Biography
I am Professor of Conflict Archaeology and Holocaust Heritage. I am also Academic Director in Archaeology at PACE, a Fellow and Director of Studies in Archaeology at St Catharine's College, and a Partner of the Cambridge Heritage Research Centre. Outside the University I am a member of the UK delegation of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, and a member of the Academic Advisory Board of the UK Holocaust Memorial. My research sits at the intersection of archaeology, heritage studies, Holocaust studies and history. I have a particular interest in European WWII and Holocaust archaeology and like to excavate at such sites each summer. I am also interested in the archaeology, material culture and heritage of WWII internment and imprisonment, and am also an expert in the heritage and memory of the German occupation of the Channel Islands, especially its victims of Nazism. I am currently working on the state of Holocaust heritage in the 21st century and the problems it faces, particularly from climate change.
As Academic Director in Archaeology at PACE, I have oversight of all archaeology, classical studies and Medieval period certificates and diplomas. My role is to ensure high quality and accessible undergraduate-level teaching and to support the part-time tutors in my team in teaching effectively for our diverse range of students to help them all achieve to the best of their ability.
I received my PhD and MPhil in archaeology here in Cambridge (St John's College).
Books
- Carr, G. (2024) A Materiality of Internment. Routledge: London., 2024
- Carr, G. and Pistol, R. (ed.)(2023). British Internment and the Internment of Britons: Second World War Camps, History and Heritage. Bloomsbury Academic, 2023
- Carr, G. (2020) Nazi Prisons in the British Isles: Political Prisoners during the German Occupation of Jersey and Guernsey 1940-1945. Pen and Sword., 2020
- Carr, G. (2019). Victims of Nazism in the Channel Islands: A Legitimate Heritage? Bloomsbury Academic., 2019
- Carr, G. (2017). On British Soil: Nazi Persecution in the Channel Islands. McDonald Institute Publications., 2017
- Carr, G. and Reeves, K. (ed.) (2015). Heritage and Memory of War: Responses from small islands. Routledge: New York., 2015
- Carr, G., Willmot, L. and Sanders, P. (2014). Protest, Defiance and Resistance in the German Occupied Channel Islands, 1940-1945. Bloomsbury Academic., 2014
- Carr, G. (2014). Legacies of Occupation: Archaeology, Heritage and Memory in the Channel Islands. Springer., 2014
- Carr, G. and Mytum, H. (eds) (2012). Cultural Heritage and Prisoners of War: Creativity Behind Barbed Wire. New York: Routledge., 2012
- Mytum, H. and Carr, G. (eds) (2012). Prisoners of War: Archaeology, Memory and Heritage of 19th- and 20th- Century Mass Internment. New York: Springer., 2012
- Carr, G. (2009). Occupied Behind Barbed Wire. Jersey: Jersey Heritage Trust., 2009
- Carr, G. (2006). Creolised Bodies and Hybrid Identities: Examining the Later Iron Age and Early Roman Periods of Essex and Hertfordshire. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports British Series 418., 2006
Journal articles
- Carr, G. and Cooke, S. (2024), ‘The pragmatics of Holocaust heritage in the 21st century: exploring the concept using the case studies of Terezín and Staro Sajmište’. Heritage and Society, 18(1), 37-56., 2024
- Mytum, H., Carr, G., Philpott, R. and Saunders, N. (2023) ‘Placemaking at Les Blanches Banques, Jersey’s First World War Prisoner of War Camp: Nested landscapes of prisoners and guards’, The Antiquaries Journal. 103: 407-437., 2023
- Cooke, S. and Carr, G. (2023). “Saved from Oblivion’? The uncertain futures of Holocaust heritage’, Global Perspectives 4(1): 88-94., 2023
- Carr, G. (2022) ‘Narratives of Resistance, Moral Compromise and Perpetration: The testimonies of Julia Brichta, survivor of Ravensbrück’, The Journal of Holocaust Research vol. 36(4): 240-260. DOI: 10.1080/25785648.2022.2116830, 2022
- Carr, G. (2022) ‘Narratives of Resistance, Moral Compromise and Perpetration: The testimonies of Julia Brichta, survivor of Ravensbrück’, The Journal of Holocaust Research vol. 36(4): 240-260, 2022
- Carr, G. (2021). ‘“You are requested to ascertain the nationality of Jews residing in Guernsey”: Analysing an artefact of collaboration from the Channel Island of Guernsey, 1933-1940’. Holocaust Studies: A Journal of Culture and History, 28(1): 95-118., 2021
- Mytum, H., Philpott, R., Carr, G., Saunders, N. (2020). ‘“This Camp seemed almost to be a model of its kind”: the Les Blanches Banques Camp for German World War 1 Prisoners of War’, Bulletin of the Société Jersiaise 32(4): 841-863., 2020
- Carr. G. (2019) The Jew and the Jerrybag: the lives of Hedwig Bercu and Dorothea Le Brocq. Journal of Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Volume 33, Issue 3, Winter 2019, Pages 373–394, 2019
- Carr, G. (2018). ‘La mémoire du béton: Trouver une place pour les fantômes de la guerre dans les Îles Anglo-Normandes’ / ‘A ‘Tangible Intangibility’: Positioning ghosts of war.’ Terrain 69: 40-57., 2018
- Carr, G., Jasinski, M. and Theune, C. (2017). The Material Culture of Nazi Camps: An editorial. International Journal of Historical Archaeology. Vol. 22.3, 2017
- Carr, G. (2017). The Small Things of Life and Death: an exploration of value and meaning in the material culture of Nazi camps. International Journal of Historical Archaeology. Vol. 22.3, 2017
- Carr, G. (2016). Nazi camps on British soil: The excavation of Lager Wick forced labour camp in Jersey, Channel Islands. Journal of Conflict Archaeology. vol 11 (2-3): 135-157., 2016
- Carr, G. and Sturdy Colls, C. (2016). Taboo and Sensitive Heritage: Labour camps, burials and the role of activism in the Channel Islands, International Journal of Heritage Studies, 22 (9): 702-715., 2016
- Carr, G. (2016). ‘Illicit Antiquities’? The Collection of Nazi militaria in the Channel Islands. World Archaeology 48(2): 254-266., 2016
- Carr, G. (2015). ‘Have you been offended? Holocaust memory in the Channel Islands at HMD 70. Holocaust Studies: a Journal of Culture and History. 22(1): 44-64., 2015
- Carr, G. (2012). Of coins, crests and kings: symbols of identity and resistance in the occupied Channel Islands. The Journal of Material Culture, 17 (4): 327-344., 2012
- Carr, G. (2012). Examining the memorialscape of occupation and liberation: a case study from the Channel Islands, International Journal of Heritage Studies 18(2): 174-193., 2012
- Carr, G. (2012). Occupation heritage, commemoration and memory in Guernsey and Jersey, History and Memory 24 (1), 87-117., 2012
- Carr, G. (2010). The archaeology of occupation and the V-sign campaign in the Channel Islands during WWII, International Journal of Historical Archaeology 14 (4): 575-592., 2010
- Carr, G. (2010). The slowly healing scars of Occupation, Journal of War and Culture Studies 3 (2): 249-265., 2010
- Carr, G. (2010). Shining a light on dark tourism: German bunkers in the British Channel Islands, Public Archaeology 9(2): 65-86., 2010
- Carr, G. (2010). The archaeology of occupation: a case study from the Channel Islands, Antiquity 84 (323): 161-174., 2010
- Carr, G. (2008). The politics of forgetting on the island of Alderney, Archaeological Review from Cambridge 22 (2): 89-112., 2008
- Carr, G. (2005). Woad, tattooing and identity in later Iron Age and early Roman Britain, Oxford Journal of Archaeology 24 (3): 273-292., 2005
Book chapters
- Carr, G. (forthcoming) ‘Holocaust heritage at the edge of living memory: the IHRA Charter for Safeguarding Sites and its implications for archaeologists’, in G. Moshenska and J. McKinnon (eds), Archaeology of WWII at the edge of living memory. UCL Press., 2026
- Carr, G. (2025) ‘Holocaust heritage: authenticity, archaeology and climate change’, in I. Saloul and B. Baillie (eds), The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Cultural Heritage and Conflict. Springer Nature. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2025
- Carr, G. (2023) ‘An autograph book, a piano and bodies hanging on the wire: memories of the British experiences in the French transit camp of Compiègne’, in G. Carr and R. Pistol (ed), British Internment and the Internment of Britons: Second World War Camps, History and Heritage. Bloomsbury Academic, 2023
- Carr, G. (2022). ‘The biographies of resistant material culture in occupied landscapes: the Channel Islands in World War II’, pp. 159-177 in T. Clack and M. Brittain (eds.). Archaeologies of Cultural Contact: At the Interface. Oxford: Oxford University Press., 2022
- Carr, G. and Willmott, L. (2021) ‘A right to compensation after persecution? Examining the testimonies of British victims of Nazism’, in D. Stone, M. Fulbrook and C. Schmidt (eds), Beyond Camps and Forced Labour: Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference. Palgrave Macmillan., 2021
- Carr, G. (2021). ‘Campscapes and homescapes of the mind’s eye: a methodology for analysing the landscapes of internment camps’, pp. 293-308 in N. Saunders and P. Cornish (eds) Conflict Landscapes: Materiality and Meaning in Contested Places, 1900-2007. London: Routledge., 2021
- Carr, G. (2020) ‘Double vision and the politics of visibility: The landscapes of forced and slave labour’, pp. 63-81 in James Symonds and Pavel Vareka (eds.), Archaeologies of Totalitarianism, Authoritarianism and Repression: Dark Modernities. Palgrave Macmillan., 2020
- Carr, G. (2018). ‘Denial of the darkness, identity and nation-building in small islands: a case study from the Channel Islands’, pp. 355-376 in P. Stone, R. Hartmann, T. Seaton, R. Sharpley and L. White (eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Dark Tourism Studies. London: Palgrave Macmillan., 2018
- Carr, G. (2017). ‘The uninvited guests who outstayed their welcome: the ghosts of war in the Channel Islands’ pp. 272-288 in N. Saunders and P. Cornish (eds), Modern Conflict and the Senses. Abingdon: Routledge., 2017
- Carr, G. (2016). ‘A culturally constructed darkness: dark legacies and dark heritage in the Channel Islands’ pp.96-107 in G. Hooper and J. Lennon Dark Tourism: Practice and Interpretation. Routledge., 2016
- Carr, G. and Reeves, K. (2015) Islands of War, Islands of Memory: An introduction, pp. 1-16 in G. Carr and K. Reeves (eds), Heritage and Memory of War: Responses from small islands. Routledge., 2015
- Carr, G. (2015) Islands of War, Guardians of Memory: the afterlife of the German Occupation in the British Channel Islands, pp. 75-91 in G. Carr and K. Reeves (eds), Heritage and Memory of War: Responses from small islands. Routledge., 2015
- Carr, G. and Jasinski, M.E. (2013). ‘Sites of Memory, Sites of Oblivion: The archaeology of twentieth century conflict In Europe’, pp. 36-55 in M. Bassanelli and G. Postglione (eds.), Re-enacting the Past: Museography for Conflict Archaeology. Siracusa: LetteraVentidue., 2013
- Carr, G. (2013). Resistance, the body and the V-sign campaign in Channel Islander WWII German internment camps, pp. 117-131 in J. Symonds, A. Badcock and J. Oliver (eds), Historical Archaeologies of Cognition. London: Equinox Publishing Ltd., 2013
- Carr, G. (2012). “My home was the area round my bed”: experiencing and negotiating space at civilian internment camps in Germany, 1942-1945, in H. Mytum and G. Carr (eds.) Prisoners of War: Archaeology, Memory and Heritage of 19th- and 20th- Century Mass Internment. New York: Springer., 2012
- Carr, G. (2012). God save the King! Creative modes of defiance in Channel Islander internment camps, 1942-1945, pp. 168-185 in G. Carr and H. Mytum (eds.), Cultural Heritage and Prisoners of War: Creativity Behind Barbed Wire. New York: Routledge., 2012
- Carr, G. (2012). The Importance of Creativity Behind barbed wire: setting a research agenda, pp. 1-15 in G. Carr and H. Mytum (eds.), Cultural Heritage and Prisoners of War: Creativity Behind Barbed Wire. New York: Routledge., 2012
- Carr, G. (2012). Dark tourism, bunkers and memorials? A case study from the Channel Islands, pp. 173-184 in G. Postiglione and M. Bassanelli (eds), Military Archaeological Landscapes: The Atlantik Wall as Case Study. Siracusa: LetteraVentidue., 2012
- Carr, G. (2011). Engraving and embroidering emotions upon the material culture of internment, pp. 129-146 in A. Myers and G. Moshenska (eds.) Archaeologies of Internment. New York: Springer., 2011
- Carr, G. (2007). Excarnation to cremation: Continuity or change? pp. 446-455 in C. Haselgrove and T. Moore (eds.) The Later Iron Age in Britain and Beyond, Oxford: Oxbow Monographs., 2007
- Carr, G. (2007). Creolising the body: constructing identity through appearance in early Roman Britain, pp. 106-115 in R. Hingley and S. H. Willis (eds.) Roman Finds: Context and Theory. Proceedings of a Conference held at the University of Durham. Oxford: Oxbow Books., 2007
- Carr, G. (2003). Creolisation, pidginisation and the interpretation of unique artefacts in early Roman Britain, pp. 113-125 in G. Carr, E. Swift and J. Weekes (eds.) TRAC 2002: Proceedings of the Twelfth Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference, Kent 2002. Oxford: Oxbow Books., 2003
- Carr, G. (2002). A time to heal, a time to live, a time to die: shamanism, human sacrifice and divination in Iron Age Britain, pp.58-73 in P. Baker and G. Carr, New Approaches to Medical Archaeology and Medical Anthropology: Practitioners, Practices and Patients. Oxford: Oxbow Books., 2002
- Carr, G. (2001). ‘Romanisation’ and the body, pp. 112-124 in G. Davies, A. Gardner and K. Lockyear (eds.), TRAC 2000: Proceedings of the Tenth Annual Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference. Oxford: Oxbow Books., 2001
- Carr. G. and Knüsel, C. (1997). The ritual framework of excarnation by exposure as the mortuary practice of the Early and Middle Iron Ages of central southern Britain, pp.167-173 in A. Gwilt and C. Haselgrove (eds.) Reconstructing Iron Age Societies, New Approaches to the British Iron Age. Oxford: Oxbow Monograph 71., 1997