News

Helen's second monograph, The Third Reich's Elite Schools: A History of the Napolas, has now been published by Oxford University Press.

Helen's research draws on material from eighty archives in six different countries worldwide, as well as eyewitness testimonies from over 100 former pupils. The book, which has been over a decade in the making, presents the first comprehensive history of the Third Reich’s most prominent elite schools, the National Political Education Institutes (Napolas / NPEA).Read more...

Helen recently contributed a podcast on 'Classics in Nazi Germany' to a series of podcasts on Classics and decolonisation hosted by Khameleon Productions.Read more...

On 3 November 2021, Helen presented a brief research presentation on her third monograph project at the NETWoRC lunchtime research seminar.Read more...

On 20 October 2021, Helen presented a brief overview of her recently-published second monograph, The Third Reich’s Elite Schools: A History of the Napolas (OUP, 2021) to members of the History Department at Durham University.Read more...

Helen has recently been appointed to the position of Secretary of the German History Society, with responsibilities for communication, administration, and conference organisation.Read more...

Helen has now been promoted to the position of Associate Professor in Modern European Cultural History at Durham University, in recognition of her contributions to research, teaching, and departmental citizenship.Read more...

On 29 May 2021, Helen was invited to give a presentation on 'Getting Ahead in Classical Reception Studies' to attendees at the launch conference of the European Classical Reception Research Network, hosted by the University of St. Andrews.Read more...

Helen has recently been appointed to the editorial board of Durham University's History in Politics journal.Read more...

One of Helen's articles, entitled 'Classics and Education in the Third Reich: "Die Alten Sprachen" and the Nazification of Latin- and Greek-teaching in secondary schools', has recently been praised in Susan A. Curry's review of Brill's Companion to the Classics, Fascist Italy, and Nazi Germany (2018), which was published online in The Classical Journal:

Curry contends that "Every teacher of Classics should read Roche’s article. Posthaste."Read more...

Helen’s most recent edited volume, the Brill Companion to the Classics, Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany (2018) has just received another extremely favourable review in The Classical Journal.

"As white supremacist groups and authoritarian governments continue to coopt a particular vision of antiquity to lend authority to their own ideologies, this Companion serves as an important reminder of just how destructive these uses of history can become..."Read more...