pp. 37-60.
2008
- Diamond, H. 2008. Representing defeat : Photographic images of the French exodus of 1940. Journal of War and Culture Studies 1(3), pp. 275-292. (10.1386/jwcs.1.3.275_1)
2007
- Bornat, J. and Diamond, H. 2007. Women's History and Oral History: developments and debates. Women's History Review 16(1), pp. 19-39. (10.1080/09612020601049652)
- Diamond, H. 2007. Fleeing Hitler: France 1940. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
2006
- Diamond, H. 2006. Les mineurs immigres du bassin de Fuveau dans la tourmente des greves des annees 1930 et 1940. Diasporas 9, pp. 195-206.
2005
- Diamond, H. and Kitson, S. 2005. Vichy, resistance, liberation: new perspectives on wartime France. Oxford: Bloomsbury Academic.
2004
- Diamond, H. and Gorrara, C. J. 2004. Occupation memories: French history and the Aubrac affair in the 1990s. In: Kidd, W. and Murdoch, B. O. eds. Memory and Memorials: The Commemorative Century. Ashgate, pp. 233-244.
2003
- Diamond, H. 2003. The campaign for parity in the 1990s: women and the French Republic. In: Gorrara, C. J. and Langford, R. E. eds. France since the Revolution. Routledge, pp. 121-136.
- Diamond, H. 2003. The French Revolution: origins and beginnings. In: Gorrara, C. J. and Langford, R. E. eds. France since the Revolution. Routledge, pp. 13-26.
- Diamond, H. and Gorrara, C. 2003. Facing the past: French wartime memories at the millennium. In: Milner, S. and Parsons, N. eds. Reinventing France: State and society in the twenty-first century. French politics, society and culture UK: Palgrave Macmillian, pp. 173-185., (10.1057/9781403948182)
2001
- Diamond, H. 2001. The Aubrac controversy. History Today 51(3), pp. 26-27.
2000
- Diamond, H. 2000. A new dawn? French women and the liberation. Women's Studies International Forum 23(6), pp. 729-738. (10.1016/S0277-5395(00)00145-X)
- Diamond, H. 2000. The role of the witness and the historian in contemporary France: the Jean Moulin enigma. In: Rothaus, B. ed. Proceedings of the Western Society for French History: Selected Papers of the Annual Meeting. University Press of Colorado
- Cento Bull, A., Diamond, H. and Marsh, R. eds. 2000. Feminisms and women's movement in contemporary Europe. UK: Palgrave MacMillan.
1999
- Diamond, H. 1999. Women and the Second World War in France, 1939-48: choices and constraints. Women And Men In History. UK: Longman.
1995
- Diamond, H. 1995. Libération, quelle libération? L'expérience des femmes toulousaines. Clio, histoire , femmes, et sociétés Résistances et Libérations. France 1940-45 1, pp. 89-109. (10.4000/clio.517)
- Diamond, H. 1995. Gaining the vote ‐ a liberating experience?. Modern and Contemporary France 3(2), pp. 129-139. (10.1080/09639489508456229)
Articles
- Diamond, H. 2019. The return of the Republic: crowd photography and the Liberation in Toulouse 1944-45. French Politics, Culture and Society 37(1), pp. 90-116. (10.3167/fpcs.2019.370106)
- Diamond, H. 2017. Preserving and displaying everyday life: Digital stories of escape from France during the Second World War. Essays in French Literature and Culture 54, pp. 61-82.
- Diamond, H. 2013. ‘Prisoners of the Peace’: German Prisoners-of-War in rural France 1944–48. European History Quarterly 43(3), pp. 442-463. (10.1177/0265691413490885)
- Diamond, H. and Gorrara, C. J. 2012. Reframing war: histories and memories of the Second World War in the photography of Julia Pirotte. Modern and Contemporary France 20(4), pp. 453-471. (10.1080/09639489.2012.720434)
- Diamond, H. 2011. Miners, masculinity and the 'Bataille du Charbon' in France 1944-1948. Modern and Contemporary France 19(1), pp. 69-84. (10.1080/09639489.2010.540004)
- Diamond, H. 2010. Behind enemy lines. Gender, passing and the special operations executive in the Second World War [Review]. Women's History Review 9(5), pp. 797-798. (10.1080/09612025.2010.524021)
- Diamond, H. 2008. Representing defeat : Photographic images of the French exodus of 1940. Journal of War and Culture Studies 1(3), pp. 275-292. (10.1386/jwcs.1.3.275_1)
- Bornat, J. and Diamond, H. 2007. Women's History and Oral History: developments and debates. Women's History Review 16(1), pp. 19-39. (10.1080/09612020601049652)
- Diamond, H. 2006. Les mineurs immigres du bassin de Fuveau dans la tourmente des greves des annees 1930 et 1940. Diasporas 9, pp. 195-206.
- Diamond, H. 2001. The Aubrac controversy. History Today 51(3), pp. 26-27.
- Diamond, H. 2000. A new dawn? French women and the liberation. Women's Studies International Forum 23(6), pp. 729-738. (10.1016/S0277-5395(00)00145-X)
- Diamond, H. 1995. Libération, quelle libération? L'expérience des femmes toulousaines. Clio, histoire , femmes, et sociétés Résistances et Libérations. France 1940-45 1, pp. 89-109. (10.4000/clio.517)
- Diamond, H. 1995. Gaining the vote ‐ a liberating experience?. Modern and Contemporary France 3(2), pp. 129-139. (10.1080/09639489508456229)
Book sections
- Diamond, H. and Warmsley, C. 2024. Civil war as fratiricidal conflict? Re-examining the case of violence against women in Liberation France. In: Leira-Castinera, F. J. and Sakkas, J. eds. Patterns of Violence Behind the Lines in Europe’s Civil Wars. Palgrave Macmillan
- Diamond, H. 2014. France in 1940: images of refugees. In: Martens, S. and Prauser, S. eds. La guerre de 1940 se battre, subir, se souvenir. Presse Universitaires de Septrentrion, pp. 195-209.
- Diamond, H. and Bornat, J. 2009. Histoire orale et histoire des femmes. La contribution anglo-saxonne. In: Dermenjian, G. and Thaud, F. eds. Quand les femmes témoignent: histoire orale, histoire des femmes, mémoire des femmes. Paris: Éd. Publisud, pp. 37-60.
- Diamond, H. and Gorrara, C. J. 2004. Occupation memories: French history and the Aubrac affair in the 1990s. In: Kidd, W. and Murdoch, B. O. eds. Memory and Memorials: The Commemorative Century. Ashgate, pp. 233-244.
- Diamond, H. 2003. The campaign for parity in the 1990s: women and the French Republic. In: Gorrara, C. J. and Langford, R. E. eds. France since the Revolution. Routledge, pp. 121-136.
- Diamond, H. 2003. The French Revolution: origins and beginnings. In: Gorrara, C. J. and Langford, R. E. eds. France since the Revolution. Routledge, pp. 13-26.
- Diamond, H. and Gorrara, C. 2003. Facing the past: French wartime memories at the millennium. In: Milner, S. and Parsons, N. eds. Reinventing France: State and society in the twenty-first century. French politics, society and culture UK: Palgrave Macmillian, pp. 173-185., (10.1057/9781403948182)
- Diamond, H. 2000. The role of the witness and the historian in contemporary France: the Jean Moulin enigma. In: Rothaus, B. ed. Proceedings of the Western Society for French History: Selected Papers of the Annual Meeting. University Press of Colorado
Books
- Diamond, H. 2025. Josephine Baker’s secret war: The African American star who fought for France and freedom. Yale University Press.
- Diamond, H. 2020. 1940: les Parisiens dans l'exode. Paris: Paris Musées.
- Diamond, H. 2007. Fleeing Hitler: France 1940. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
- Diamond, H. and Kitson, S. 2005. Vichy, resistance, liberation: new perspectives on wartime France. Oxford: Bloomsbury Academic.
- Cento Bull, A., Diamond, H. and Marsh, R. eds. 2000. Feminisms and women's movement in contemporary Europe. UK: Palgrave MacMillan.
- Diamond, H. 1999. Women and the Second World War in France, 1939-48: choices and constraints. Women And Men In History. UK: Longman.
Research
- the wartime activities of international star Josephine Baker who acted as a spy for the French Resistance
- the portrayal of the Second World War, and in particular the Resistance, in Second World War museums in France and across Europe
Wider Contribution to the Academic Community
Co-series editor of the University of Wales Press series: French and Francophone Studies with C. Gorrara (Cardiff University)
Referee for the following journals: American Historical Review, Modern and Contemporary France, Women’s History Review, European History Quarterly, Women’s Studies International Forum, Journal for Memory Studies, French Historical Studie, Journal of War and Culture Studies, French History, Gender and History,
Reader and reviewer for the following publishers: Berg, Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, Routledge, Wales University Press, Manchester University Press, Bloomsbury Academic, The History Press, Berghahn Books, Palgrave Macmillan
I have recently acted as PhD external examiner at Université de Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, University of Southampton, University of Kent, Sussex University, University of Leeds, Edge Hill University, and the University of Hull.
Knowledge Transfer, Impact, Consultancies and Public Engagement
2021
- June: Sussex University Festival of Ideas ‘Lee Miller: Considering a life of artistic and political liberation’
- March: Online publication of review of Chabrol film 'Une affaire de femmes'
2020
- June : Online talk for the French Embassy and institute Français to mark the 80th anniversary of De Gaulle’s appe
2018
- Launch of Barbier archive with plaque unveiling for Jacques Vaillant de Guélis who was born in Museum Place, Cardiff, in the presence of the French cultural attaché
2017
- Publication of two obituaries for the Guardian
- Consultancy work for Wall to Wall on BBC2 series Secret Agent Selection: WW2 shown in summer 2018
- Consultancy and on-screen interviews for Like a Shot production’s documentary for the Discovery Channel ‘Witness to War’
- Consultancy role for the Barbier papers donated to Cardiff University
2016
- Appointment to the Conseil Scientifique at the Musée Jean Moulin
- Consultancy role for Director Ema Ryan Zamazaki and on-screen interview for her documentary 'Monkey business: The Adventures of Curious George's Creators' (2017)
2015
- Commissioned article for the launch of The Conversation.fr on the Liberation in France
- Consultancy and interview on BBC1/Wall to Wall Productions ‘Who Do You Think You Are’ with Jane Seymour screened August 2015 (Viewing figures estimated at over 4 million)
- Live interview on France 24 English channel 8pm news on the Resistors being inducted into the Pantheon
- Consultancy and interview on BBCR4 Last Word about Belgian resistance fighter Lady Villiers
- Expert discussion after film screening of ‘Ida’, Chapter Arts, Cardiff
- Consultant for oral history exhibition held at the Archives Nationales, Paris April 2015 – June 2015 Voix cheminotes about the experiences of French railway workers from 1930-1950
2014
- Lead organiser of a conference at the Institut Francais to mark the 70th anniversary of the Liberation of France.
- Live interview on BBC R4 Women’s Hour – Women and the Resistance
- Publication in The Conversation 70 years after DDay Women of the French Resistance are finally being recognised
Teaching
I am teach on the first and second year transnational modules as well as on the MA Global Cultures.
I am module convenor for the Final Year dissertations in French and am interesting in supervising a wide range of topics relating to French History and Politics.
Biography
I completed both my undergraduate and postgraduate careers at the University of Sussex. I gained an ESRC-CNRS scholarship to undertake my DPhil research in France. In 1992, I was awarded a History DPhil on “Women and the Second World War in the Toulouse region”.
After several years working in a variety of Parisian higher education institutions (Université de Paris III: La Sorbonne Nouvelle, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Fontenay-aux-Roses, Université de Paris X: Nanterre), I was appointed lecturer at the University of Bath in 1993.
I took up a Chair at Cardiff University in September 2014.
Honours and awards
2021 Appointed member of HCÉRES (French High Council for Evaluation of Research and Higher Education)
2020 Invited to be Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts
2020 Appointed to sit on ARPEGE Research Advisory Board of Universities in the Occitan region of France
2018 Member of GW4 Building Communities Review Panel
2018 Appointed to sit on Institute for Modern Languages Research Advisory Council
2018 Elected Fellow Welsh Learned Society
2017 Appointedf Trustee of the Barbier Archive, Cardiff University Special Collections
2016 Appointed to the Conseil Scientifique of the Musée de la Libération de Paris
2015 Honorary Friend of the Archive of Resistance Testimony, University of Sussex
2013 – 2015 Chair of the AHRC SWW DTP History Panel
2013 Elected Fellow of the Royal Historical Society
Supervisions
I welcome applications from PhD students interested in all aspects of French Twentieth Century History and Politics particularly in relation to women and gender.
I have extensive expertise on France and the Second World War, and on Gender and Politics in France. I am currently working on projects relating to the memory of conflict and the representation of the Second World War in museums and would be keen to supervise in this area.
I have recently supervised six students to completion and am currently supervising five students on various topics related to Contemporary French History and Gender and Politics.
Current supervision
Sam Young
Research student
Daniel Baker
Research student
