Helen Roche is a British historian and an associate professor in modern European cultural history at

Durham University , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills (Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_chan ...

Academic career

Roche attended

Leweston School Leweston School is an independent day and boarding school near Sherborne in Dorset, England. The school is co-educational in the Nursery and Preparatory School and follows the co-educational diamond model in the Senior School and Sixth Form. Th ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

before studying classics at

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of th ...

, from 2004 to 2012, where she completed her doctorate under the supervision of Paul Cartledge, Robin Osborne, and

Brendan Simms Brendan Peter Simms (born 1967, Dublin) is a Professor of the history of international relations in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge. Early life Brendan Simms is the son of Anngret and David Simm ...

. She held research fellowships at

Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge Lucy Cavendish College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college is named in honour of Lucy Cavendish (1841–1925), who campaigned for the reform of women's education. Hist ...

and the Institute of Advanced Studies at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

before taking up a permanent post at Durham University. Her research is in German history, classical reception, the comparative study of

fascism Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...

, the history of education, and related areas. At

, she is an associate fellow of the Institute of Advanced Study. In 2021, Roche published ''The Third Reich’s Elite Schools: A History of the Napolas''. This study of the German National Political Institutes of Education has been praised as an important contribution to the history of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. Several British newspapers reported on Roche’s uncovering the links between the Napolas and elite British private schools in the 1930s. In March 2022, she was interviewed on this subject on the

Free Thinking ''Free Thinking'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 3 as part of their "After Dark" late night programming. The programme is a rebranded version of ''Night Waves'', "Radio 3's flagship arts and ideas programme". ''Night Waves'' was b ...

programme on

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

Books

*''The Third Reich’s Elite Schools: A History of the Napolas'',

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 2021 *''Sparta’s German Children: The Ideal of Ancient Sparta in the Royal Prussian Cadet-Corps, 1818-1920, and in National-Socialist Elite Schools (the Napolas), 1933-1945'', Classical Press of Wales, 2013 *''Brill's Companion to the Classics, Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany'', edited, with Kyriakos Demetriou,

Brill Brill may refer to: Places * Brielle (sometimes "Den Briel"), a town in the western Netherlands * Brill, Buckinghamshire, a village in England * Brill, Cornwall, a small village to the west of Constantine, Cornwall, UK * Brill, Wisconsin, an un ...

, 2018Reviews of ''Brill's Companion to the Classics, Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany'': Martijn Eickhoff, ''Fascism''

Genevieve Gessert, ''History of Humanities''

Peter Staudenmaier, ''Journal of Modern Italian Studies''

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References

1986 births Living people Alumni of the University of Cambridge Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge English historians English classical scholars Women classical scholars British women historians Academics of Durham University {{UK-historian-stub