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Clark University
CENTERS AND INSTITUTES
Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies
Group of Graduate Students

Current Graduate Students at the Strassler Center for
Holocaust and Genocide Studies

Allison Avery
Alison Avery

A Sociohistorical Analysis of the Interahamwe Militia

Advisor: Ken MacLean

Avery’s dissertation project, A Sociohistorical Analysis of the Interahamwe Militia, uses the ‘Interahamwe’ militia in Rwanda as a case study to explore how and why militias emerge and evolve in modern genocidal cases. She examines the micro-dynamics that shaped the formation, organization, and evolution of the Interahamwe as well as the mindset of the perpetrators who participated in their murderous activities. Her study highlights how patriotism and social obligation, as longstanding and defining values deeply embedded in Rwandan culture, were central in influencing young Rwandans who joined the Interahamwe militia. Through a combination of archival data and open-ended interviews with former perpetrators, Avery’s research expands our historical understanding of the preparation and execution of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. By comprehending the emergence of the Interahamwe militia, not only can lessons be drawn on how to regulate and prevent similar organizations from proliferating in other potential cases of genocide, but also mitigate the very real harm that remnants of the Interahamwe are still perpetrating in the Great Lakes Region of Africa.

Education:

  • B.A., International Relations and French, Eckerd College, (St. Petersburg, FL), 2013
  • M.S., Global Affairs (concentrating in human rights and international law), New York University, 2016)

Publications:

Fellowships:

  • Albert M.Tapper Fellow for Graduate Studies in Holocaust History, 2017-2021
Allison Avery
Alison Avery

A Sociohistorical Analysis of the Interahamwe Militia

Advisor: Ken MacLean

Avery’s dissertation project, A Sociohistorical Analysis of the Interahamwe Militia, uses the ‘Interahamwe’ militia in Rwanda as a case study to explore how and why militias emerge and evolve in modern genocidal cases. She examines the micro-dynamics that shaped the formation, organization, and evolution of the Interahamwe as well as the mindset of the perpetrators who participated in their murderous activities. Her study highlights how patriotism and social obligation, as longstanding and defining values deeply embedded in Rwandan culture, were central in influencing young Rwandans who joined the Interahamwe militia. Through a combination of archival data and open-ended interviews with former perpetrators, Avery’s research expands our historical understanding of the preparation and execution of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. By comprehending the emergence of the Interahamwe militia, not only can lessons be drawn on how to regulate and prevent similar organizations from proliferating in other potential cases of genocide, but also mitigate the very real harm that remnants of the Interahamwe are still perpetrating in the Great Lakes Region of Africa.

Education:

  • B.A., International Relations and French, Eckerd College, (St. Petersburg, FL), 2013
  • M.S., Global Affairs (concentrating in human rights and international law), New York University, 2016)

Publications:

Fellowships:

  • Albert M.Tapper Fellow for Graduate Studies in Holocaust History, 2017-2021
Alison Avery

A Sociohistorical Analysis of the Interahamwe Militia

Advisor: Ken MacLean

Avery’s dissertation project, A Sociohistorical Analysis of the Interahamwe Militia, uses the ‘Interahamwe’ militia in Rwanda as a case study to explore how and why militias emerge and evolve in modern genocidal cases. She examines the micro-dynamics that shaped the formation, organization, and evolution of the Interahamwe as well as the mindset of the perpetrators who participated in their murderous activities. Her study highlights how patriotism and social obligation, as longstanding and defining values deeply embedded in Rwandan culture, were central in influencing young Rwandans who joined the Interahamwe militia. Through a combination of archival data and open-ended interviews with former perpetrators, Avery’s research expands our historical understanding of the preparation and execution of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. By comprehending the emergence of the Interahamwe militia, not only can lessons be drawn on how to regulate and prevent similar organizations from proliferating in other potential cases of genocide, but also mitigate the very real harm that remnants of the Interahamwe are still perpetrating in the Great Lakes Region of Africa.

Education:

  • B.A., International Relations and French, Eckerd College, (St. Petersburg, FL), 2013
  • M.S., Global Affairs (concentrating in human rights and international law), New York University, 2016)

Publications:

Fellowships:

  • Albert M.Tapper Fellow for Graduate Studies in Holocaust History, 2017-2021
Janda
Janda Barazi

TBD

Advisor:Frances Tanzer

Barazi is a first-year doctoral student in the Genocide Studies track. Barazi holds a B.A. in Political Science/International Affairs and M.A. in International Affairs from the Lebanese American University in Beirut, Lebanon. She is a two-time recipient of the prestigious Middle East Partnership Initiative Tomorrow’s Leaders scholarship program. Barazi’s research focuses on the Yazidi genocide and the violence of non-state actors in the Middle East, specifically the “Islamic State”. Drawing from Genocide Studies and Political Science, Barazi investigates the Islamic States’ ideological and strategic motivations behind designing a gendered genocidal campaign against the Yazidi minority in Northern Iraq

Education:

  • B.A., Political Science and International Affairs, Lebanese American University, 2021
  • M.A., International Affairs, Lebanese American University, 2023

Publications:

Fellowships:

  • Howard Fromson Fellowship, 2023 – 2024

 

Janda
Janda Barazi

TBD

Advisor:Frances Tanzer

Barazi is a first-year doctoral student in the Genocide Studies track. Barazi holds a B.A. in Political Science/International Affairs and M.A. in International Affairs from the Lebanese American University in Beirut, Lebanon. She is a two-time recipient of the prestigious Middle East Partnership Initiative Tomorrow’s Leaders scholarship program. Barazi’s research focuses on the Yazidi genocide and the violence of non-state actors in the Middle East, specifically the “Islamic State”. Drawing from Genocide Studies and Political Science, Barazi investigates the Islamic States’ ideological and strategic motivations behind designing a gendered genocidal campaign against the Yazidi minority in Northern Iraq

Education:

  • B.A., Political Science and International Affairs, Lebanese American University, 2021
  • M.A., International Affairs, Lebanese American University, 2023

Publications:

Fellowships:

  • Howard Fromson Fellowship, 2023 – 2024

 

Janda Barazi

TBD

Advisor:Frances Tanzer

Barazi is a first-year doctoral student in the Genocide Studies track. Barazi holds a B.A. in Political Science/International Affairs and M.A. in International Affairs from the Lebanese American University in Beirut, Lebanon. She is a two-time recipient of the prestigious Middle East Partnership Initiative Tomorrow’s Leaders scholarship program. Barazi’s research focuses on the Yazidi genocide and the violence of non-state actors in the Middle East, specifically the “Islamic State”. Drawing from Genocide Studies and Political Science, Barazi investigates the Islamic States’ ideological and strategic motivations behind designing a gendered genocidal campaign against the Yazidi minority in Northern Iraq

Education:

  • B.A., Political Science and International Affairs, Lebanese American University, 2021
  • M.A., International Affairs, Lebanese American University, 2023

Publications:

Fellowships:

  • Howard Fromson Fellowship, 2023 – 2024

 

Alina headshot
Alina Bojcic

Antisemitic Exhibitions in Ustaša Croatia and Nazi Germany

Advisor:Thomas Kuhne

Bojcic researches anti-Jewish exhibitions during the Holocaust. Alongside Nazi German exhibitions, her work concentrates on the Ustaša and exhibitions from the Independent State of Croatia. Using an interdisciplinary and comparative approach, Bojcic draws from fascism studies and methodologies from art and visual studies to investigate fascist visual culture and the position of exhibitions in legitimizing policies of mass annihilation.

Education:

  •  B.A., History, University of Oslo, 2019
  •  M.A., History, University of Oslo, 2021

Publications:

Fellowships:

  • Louis and Ann Kulin Fellowship, 2023-2024

 

 

Alina headshot
Alina Bojcic

Antisemitic Exhibitions in Ustaša Croatia and Nazi Germany

Advisor:Thomas Kuhne

Bojcic researches anti-Jewish exhibitions during the Holocaust. Alongside Nazi German exhibitions, her work concentrates on the Ustaša and exhibitions from the Independent State of Croatia. Using an interdisciplinary and comparative approach, Bojcic draws from fascism studies and methodologies from art and visual studies to investigate fascist visual culture and the position of exhibitions in legitimizing policies of mass annihilation.

Education:

  •  B.A., History, University of Oslo, 2019
  •  M.A., History, University of Oslo, 2021

Publications:

Fellowships:

  • Louis and Ann Kulin Fellowship, 2023-2024

 

 

Alina Bojcic

Antisemitic Exhibitions in Ustaša Croatia and Nazi Germany

Advisor:Thomas Kuhne

Bojcic researches anti-Jewish exhibitions during the Holocaust. Alongside Nazi German exhibitions, her work concentrates on the Ustaša and exhibitions from the Independent State of Croatia. Using an interdisciplinary and comparative approach, Bojcic draws from fascism studies and methodologies from art and visual studies to investigate fascist visual culture and the position of exhibitions in legitimizing policies of mass annihilation.

Education:

  •  B.A., History, University of Oslo, 2019
  •  M.A., History, University of Oslo, 2021

Publications:

Fellowships:

  • Louis and Ann Kulin Fellowship, 2023-2024

 

 

Lauren Ashley Bradford
Lauren Ashley Bradford

Cloaked in Femininity: Women’s Participation in Racial Terror in Nazi Germany and Jim Crow America

Advisor: Thomas Kühne

Bradford’s dissertation, Cloaked in Femininity: Women’s Participation in Racial Terror in Nazi Germany and Jim Crow America, takes a feminist comparative approach to women as perpetrators of violence in Nazi Germany and Jim Crow America. She centers her research around certain public settings and acts of violence, such as riots, lynchings, and pogroms. This is in contrast to previous studies that have focused on the careers or family life of women perpetrators.  Women’s involvement took many forms, with varying degrees of severity, but the responses to their choices and actions are crucial to understanding the complex relational dynamics between victims and perpetrators and, additionally, the ways in which these dynamics were compounded by gender.

Education:

  • B.A., History & German Studies, Gettysburg College, 2018
  • M.A., European History, Politics, and Society, Columbia University, 2020

Publications:

Fellowships:

  • Conny Kristel Fellowship, European Holocaust Research Infrastructure (EHRI), 2023
  • DAAD One-Year Grant For Doctoral Candidates, 2023-2024
  • The Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry Graduate Research Award, 2023
  • The Center for Holocaust Studies at the Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History (IfZ) Research Grant, 2023
  • The Dolores Zohrab Liebmann Fund (2021-2023)
  • The Albert M. Tapper Fellowship and the Ference and Ilona (Schulhoff) Czigler Research Award (2020-2021)
Lauren Ashley Bradford
Lauren Ashley Bradford

Cloaked in Femininity: Women’s Participation in Racial Terror in Nazi Germany and Jim Crow America

Advisor: Thomas Kühne

Bradford’s dissertation, Cloaked in Femininity: Women’s Participation in Racial Terror in Nazi Germany and Jim Crow America, takes a feminist comparative approach to women as perpetrators of violence in Nazi Germany and Jim Crow America. She centers her research around certain public settings and acts of violence, such as riots, lynchings, and pogroms. This is in contrast to previous studies that have focused on the careers or family life of women perpetrators.  Women’s involvement took many forms, with varying degrees of severity, but the responses to their choices and actions are crucial to understanding the complex relational dynamics between victims and perpetrators and, additionally, the ways in which these dynamics were compounded by gender.

Education:

  • B.A., History & German Studies, Gettysburg College, 2018
  • M.A., European History, Politics, and Society, Columbia University, 2020

Publications:

Fellowships:

  • Conny Kristel Fellowship, European Holocaust Research Infrastructure (EHRI), 2023
  • DAAD One-Year Grant For Doctoral Candidates, 2023-2024
  • The Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry Graduate Research Award, 2023
  • The Center for Holocaust Studies at the Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History (IfZ) Research Grant, 2023
  • The Dolores Zohrab Liebmann Fund (2021-2023)
  • The Albert M. Tapper Fellowship and the Ference and Ilona (Schulhoff) Czigler Research Award (2020-2021)
Lauren Ashley Bradford

Cloaked in Femininity: Women’s Participation in Racial Terror in Nazi Germany and Jim Crow America

Advisor: Thomas Kühne

Bradford’s dissertation, Cloaked in Femininity: Women’s Participation in Racial Terror in Nazi Germany and Jim Crow America, takes a feminist comparative approach to women as perpetrators of violence in Nazi Germany and Jim Crow America. She centers her research around certain public settings and acts of violence, such as riots, lynchings, and pogroms. This is in contrast to previous studies that have focused on the careers or family life of women perpetrators.  Women’s involvement took many forms, with varying degrees of severity, but the responses to their choices and actions are crucial to understanding the complex relational dynamics between victims and perpetrators and, additionally, the ways in which these dynamics were compounded by gender.

Education:

  • B.A., History & German Studies, Gettysburg College, 2018
  • M.A., European History, Politics, and Society, Columbia University, 2020

Publications:

Fellowships:

  • Conny Kristel Fellowship, European Holocaust Research Infrastructure (EHRI), 2023
  • DAAD One-Year Grant For Doctoral Candidates, 2023-2024
  • The Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry Graduate Research Award, 2023
  • The Center for Holocaust Studies at the Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History (IfZ) Research Grant, 2023
  • The Dolores Zohrab Liebmann Fund (2021-2023)
  • The Albert M. Tapper Fellowship and the Ference and Ilona (Schulhoff) Czigler Research Award (2020-2021)
Daan de Leeuw
Daan de Leeuw

The Geography of Slave Labor: Dutch Jews and the Third Reich (1942-1945)

Advisor: Debórah Dwork

Daan de Leeuw investigates the trajectories of Dutch Jewish slave laborers through the German concentration camp system for his dissertation The Geography of Slave Labor: Dutch Jews and the Third Reich, 1942-1945. The Nazis moved prisoners to places where the war industry needed them. Each relocation wreaked havoc as it shattered the networks and social structure that inmates created among themselves. De Leeuw follows 9 of the 103 trains that ran between the Netherlands and German concentration and death camps between July 1942 and September 1944. Drawing on survivor testimonies and administrative records, he analyzes Dutch Jews’ spatial experiences. De Leeuw applies Geographic Information System (GIS) technology and cartographic tools to visualize the paths of individuals and groups of deportees to study the plight of Jewish slave laborers, to understand their agency and powerlessness, and to scrutinize the German effort to win the war through the ruthless exploitation of prisoners. His doctoral project seeks to contribute to the knowledge on Jewish slave labor during WWII and to foster research on Holocaust geographies.

Education:

  • B.A., History (Cum Laude), University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 2011
  • Research M.A. (MPhil equivalent), History (Cum Laude), University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 2013

Publications:

  • Mapping Jewish Slave Laborers’ Trajectories Through Concentration Camps” in: Henning Borggräfe and Akim Jah (eds.), Deportations in the Nazi Era: Sources and Research, Arolsen Research Series, Vol. 2 (Berlin: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2022), pp. 363-384.  DOI: 10.1515/9783110746464-020
  • ““In the Name of Humanity”: Nazi Doctors and Human Experiments in German Concentration Camps,” Holocaust and Genocide Studies, vol. 34, 2 (Fall 2020) pp. 225-252. DOI: 10.1093/hgs/dcaa025
  • “Het NIOD en de European Holocaust Research Infrastructure (EHRI). Een gezamenlijke reis,” (co-authored with Annelies van Nispen, Reto Speck, and Frank Uiterwaal) in: Hinke Piersma et al. (eds.), Oorlog in onderzoek. 75 jaar NIOD (Amsterdam: Boom, 2020) pp. 123-128.
  • “Digital Methods in Holocaust Studies: The European Holocaust Research Infrastructure,” (co-authored with Mike Bryant, Michal Frankl, Ivelina Nikolova, and Vladimir Alexiev), 2018 IEEE 14th International Conference on e-Science Proceedings, (2018) pp. 58-66. DOI: 10.1109/eScience.2018.00021

Fellowships:

  • Saul Kagan Fellowship in Advanced Shoah Studies, Claims Conference, 2023-2024
  • Junior Fellowship, Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies, 2023-2024
  • Doctoral Grant, Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, 2023-2024
  • Graduate Student Research Grant, American Academy for Jewish Research, 2023-2024
  • Association for Jewish Studies Conference Travel Grant, 2022
  • Clark University Graduate Student Council Conference Travel Award,  2022
  • Claims Conference Fellow (The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany) *, 2017-2022
  • Ben and Zelda Cohen Fellowship, Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2021 – 2022
  • Conny Kristel Fellowship, European Holocaust Research Infrastructure (EHRI), 2021
  • Junior Fellowship, Center for Holocaust Studies at the Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History (IfZ), 2021
  • Prince Bernhard Cultural Fund Grant – Awarded to projects that contribute to Dutch culture and society, 2020
  • Summer Research Fellowship for PhD Students, Yad Vashem, 2019
Daan de Leeuw
Daan de Leeuw

The Geography of Slave Labor: Dutch Jews and the Third Reich (1942-1945)

Advisor: Debórah Dwork

Daan de Leeuw investigates the trajectories of Dutch Jewish slave laborers through the German concentration camp system for his dissertation The Geography of Slave Labor: Dutch Jews and the Third Reich, 1942-1945. The Nazis moved prisoners to places where the war industry needed them. Each relocation wreaked havoc as it shattered the networks and social structure that inmates created among themselves. De Leeuw follows 9 of the 103 trains that ran between the Netherlands and German concentration and death camps between July 1942 and September 1944. Drawing on survivor testimonies and administrative records, he analyzes Dutch Jews’ spatial experiences. De Leeuw applies Geographic Information System (GIS) technology and cartographic tools to visualize the paths of individuals and groups of deportees to study the plight of Jewish slave laborers, to understand their agency and powerlessness, and to scrutinize the German effort to win the war through the ruthless exploitation of prisoners. His doctoral project seeks to contribute to the knowledge on Jewish slave labor during WWII and to foster research on Holocaust geographies.

Education:

  • B.A., History (Cum Laude), University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 2011
  • Research M.A. (MPhil equivalent), History (Cum Laude), University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 2013

Publications:

  • Mapping Jewish Slave Laborers’ Trajectories Through Concentration Camps” in: Henning Borggräfe and Akim Jah (eds.), Deportations in the Nazi Era: Sources and Research, Arolsen Research Series, Vol. 2 (Berlin: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2022), pp. 363-384.  DOI: 10.1515/9783110746464-020
  • ““In the Name of Humanity”: Nazi Doctors and Human Experiments in German Concentration Camps,” Holocaust and Genocide Studies, vol. 34, 2 (Fall 2020) pp. 225-252. DOI: 10.1093/hgs/dcaa025
  • “Het NIOD en de European Holocaust Research Infrastructure (EHRI). Een gezamenlijke reis,” (co-authored with Annelies van Nispen, Reto Speck, and Frank Uiterwaal) in: Hinke Piersma et al. (eds.), Oorlog in onderzoek. 75 jaar NIOD (Amsterdam: Boom, 2020) pp. 123-128.
  • “Digital Methods in Holocaust Studies: The European Holocaust Research Infrastructure,” (co-authored with Mike Bryant, Michal Frankl, Ivelina Nikolova, and Vladimir Alexiev), 2018 IEEE 14th International Conference on e-Science Proceedings, (2018) pp. 58-66. DOI: 10.1109/eScience.2018.00021

Fellowships:

  • Saul Kagan Fellowship in Advanced Shoah Studies, Claims Conference, 2023-2024
  • Junior Fellowship, Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies, 2023-2024
  • Doctoral Grant, Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, 2023-2024
  • Graduate Student Research Grant, American Academy for Jewish Research, 2023-2024
  • Association for Jewish Studies Conference Travel Grant, 2022
  • Clark University Graduate Student Council Conference Travel Award,  2022
  • Claims Conference Fellow (The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany) *, 2017-2022
  • Ben and Zelda Cohen Fellowship, Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2021 – 2022
  • Conny Kristel Fellowship, European Holocaust Research Infrastructure (EHRI), 2021
  • Junior Fellowship, Center for Holocaust Studies at the Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History (IfZ), 2021
  • Prince Bernhard Cultural Fund Grant – Awarded to projects that contribute to Dutch culture and society, 2020
  • Summer Research Fellowship for PhD Students, Yad Vashem, 2019
Daan de Leeuw

The Geography of Slave Labor: Dutch Jews and the Third Reich (1942-1945)

Advisor: Debórah Dwork

Daan de Leeuw investigates the trajectories of Dutch Jewish slave laborers through the German concentration camp system for his dissertation The Geography of Slave Labor: Dutch Jews and the Third Reich, 1942-1945. The Nazis moved prisoners to places where the war industry needed them. Each relocation wreaked havoc as it shattered the networks and social structure that inmates created among themselves. De Leeuw follows 9 of the 103 trains that ran between the Netherlands and German concentration and death camps between July 1942 and September 1944. Drawing on survivor testimonies and administrative records, he analyzes Dutch Jews’ spatial experiences. De Leeuw applies Geographic Information System (GIS) technology and cartographic tools to visualize the paths of individuals and groups of deportees to study the plight of Jewish slave laborers, to understand their agency and powerlessness, and to scrutinize the German effort to win the war through the ruthless exploitation of prisoners. His doctoral project seeks to contribute to the knowledge on Jewish slave labor during WWII and to foster research on Holocaust geographies.

Education:

  • B.A., History (Cum Laude), University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 2011
  • Research M.A. (MPhil equivalent), History (Cum Laude), University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 2013

Publications:

  • Mapping Jewish Slave Laborers’ Trajectories Through Concentration Camps” in: Henning Borggräfe and Akim Jah (eds.), Deportations in the Nazi Era: Sources and Research, Arolsen Research Series, Vol. 2 (Berlin: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2022), pp. 363-384.  DOI: 10.1515/9783110746464-020
  • ““In the Name of Humanity”: Nazi Doctors and Human Experiments in German Concentration Camps,” Holocaust and Genocide Studies, vol. 34, 2 (Fall 2020) pp. 225-252. DOI: 10.1093/hgs/dcaa025
  • “Het NIOD en de European Holocaust Research Infrastructure (EHRI). Een gezamenlijke reis,” (co-authored with Annelies van Nispen, Reto Speck, and Frank Uiterwaal) in: Hinke Piersma et al. (eds.), Oorlog in onderzoek. 75 jaar NIOD (Amsterdam: Boom, 2020) pp. 123-128.
  • “Digital Methods in Holocaust Studies: The European Holocaust Research Infrastructure,” (co-authored with Mike Bryant, Michal Frankl, Ivelina Nikolova, and Vladimir Alexiev), 2018 IEEE 14th International Conference on e-Science Proceedings, (2018) pp. 58-66. DOI: 10.1109/eScience.2018.00021

Fellowships:

  • Saul Kagan Fellowship in Advanced Shoah Studies, Claims Conference, 2023-2024
  • Junior Fellowship, Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies, 2023-2024
  • Doctoral Grant, Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, 2023-2024
  • Graduate Student Research Grant, American Academy for Jewish Research, 2023-2024
  • Association for Jewish Studies Conference Travel Grant, 2022
  • Clark University Graduate Student Council Conference Travel Award,  2022
  • Claims Conference Fellow (The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany) *, 2017-2022
  • Ben and Zelda Cohen Fellowship, Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2021 – 2022
  • Conny Kristel Fellowship, European Holocaust Research Infrastructure (EHRI), 2021
  • Junior Fellowship, Center for Holocaust Studies at the Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History (IfZ), 2021
  • Prince Bernhard Cultural Fund Grant – Awarded to projects that contribute to Dutch culture and society, 2020
  • Summer Research Fellowship for PhD Students, Yad Vashem, 2019
Lazar
Natalya Lazar

Czernowitz Jews and the Holocaust

Advisor: Debórah Dwork

Natalya Lazar’s dissertation Czernowitz Jews and the Holocaust explores Jewish life and the changing dynamics of interethnic and neighborly relations in the contested borderland city. Czernowitz fell to the Axis on 5 July 1941 and the Jewish population was caught in Romanian control until the Soviets returned in 1944. Czernowitz Jews and the Holocaust delineates how anti-Jewish policies implemented by the Romanian state in Czernowitz differed from those in other parts of country, and scrutinizes the impact of anti-Jewish measures on the relations between Jews and their gentile neighbors. Most particularly, it explores how Jews, individually and as a community, negotiated the deadly circumstances they faced. And how did local non-Jews react to the persecution and murder of their Jewish neighbors? Most important in light of the thousands of Jews who survived in the city, what factors shaped pre- and wartime attitudes towards Jews, and what prompted collaboration and rescue during the Holocaust years?

Education:

Publications:

Fellowships:

Current Position:
Program Director, Initiative on Ukrainian-Jewish Shared History and the Holocaust in Ukraine, Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, US Holocaust Memorial Museum

Lazar
Natalya Lazar

Czernowitz Jews and the Holocaust

Advisor: Debórah Dwork

Natalya Lazar’s dissertation Czernowitz Jews and the Holocaust explores Jewish life and the changing dynamics of interethnic and neighborly relations in the contested borderland city. Czernowitz fell to the Axis on 5 July 1941 and the Jewish population was caught in Romanian control until the Soviets returned in 1944. Czernowitz Jews and the Holocaust delineates how anti-Jewish policies implemented by the Romanian state in Czernowitz differed from those in other parts of country, and scrutinizes the impact of anti-Jewish measures on the relations between Jews and their gentile neighbors. Most particularly, it explores how Jews, individually and as a community, negotiated the deadly circumstances they faced. And how did local non-Jews react to the persecution and murder of their Jewish neighbors? Most important in light of the thousands of Jews who survived in the city, what factors shaped pre- and wartime attitudes towards Jews, and what prompted collaboration and rescue during the Holocaust years?

Education:

Publications:

Fellowships:

Current Position:
Program Director, Initiative on Ukrainian-Jewish Shared History and the Holocaust in Ukraine, Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, US Holocaust Memorial Museum

Natalya Lazar

Czernowitz Jews and the Holocaust

Advisor: Debórah Dwork

Natalya Lazar’s dissertation Czernowitz Jews and the Holocaust explores Jewish life and the changing dynamics of interethnic and neighborly relations in the contested borderland city. Czernowitz fell to the Axis on 5 July 1941 and the Jewish population was caught in Romanian control until the Soviets returned in 1944. Czernowitz Jews and the Holocaust delineates how anti-Jewish policies implemented by the Romanian state in Czernowitz differed from those in other parts of country, and scrutinizes the impact of anti-Jewish measures on the relations between Jews and their gentile neighbors. Most particularly, it explores how Jews, individually and as a community, negotiated the deadly circumstances they faced. And how did local non-Jews react to the persecution and murder of their Jewish neighbors? Most important in light of the thousands of Jews who survived in the city, what factors shaped pre- and wartime attitudes towards Jews, and what prompted collaboration and rescue during the Holocaust years?

Education:

Publications:

Fellowships:

Current Position:
Program Director, Initiative on Ukrainian-Jewish Shared History and the Holocaust in Ukraine, Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, US Holocaust Memorial Museum

Burçin Gerçek
Burçin Gerçek

The mindset of Armenian genocide perpetrators in the Angora Province

Advisor: Taner Akçam

Education:

Publications:

Fellowships:

  • Agnes Manoogian Hausrath Graduate Studies Fellow for the Study of the Armenian Genocide, 2018 – 2021
  • Yesil Fellow in Armenian Genocide Studies, 2017 – 2018
  • National Association for Armenian Studies and Research, 2017
  • Knights of Vartan Fund for Armenian Studies, 2017
  • Charlotte Calfaian Fellow in Armenian Genocide Studies, 2016-2017

Publication:

  • Akintiya: Ermeni Soykırımında Emirlere Karşı Gelenler, Kurtaranlar, Direnenler” (Against the Current: Rescuers, Resisters and those who Opposed Orders during the Armenian Genocide) Turkey: Illetim Publishing House, November 2016
Burçin Gerçek
Burçin Gerçek

The mindset of Armenian genocide perpetrators in the Angora Province

Advisor: Taner Akçam

Education:

Publications:

Fellowships:

  • Agnes Manoogian Hausrath Graduate Studies Fellow for the Study of the Armenian Genocide, 2018 – 2021
  • Yesil Fellow in Armenian Genocide Studies, 2017 – 2018
  • National Association for Armenian Studies and Research, 2017
  • Knights of Vartan Fund for Armenian Studies, 2017
  • Charlotte Calfaian Fellow in Armenian Genocide Studies, 2016-2017

Publication:

  • Akintiya: Ermeni Soykırımında Emirlere Karşı Gelenler, Kurtaranlar, Direnenler” (Against the Current: Rescuers, Resisters and those who Opposed Orders during the Armenian Genocide) Turkey: Illetim Publishing House, November 2016
Burçin Gerçek

The mindset of Armenian genocide perpetrators in the Angora Province

Advisor: Taner Akçam

Education:

Publications:

Fellowships:

  • Agnes Manoogian Hausrath Graduate Studies Fellow for the Study of the Armenian Genocide, 2018 – 2021
  • Yesil Fellow in Armenian Genocide Studies, 2017 – 2018
  • National Association for Armenian Studies and Research, 2017
  • Knights of Vartan Fund for Armenian Studies, 2017
  • Charlotte Calfaian Fellow in Armenian Genocide Studies, 2016-2017

Publication:

  • Akintiya: Ermeni Soykırımında Emirlere Karşı Gelenler, Kurtaranlar, Direnenler” (Against the Current: Rescuers, Resisters and those who Opposed Orders during the Armenian Genocide) Turkey: Illetim Publishing House, November 2016
Hana Green
Hana Green

Identity Passing as a Jewish Response to Persecution during the Holocaust

Advisor: Thomas Kühne

Green’s dissertation, tentatively titled, ‘Whatever happens, never reveal to anyone that you’re Jewish’: Identity ‘Passing’ as a Jewish Response to Persecution during the Nazi Period, 1933-1945, examines the phenomenon of Jews “passing” as “Aryan” to escape Nazi persecution, starting in 1933 and continuing through the months following the end of the Second World War. Encompassing a broad range of experiences in areas of the Nazi Reich and occupation, she aims to illuminate the scale, migratory nature, and diversity of passing experiences. She distinguishes passing from other evasion mechanisms and establishes passing as a distinct phenomenon of the period. With gender as a genuinely integrated category of analysis, Green pays particular attention to its impact on and relationship with passing experiences including bodily and aesthetic factors, familial relationships, and the role of sexual abuse and exploitation. Integrating a broad source base of both archival and published material in German, Yiddish, English, and Hebrew, the project traces the various ways Jewish women and men developed passing strategies and navigated concealed Jewish identities in the struggle for survival.

Education:

  • B.A., History, University of Florida, 2014
  • M.A., Holocaust Studies, University of Haifa, 2018

Publications:

  • “Passing on the Periphery: A Call for the Critical Reconsideration of Research on Identity ‘Passing’ as a Jewish Response to
    Persecution During the Holocaust,” The Journal of Holocaust Research 36, no. 2-3 (June 2022): 111-127.

Fellowships:

Hana Green
Hana Green

Identity Passing as a Jewish Response to Persecution during the Holocaust

Advisor: Thomas Kühne

Green’s dissertation, tentatively titled, ‘Whatever happens, never reveal to anyone that you’re Jewish’: Identity ‘Passing’ as a Jewish Response to Persecution during the Nazi Period, 1933-1945, examines the phenomenon of Jews “passing” as “Aryan” to escape Nazi persecution, starting in 1933 and continuing through the months following the end of the Second World War. Encompassing a broad range of experiences in areas of the Nazi Reich and occupation, she aims to illuminate the scale, migratory nature, and diversity of passing experiences. She distinguishes passing from other evasion mechanisms and establishes passing as a distinct phenomenon of the period. With gender as a genuinely integrated category of analysis, Green pays particular attention to its impact on and relationship with passing experiences including bodily and aesthetic factors, familial relationships, and the role of sexual abuse and exploitation. Integrating a broad source base of both archival and published material in German, Yiddish, English, and Hebrew, the project traces the various ways Jewish women and men developed passing strategies and navigated concealed Jewish identities in the struggle for survival.

Education:

  • B.A., History, University of Florida, 2014
  • M.A., Holocaust Studies, University of Haifa, 2018

Publications:

  • “Passing on the Periphery: A Call for the Critical Reconsideration of Research on Identity ‘Passing’ as a Jewish Response to
    Persecution During the Holocaust,” The Journal of Holocaust Research 36, no. 2-3 (June 2022): 111-127.

Fellowships:

Hana Green

Identity Passing as a Jewish Response to Persecution during the Holocaust

Advisor: Thomas Kühne

Green’s dissertation, tentatively titled, ‘Whatever happens, never reveal to anyone that you’re Jewish’: Identity ‘Passing’ as a Jewish Response to Persecution during the Nazi Period, 1933-1945, examines the phenomenon of Jews “passing” as “Aryan” to escape Nazi persecution, starting in 1933 and continuing through the months following the end of the Second World War. Encompassing a broad range of experiences in areas of the Nazi Reich and occupation, she aims to illuminate the scale, migratory nature, and diversity of passing experiences. She distinguishes passing from other evasion mechanisms and establishes passing as a distinct phenomenon of the period. With gender as a genuinely integrated category of analysis, Green pays particular attention to its impact on and relationship with passing experiences including bodily and aesthetic factors, familial relationships, and the role of sexual abuse and exploitation. Integrating a broad source base of both archival and published material in German, Yiddish, English, and Hebrew, the project traces the various ways Jewish women and men developed passing strategies and navigated concealed Jewish identities in the struggle for survival.

Education:

  • B.A., History, University of Florida, 2014
  • M.A., Holocaust Studies, University of Haifa, 2018

Publications:

  • “Passing on the Periphery: A Call for the Critical Reconsideration of Research on Identity ‘Passing’ as a Jewish Response to
    Persecution During the Holocaust,” The Journal of Holocaust Research 36, no. 2-3 (June 2022): 111-127.

Fellowships:

Khalid Rahman
Md. Khalid Rahman

TBD

Advisor: Ken MacLean

Khalid’s primary research concentration centers on the dual exploration of genocide studies and the rights of minorities, seeking to unravel the complexities surrounding these intertwined issues. As of now, his current research interests involve Rohingya genocide with a special concentration to the violations of human rights committed against Rohingya minority groups. Based on his research concentration, the research project asks – How is the deterioration of community vitality caused by the violation of the human rights and dignity of Rohingya refugees through hate speech?  Additionally, he wishes to investigate how the loss of community life is a distinctive harm caused by genocide.

Education:

  • Bachelor of Laws, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, 2007
  • Master of Laws, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, 2008
  • Master of Social Sciences, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh,  2013

Publications:

Fellowships:

  • AIUB Research Grant 2024. Awarded by American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB).
  • IAGS Travel and Accommodation Grant 2023 (partial). Awarded by the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS)
  • Awarded AIUB Conference Travel and Research Grant 2023. Awarded by American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB)
Khalid Rahman
Md. Khalid Rahman

TBD

Advisor: Ken MacLean

Khalid’s primary research concentration centers on the dual exploration of genocide studies and the rights of minorities, seeking to unravel the complexities surrounding these intertwined issues. As of now, his current research interests involve Rohingya genocide with a special concentration to the violations of human rights committed against Rohingya minority groups. Based on his research concentration, the research project asks – How is the deterioration of community vitality caused by the violation of the human rights and dignity of Rohingya refugees through hate speech?  Additionally, he wishes to investigate how the loss of community life is a distinctive harm caused by genocide.

Education:

  • Bachelor of Laws, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, 2007
  • Master of Laws, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, 2008
  • Master of Social Sciences, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh,  2013

Publications:

Fellowships:

  • AIUB Research Grant 2024. Awarded by American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB).
  • IAGS Travel and Accommodation Grant 2023 (partial). Awarded by the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS)
  • Awarded AIUB Conference Travel and Research Grant 2023. Awarded by American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB)
Md. Khalid Rahman

TBD

Advisor: Ken MacLean

Khalid’s primary research concentration centers on the dual exploration of genocide studies and the rights of minorities, seeking to unravel the complexities surrounding these intertwined issues. As of now, his current research interests involve Rohingya genocide with a special concentration to the violations of human rights committed against Rohingya minority groups. Based on his research concentration, the research project asks – How is the deterioration of community vitality caused by the violation of the human rights and dignity of Rohingya refugees through hate speech?  Additionally, he wishes to investigate how the loss of community life is a distinctive harm caused by genocide.

Education:

  • Bachelor of Laws, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, 2007
  • Master of Laws, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, 2008
  • Master of Social Sciences, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh,  2013

Publications:

Fellowships:

  • AIUB Research Grant 2024. Awarded by American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB).
  • IAGS Travel and Accommodation Grant 2023 (partial). Awarded by the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS)
  • Awarded AIUB Conference Travel and Research Grant 2023. Awarded by American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB)
Hasmik Grigoryan
Hasmik Grigoryan

The Socio-Political Situation in Van and Bitlis Provinces in (1912-1915) in the context of the Armenian Genocide

Advisor: Taner Akçam

Grigoryan’s dissertation, The Socio-Political Situation in Van and Bitlis Provinces in 1912-1915 in the context of the Armenian Genocide, explores whether the regional problems and developments of events in the Van and Bitlis Provinces of the Ottoman Empire during this period had an impact on the final decision to carry out a genocide.  The dissertation project will concentrate primarily on interaction between representatives of the Armenian community, Kurdish actors, and the Ottoman state, in order to explore why and how violent escalation took place in Van and Bitlis within the context of the negotiations over the Armenian Reform Question involving the Great Powers and the Ottoman Empire. Grigoryan will likewise examine the intra-ethnic interplay between the main Armenian political actors, the Orthodox Church, and notables within the Ottoman Empire (both in the center and periphery), as well as abroad in order to scrutinize which group was more interested, to what extent the Armenian reforms was perceived as a pan-Armenian project. International dynamics as well as the interplay between the politics of the center and the periphery are also essential to understanding the transition to genocide.

Education:

  • B.A., Yerevan State University, Department of Cultural Studies, 2008
  • M.A., Yerevan State University, Department of Cultural Studies, 2010

Publications:

Fellowships:

  • AGBU US graduate scholarship for 2021-2023
  • Asbed B. Zakarian and Margaret M. Zakarian Research Award 2020-2021
  • Richard Melik Simonian Charitable Trust Scholarship Fund, 2022
Hasmik Grigoryan
Hasmik Grigoryan

The Socio-Political Situation in Van and Bitlis Provinces in (1912-1915) in the context of the Armenian Genocide

Advisor: Taner Akçam

Grigoryan’s dissertation, The Socio-Political Situation in Van and Bitlis Provinces in 1912-1915 in the context of the Armenian Genocide, explores whether the regional problems and developments of events in the Van and Bitlis Provinces of the Ottoman Empire during this period had an impact on the final decision to carry out a genocide.  The dissertation project will concentrate primarily on interaction between representatives of the Armenian community, Kurdish actors, and the Ottoman state, in order to explore why and how violent escalation took place in Van and Bitlis within the context of the negotiations over the Armenian Reform Question involving the Great Powers and the Ottoman Empire. Grigoryan will likewise examine the intra-ethnic interplay between the main Armenian political actors, the Orthodox Church, and notables within the Ottoman Empire (both in the center and periphery), as well as abroad in order to scrutinize which group was more interested, to what extent the Armenian reforms was perceived as a pan-Armenian project. International dynamics as well as the interplay between the politics of the center and the periphery are also essential to understanding the transition to genocide.

Education:

  • B.A., Yerevan State University, Department of Cultural Studies, 2008
  • M.A., Yerevan State University, Department of Cultural Studies, 2010

Publications:

Fellowships:

  • AGBU US graduate scholarship for 2021-2023
  • Asbed B. Zakarian and Margaret M. Zakarian Research Award 2020-2021
  • Richard Melik Simonian Charitable Trust Scholarship Fund, 2022
Hasmik Grigoryan

The Socio-Political Situation in Van and Bitlis Provinces in (1912-1915) in the context of the Armenian Genocide

Advisor: Taner Akçam

Grigoryan’s dissertation, The Socio-Political Situation in Van and Bitlis Provinces in 1912-1915 in the context of the Armenian Genocide, explores whether the regional problems and developments of events in the Van and Bitlis Provinces of the Ottoman Empire during this period had an impact on the final decision to carry out a genocide.  The dissertation project will concentrate primarily on interaction between representatives of the Armenian community, Kurdish actors, and the Ottoman state, in order to explore why and how violent escalation took place in Van and Bitlis within the context of the negotiations over the Armenian Reform Question involving the Great Powers and the Ottoman Empire. Grigoryan will likewise examine the intra-ethnic interplay between the main Armenian political actors, the Orthodox Church, and notables within the Ottoman Empire (both in the center and periphery), as well as abroad in order to scrutinize which group was more interested, to what extent the Armenian reforms was perceived as a pan-Armenian project. International dynamics as well as the interplay between the politics of the center and the periphery are also essential to understanding the transition to genocide.

Education:

  • B.A., Yerevan State University, Department of Cultural Studies, 2008
  • M.A., Yerevan State University, Department of Cultural Studies, 2010

Publications:

Fellowships:

  • AGBU US graduate scholarship for 2021-2023
  • Asbed B. Zakarian and Margaret M. Zakarian Research Award 2020-2021
  • Richard Melik Simonian Charitable Trust Scholarship Fund, 2022
Sandra Grudic
Sandra Grudić

Neighborliness and Neighborhood Violence in Bosanski Novi

Advisor: Thomas Kühne

Grudić is conducting a micro historical study of the Bosnian town Bosanski Novi, during the Bosnian war and genocide between 1992 and 1995. Her dissertation, Neighborliness and Neighborhood Violence in Bosanski Novi, draws on survivor testimonies and archival materials to document interethnic relations and tensions during the conflict. The interviews reveal that despite violence between neighbors of different ethnic groups, many Bosniak, Serb, and Croat neighbors remained friendly, and some nurtured these relationships throughout the war and after. In addition, the findings reveal that the ethnic identities of individual Serbs and non-Serbs were not necessarily fixed but were often negotiated on the interpersonal level. In other words, even if some Serbs considered Muslims and Croats as “ethnic others,” which they perceived as threatening, many often did not view their non-Serb neighbors as such, and continued protecting them, even when committing violence against other members of Bosniak or Croat ethnicities.

Education:

  • B.A., Secondary Social Science Education, University of South Florida
  • M.A., Political Science, American Public University

Publications:

Fellowships:

  • Shirley and Ralph Rose Fellowship 2020 – 2022
  • ASEEES (the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies) Summer Dissertation Research Grant (2023 Summer)
  • American Councils Title VIII Research Scholar Program Grant (2023-24)
Sandra Grudic
Sandra Grudić

Neighborliness and Neighborhood Violence in Bosanski Novi

Advisor: Thomas Kühne

Grudić is conducting a micro historical study of the Bosnian town Bosanski Novi, during the Bosnian war and genocide between 1992 and 1995. Her dissertation, Neighborliness and Neighborhood Violence in Bosanski Novi, draws on survivor testimonies and archival materials to document interethnic relations and tensions during the conflict. The interviews reveal that despite violence between neighbors of different ethnic groups, many Bosniak, Serb, and Croat neighbors remained friendly, and some nurtured these relationships throughout the war and after. In addition, the findings reveal that the ethnic identities of individual Serbs and non-Serbs were not necessarily fixed but were often negotiated on the interpersonal level. In other words, even if some Serbs considered Muslims and Croats as “ethnic others,” which they perceived as threatening, many often did not view their non-Serb neighbors as such, and continued protecting them, even when committing violence against other members of Bosniak or Croat ethnicities.

Education:

  • B.A., Secondary Social Science Education, University of South Florida
  • M.A., Political Science, American Public University

Publications:

Fellowships:

  • Shirley and Ralph Rose Fellowship 2020 – 2022
  • ASEEES (the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies) Summer Dissertation Research Grant (2023 Summer)
  • American Councils Title VIII Research Scholar Program Grant (2023-24)
Sandra Grudić

Neighborliness and Neighborhood Violence in Bosanski Novi

Advisor: Thomas Kühne

Grudić is conducting a micro historical study of the Bosnian town Bosanski Novi, during the Bosnian war and genocide between 1992 and 1995. Her dissertation, Neighborliness and Neighborhood Violence in Bosanski Novi, draws on survivor testimonies and archival materials to document interethnic relations and tensions during the conflict. The interviews reveal that despite violence between neighbors of different ethnic groups, many Bosniak, Serb, and Croat neighbors remained friendly, and some nurtured these relationships throughout the war and after. In addition, the findings reveal that the ethnic identities of individual Serbs and non-Serbs were not necessarily fixed but were often negotiated on the interpersonal level. In other words, even if some Serbs considered Muslims and Croats as “ethnic others,” which they perceived as threatening, many often did not view their non-Serb neighbors as such, and continued protecting them, even when committing violence against other members of Bosniak or Croat ethnicities.

Education:

  • B.A., Secondary Social Science Education, University of South Florida
  • M.A., Political Science, American Public University

Publications:

Fellowships:

  • Shirley and Ralph Rose Fellowship 2020 – 2022
  • ASEEES (the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies) Summer Dissertation Research Grant (2023 Summer)
  • American Councils Title VIII Research Scholar Program Grant (2023-24)
Diana Hayrapetyan
Diana Hayrapetyan

The foundation of Turkish Republic and the problem of Armenian returnees; (1918-1938)

Advisor: Taner Akçam

Hayrapetyan researches Turkey’s post-genocidal period and the return of Armenian genocide survivors as a conflict resolution strategy in the process of Turkish nation-state formation. According to different calculations, approximately   250,000 Armenians who returned Turkey in the aftermath of Genocide. Her dissertation, The foundation of Turkish Republic and the problem of Armenian returnees; 1918-1938, will uncover the experiences of returnee and remainee Armenian population between 1918-1938 in the Republic of Turkey, the process related to the reestablishment and re-socialization of the Armenian community at both the individual and communal levels, and the role of ethnic and racial markers during the period of re-integration. This includes interactions with local and central actors, as well as the ways in which the Armenian community experienced religious, economic, educational, and legal modernization reforms under the Kemalist regime through the circles of mass violence, exclusion and a constant minoritization and marginalization policies. Her dissertation project will consider the implications of what it meant to be an Armenian Genocide survivor during the processes of nation state building, ringing from the transformative periods of the Ottoman Empire to the Nationalist Movement, and finally, the Republic of Turkey.

Education:

  • B.A., Turkology, Yerevan State University, 2007
  • M.A., Turkology, Yerevan State University, 2009

Publications:

Fellowships:

  • Howard Fromson Fellowship, 2020-2021
  • AGBU US graduate scholarship, 2021-2022
  • Richard Melik Simonian Charitable Trust Scholarship, 2021-2022
Diana Hayrapetyan
Diana Hayrapetyan

The foundation of Turkish Republic and the problem of Armenian returnees; (1918-1938)

Advisor: Taner Akçam

Hayrapetyan researches Turkey’s post-genocidal period and the return of Armenian genocide survivors as a conflict resolution strategy in the process of Turkish nation-state formation. According to different calculations, approximately   250,000 Armenians who returned Turkey in the aftermath of Genocide. Her dissertation, The foundation of Turkish Republic and the problem of Armenian returnees; 1918-1938, will uncover the experiences of returnee and remainee Armenian population between 1918-1938 in the Republic of Turkey, the process related to the reestablishment and re-socialization of the Armenian community at both the individual and communal levels, and the role of ethnic and racial markers during the period of re-integration. This includes interactions with local and central actors, as well as the ways in which the Armenian community experienced religious, economic, educational, and legal modernization reforms under the Kemalist regime through the circles of mass violence, exclusion and a constant minoritization and marginalization policies. Her dissertation project will consider the implications of what it meant to be an Armenian Genocide survivor during the processes of nation state building, ringing from the transformative periods of the Ottoman Empire to the Nationalist Movement, and finally, the Republic of Turkey.

Education:

  • B.A., Turkology, Yerevan State University, 2007
  • M.A., Turkology, Yerevan State University, 2009

Publications:

Fellowships:

  • Howard Fromson Fellowship, 2020-2021
  • AGBU US graduate scholarship, 2021-2022
  • Richard Melik Simonian Charitable Trust Scholarship, 2021-2022
Diana Hayrapetyan

The foundation of Turkish Republic and the problem of Armenian returnees; (1918-1938)

Advisor: Taner Akçam

Hayrapetyan researches Turkey’s post-genocidal period and the return of Armenian genocide survivors as a conflict resolution strategy in the process of Turkish nation-state formation. According to different calculations, approximately   250,000 Armenians who returned Turkey in the aftermath of Genocide. Her dissertation, The foundation of Turkish Republic and the problem of Armenian returnees; 1918-1938, will uncover the experiences of returnee and remainee Armenian population between 1918-1938 in the Republic of Turkey, the process related to the reestablishment and re-socialization of the Armenian community at both the individual and communal levels, and the role of ethnic and racial markers during the period of re-integration. This includes interactions with local and central actors, as well as the ways in which the Armenian community experienced religious, economic, educational, and legal modernization reforms under the Kemalist regime through the circles of mass violence, exclusion and a constant minoritization and marginalization policies. Her dissertation project will consider the implications of what it meant to be an Armenian Genocide survivor during the processes of nation state building, ringing from the transformative periods of the Ottoman Empire to the Nationalist Movement, and finally, the Republic of Turkey.

Education:

  • B.A., Turkology, Yerevan State University, 2007
  • M.A., Turkology, Yerevan State University, 2009

Publications:

Fellowships:

  • Howard Fromson Fellowship, 2020-2021
  • AGBU US graduate scholarship, 2021-2022
  • Richard Melik Simonian Charitable Trust Scholarship, 2021-2022
Gabrielle Higgins
Gabrielle Higgins

TBD

Advisor: Frances Tanzer

Gabrielle is a first-year doctoral student in the History track at the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University. She holds an M.A. in European History, Politics, and Society from Columbia University’s European Institute. Higgins’ research focuses on the formulation and enforcement of an idealized masculinity in Nazi Germany. Utilizing an interdisciplinary approach, Higgins examines art, film, and literature as vehicles for fascist body politics.

Education:

  • B.A., History and Studio Art, Elmira College, 2018
  • M.A., Masters in European History, Politics, and Society, Columbia University, 2019

Publications:

Fellowships:

 

Gabrielle Higgins
Gabrielle Higgins

TBD

Advisor: Frances Tanzer

Gabrielle is a first-year doctoral student in the History track at the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University. She holds an M.A. in European History, Politics, and Society from Columbia University’s European Institute. Higgins’ research focuses on the formulation and enforcement of an idealized masculinity in Nazi Germany. Utilizing an interdisciplinary approach, Higgins examines art, film, and literature as vehicles for fascist body politics.

Education:

  • B.A., History and Studio Art, Elmira College, 2018
  • M.A., Masters in European History, Politics, and Society, Columbia University, 2019

Publications:

Fellowships:

 

Gabrielle Higgins

TBD

Advisor: Frances Tanzer

Gabrielle is a first-year doctoral student in the History track at the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University. She holds an M.A. in European History, Politics, and Society from Columbia University’s European Institute. Higgins’ research focuses on the formulation and enforcement of an idealized masculinity in Nazi Germany. Utilizing an interdisciplinary approach, Higgins examines art, film, and literature as vehicles for fascist body politics.

Education:

  • B.A., History and Studio Art, Elmira College, 2018
  • M.A., Masters in European History, Politics, and Society, Columbia University, 2019

Publications:

Fellowships:

 

Emil Ditlev Ingemann Kjerte
Emil Ditlev Kjerte

Ustaša Killing Specialists: The Personnel of the Jasenovac Camp Complex

Advisor: Thomas Kühne

Kjerte researches the guard force stationed at Jasenovac, the largest concentration and death camp in the fascist Independent State of Croatia for his dissertation, Ustaša Killing Specialists. The only regime that organized and ran death camps independent of the Nazis, the Ustašas implemented a virulent campaign of mass murder against Jews, Roma, and Serbs. Yet, compared to the rich historiography on Nazi perpetrators, the Ustašas remain much less explored. Kjerte researches the lifepaths and prior careers of the Jasenovac personnel, their war-time activities, and postwar trajectories. He considers the group dynamics and sense of community that existed among the guards as well as their conflicts. Inspired by micro-sociological approaches, Kjerte also examines the dynamics of perpetrator-prisoner interactions and analyzes the situations that tended to generate or amplify physical violence. While violence was integral to their activities, his research considers whether some guards acted less cruel when not observed by peers and superiors.

Education:

  • B.A., History, University of Copenhagen, 2011
  • M.A., Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Uppsala University, 2015

Publications:

Fellowships:

  • Junior Fellowship, Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies, 2022-2023
  • Conny Kristel Fellowship, European Holocaust Research Infrastructure, 2022
  • Alexander Grass Memorial Fellowship, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2020-2021
  • Sharon Abramson Research Grant for the Study of the Holocaust, 2020-2021
  • Hanne and Howard Kulin Fellow, 2018 – 2021
  • Central European History Society Dissertation Research Grant, 2020
  • Louis and Ann Kulin Fellow, 2017
  • Claims Conference Fellow (The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany) *, 2016-2017
  • Fondation pour la Memoire de la Shoah Fellowship, 2021-2022Central European History Society Dissertation Research Grant, 2020
Emil Ditlev Ingemann Kjerte
Emil Ditlev Kjerte

Ustaša Killing Specialists: The Personnel of the Jasenovac Camp Complex

Advisor: Thomas Kühne

Kjerte researches the guard force stationed at Jasenovac, the largest concentration and death camp in the fascist Independent State of Croatia for his dissertation, Ustaša Killing Specialists. The only regime that organized and ran death camps independent of the Nazis, the Ustašas implemented a virulent campaign of mass murder against Jews, Roma, and Serbs. Yet, compared to the rich historiography on Nazi perpetrators, the Ustašas remain much less explored. Kjerte researches the lifepaths and prior careers of the Jasenovac personnel, their war-time activities, and postwar trajectories. He considers the group dynamics and sense of community that existed among the guards as well as their conflicts. Inspired by micro-sociological approaches, Kjerte also examines the dynamics of perpetrator-prisoner interactions and analyzes the situations that tended to generate or amplify physical violence. While violence was integral to their activities, his research considers whether some guards acted less cruel when not observed by peers and superiors.

Education:

  • B.A., History, University of Copenhagen, 2011
  • M.A., Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Uppsala University, 2015

Publications:

Fellowships:

  • Junior Fellowship, Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies, 2022-2023
  • Conny Kristel Fellowship, European Holocaust Research Infrastructure, 2022
  • Alexander Grass Memorial Fellowship, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2020-2021
  • Sharon Abramson Research Grant for the Study of the Holocaust, 2020-2021
  • Hanne and Howard Kulin Fellow, 2018 – 2021
  • Central European History Society Dissertation Research Grant, 2020
  • Louis and Ann Kulin Fellow, 2017
  • Claims Conference Fellow (The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany) *, 2016-2017
  • Fondation pour la Memoire de la Shoah Fellowship, 2021-2022Central European History Society Dissertation Research Grant, 2020
Emil Ditlev Kjerte

Ustaša Killing Specialists: The Personnel of the Jasenovac Camp Complex

Advisor: Thomas Kühne

Kjerte researches the guard force stationed at Jasenovac, the largest concentration and death camp in the fascist Independent State of Croatia for his dissertation, Ustaša Killing Specialists. The only regime that organized and ran death camps independent of the Nazis, the Ustašas implemented a virulent campaign of mass murder against Jews, Roma, and Serbs. Yet, compared to the rich historiography on Nazi perpetrators, the Ustašas remain much less explored. Kjerte researches the lifepaths and prior careers of the Jasenovac personnel, their war-time activities, and postwar trajectories. He considers the group dynamics and sense of community that existed among the guards as well as their conflicts. Inspired by micro-sociological approaches, Kjerte also examines the dynamics of perpetrator-prisoner interactions and analyzes the situations that tended to generate or amplify physical violence. While violence was integral to their activities, his research considers whether some guards acted less cruel when not observed by peers and superiors.

Education:

  • B.A., History, University of Copenhagen, 2011
  • M.A., Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Uppsala University, 2015

Publications:

Fellowships:

  • Junior Fellowship, Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies, 2022-2023
  • Conny Kristel Fellowship, European Holocaust Research Infrastructure, 2022
  • Alexander Grass Memorial Fellowship, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2020-2021
  • Sharon Abramson Research Grant for the Study of the Holocaust, 2020-2021
  • Hanne and Howard Kulin Fellow, 2018 – 2021
  • Central European History Society Dissertation Research Grant, 2020
  • Louis and Ann Kulin Fellow, 2017
  • Claims Conference Fellow (The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany) *, 2016-2017
  • Fondation pour la Memoire de la Shoah Fellowship, 2021-2022Central European History Society Dissertation Research Grant, 2020
Alexandra Kramen
Alexandra Kramen

Justice Pursued: Jewish Survivors’ Struggle for Holocaust Justice in Displaced Persons Camp Föhrenwa

Advisor: Debórah Dwork

Kramen’s dissertation, Justice Pursued: Jewish Survivors’ Struggle for Holocaust Justice in Displaced Persons Camp Föhrenwald, 1945-1957, focuses on Jewish survivors living in Föhrenwald, the longest-running Jewish displaced persons camp in postwar Germany. She investigates how Jewish DPs conceived of justice and symbolic revenge in postwar Germany and how ideas of, and actions toward, justice evolved over time in response to shifting political, social, and economic conditions. Her research elucidates an area of Jewish life during and after the Holocaust that has received scant attention, offering a new perspective on how Jews coped with the trauma they experienced under the Nazi regime and reestablished a sense of justice in the process, while contributing more broadly to the study of transitional justice processes in the wake of mass violence beyond formal international criminal tribunals.

Education:

  • B.A., History and Political Science (Holocaust Studies Special Interest Program), Albright College, Reading,
    PA,  2006
  • J.D., Temple University Beasley School of Law, Philadelphia, PA, 2009
  • M.A., Holocaust & Genocide Studies, West Chester University of Pennsylvania, 2015

Publications:

Fellowships:

  • Claims Conference Fellow (The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany) *, 2017-2022
  • Marlene and David Persky Research Award, 2017-2022
  • 2018 Summer Graduate Student Research Fellowship, Visiting Scholars Programs, Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington DC
  • Dr. Sophie Bookhalter Graduate Research Fellowship, Center for Jewish History, New York, NY, 2021-2022
  • Doctoral Scholarship, Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, New York, NY, 2021-2022
  • David Baumgardt Memorial Fellowship, Leo Baeck Institute, Center for Jewish History, New York, NY, 2020-2021
  • Junior Fellowship, Center for Holocaust Studies, Institute for Contemporary History, Munich, DE, 2020-2021
  • Fred and Ellen Lewis/JDC Archives Fellowship, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Archives, New York, NY, 2020-2021
Alexandra Kramen
Alexandra Kramen

Justice Pursued: Jewish Survivors’ Struggle for Holocaust Justice in Displaced Persons Camp Föhrenwa

Advisor: Debórah Dwork

Kramen’s dissertation, Justice Pursued: Jewish Survivors’ Struggle for Holocaust Justice in Displaced Persons Camp Föhrenwald, 1945-1957, focuses on Jewish survivors living in Föhrenwald, the longest-running Jewish displaced persons camp in postwar Germany. She investigates how Jewish DPs conceived of justice and symbolic revenge in postwar Germany and how ideas of, and actions toward, justice evolved over time in response to shifting political, social, and economic conditions. Her research elucidates an area of Jewish life during and after the Holocaust that has received scant attention, offering a new perspective on how Jews coped with the trauma they experienced under the Nazi regime and reestablished a sense of justice in the process, while contributing more broadly to the study of transitional justice processes in the wake of mass violence beyond formal international criminal tribunals.

Education:

  • B.A., History and Political Science (Holocaust Studies Special Interest Program), Albright College, Reading,
    PA,  2006
  • J.D., Temple University Beasley School of Law, Philadelphia, PA, 2009
  • M.A., Holocaust & Genocide Studies, West Chester University of Pennsylvania, 2015

Publications:

Fellowships:

  • Claims Conference Fellow (The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany) *, 2017-2022
  • Marlene and David Persky Research Award, 2017-2022
  • 2018 Summer Graduate Student Research Fellowship, Visiting Scholars Programs, Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington DC
  • Dr. Sophie Bookhalter Graduate Research Fellowship, Center for Jewish History, New York, NY, 2021-2022
  • Doctoral Scholarship, Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, New York, NY, 2021-2022
  • David Baumgardt Memorial Fellowship, Leo Baeck Institute, Center for Jewish History, New York, NY, 2020-2021
  • Junior Fellowship, Center for Holocaust Studies, Institute for Contemporary History, Munich, DE, 2020-2021
  • Fred and Ellen Lewis/JDC Archives Fellowship, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Archives, New York, NY, 2020-2021
Alexandra Kramen

Justice Pursued: Jewish Survivors’ Struggle for Holocaust Justice in Displaced Persons Camp Föhrenwa

Advisor: Debórah Dwork

Kramen’s dissertation, Justice Pursued: Jewish Survivors’ Struggle for Holocaust Justice in Displaced Persons Camp Föhrenwald, 1945-1957, focuses on Jewish survivors living in Föhrenwald, the longest-running Jewish displaced persons camp in postwar Germany. She investigates how Jewish DPs conceived of justice and symbolic revenge in postwar Germany and how ideas of, and actions toward, justice evolved over time in response to shifting political, social, and economic conditions. Her research elucidates an area of Jewish life during and after the Holocaust that has received scant attention, offering a new perspective on how Jews coped with the trauma they experienced under the Nazi regime and reestablished a sense of justice in the process, while contributing more broadly to the study of transitional justice processes in the wake of mass violence beyond formal international criminal tribunals.

Education:

  • B.A., History and Political Science (Holocaust Studies Special Interest Program), Albright College, Reading,
    PA,  2006
  • J.D., Temple University Beasley School of Law, Philadelphia, PA, 2009
  • M.A., Holocaust & Genocide Studies, West Chester University of Pennsylvania, 2015

Publications:

Fellowships:

  • Claims Conference Fellow (The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany) *, 2017-2022
  • Marlene and David Persky Research Award, 2017-2022
  • 2018 Summer Graduate Student Research Fellowship, Visiting Scholars Programs, Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington DC
  • Dr. Sophie Bookhalter Graduate Research Fellowship, Center for Jewish History, New York, NY, 2021-2022
  • Doctoral Scholarship, Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, New York, NY, 2021-2022
  • David Baumgardt Memorial Fellowship, Leo Baeck Institute, Center for Jewish History, New York, NY, 2020-2021
  • Junior Fellowship, Center for Holocaust Studies, Institute for Contemporary History, Munich, DE, 2020-2021
  • Fred and Ellen Lewis/JDC Archives Fellowship, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Archives, New York, NY, 2020-2021
Nathan Lucky
Nathan Lucky

Resistance with Words: The Jewish Telegraph Agency during the Holocaust

Advisor: Frances Tanzer

Lucky’s dissertation, Resistance with Words: The Jewish Telegraph Agency during the Holocaust, charts how the Jewish Telegraph Agency (JTA) used their news agency and its more than 150 employees in bureaus around the world to spy on the Nazis and resist fascism on a global scale. News agencies like the JTA, Associated Press, and Reuters are powerful global companies that gather and supply information to newspapers, fundamentally shaping what news readers encounter. Outwardly, the JTA was the primary, and often only, news organization reporting on the annihilation of European Jewry during the Holocaust. Behind the scenes, JTA doubled as a global spy agency dedicated to resisting fascism. Studying their activities helps reveal the essential global role of Jewish news in the twentieth century while also suggesting new ways to explore the geography of Jewish diasporic networks. Lucky analyzes the intertwined histories of news and espionage, the connections between the press and the Holocaust, and the vulnerability of diasporic networks.

Education:

  • B.A. Honours, History, University of British Columbia, Okanagan, 2018
  • M.A., History, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, 2021

Publications:

  • “A Voice Behind the Headlines: The Public Relations of the Canadian Jewish Congress during the Holocaust.” Journal of Holocaust Research 38, no. 1 (2024): 18-34, DOI: 10.1080/25785648.2023.2256615.
  • “(New) Media and the Circulation of Knowledge: A Historical Framework for The Conversation Canada.” Information & Culture 58, no. 3 (2023): 221–46. DOI: 10.7560/IC58301. With Gene Allen.

Fellowships:

  • Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Doctoral Award, 2022-2026
  • Rose and Isidore Drench Memorial Fellowship and the Dora and Mayer Tendler Endowed Fellowship in American Jewish Studies at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, 2023-2024
Nathan Lucky
Nathan Lucky

Resistance with Words: The Jewish Telegraph Agency during the Holocaust

Advisor: Frances Tanzer

Lucky’s dissertation, Resistance with Words: The Jewish Telegraph Agency during the Holocaust, charts how the Jewish Telegraph Agency (JTA) used their news agency and its more than 150 employees in bureaus around the world to spy on the Nazis and resist fascism on a global scale. News agencies like the JTA, Associated Press, and Reuters are powerful global companies that gather and supply information to newspapers, fundamentally shaping what news readers encounter. Outwardly, the JTA was the primary, and often only, news organization reporting on the annihilation of European Jewry during the Holocaust. Behind the scenes, JTA doubled as a global spy agency dedicated to resisting fascism. Studying their activities helps reveal the essential global role of Jewish news in the twentieth century while also suggesting new ways to explore the geography of Jewish diasporic networks. Lucky analyzes the intertwined histories of news and espionage, the connections between the press and the Holocaust, and the vulnerability of diasporic networks.

Education:

  • B.A. Honours, History, University of British Columbia, Okanagan, 2018
  • M.A., History, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, 2021

Publications:

  • “A Voice Behind the Headlines: The Public Relations of the Canadian Jewish Congress during the Holocaust.” Journal of Holocaust Research 38, no. 1 (2024): 18-34, DOI: 10.1080/25785648.2023.2256615.
  • “(New) Media and the Circulation of Knowledge: A Historical Framework for The Conversation Canada.” Information & Culture 58, no. 3 (2023): 221–46. DOI: 10.7560/IC58301. With Gene Allen.

Fellowships:

  • Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Doctoral Award, 2022-2026
  • Rose and Isidore Drench Memorial Fellowship and the Dora and Mayer Tendler Endowed Fellowship in American Jewish Studies at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, 2023-2024
Nathan Lucky

Resistance with Words: The Jewish Telegraph Agency during the Holocaust

Advisor: Frances Tanzer

Lucky’s dissertation, Resistance with Words: The Jewish Telegraph Agency during the Holocaust, charts how the Jewish Telegraph Agency (JTA) used their news agency and its more than 150 employees in bureaus around the world to spy on the Nazis and resist fascism on a global scale. News agencies like the JTA, Associated Press, and Reuters are powerful global companies that gather and supply information to newspapers, fundamentally shaping what news readers encounter. Outwardly, the JTA was the primary, and often only, news organization reporting on the annihilation of European Jewry during the Holocaust. Behind the scenes, JTA doubled as a global spy agency dedicated to resisting fascism. Studying their activities helps reveal the essential global role of Jewish news in the twentieth century while also suggesting new ways to explore the geography of Jewish diasporic networks. Lucky analyzes the intertwined histories of news and espionage, the connections between the press and the Holocaust, and the vulnerability of diasporic networks.

Education:

  • B.A. Honours, History, University of British Columbia, Okanagan, 2018
  • M.A., History, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, 2021

Publications:

  • “A Voice Behind the Headlines: The Public Relations of the Canadian Jewish Congress during the Holocaust.” Journal of Holocaust Research 38, no. 1 (2024): 18-34, DOI: 10.1080/25785648.2023.2256615.
  • “(New) Media and the Circulation of Knowledge: A Historical Framework for The Conversation Canada.” Information & Culture 58, no. 3 (2023): 221–46. DOI: 10.7560/IC58301. With Gene Allen.

Fellowships:

  • Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Doctoral Award, 2022-2026
  • Rose and Isidore Drench Memorial Fellowship and the Dora and Mayer Tendler Endowed Fellowship in American Jewish Studies at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, 2023-2024
Ani Garabed Ohanian
Ani Garabed Ohanian

Reconfiguration of the Caucasus: Bolshevik-Kemalist Cooperation and the Armenian Genocide, 1917-1923

Advisor: Taner Akçam

Ohanian’s dissertation project, Reconfiguration of the Caucasus: Bolshevik-Kemalist Cooperation and the Armenian Genocide, 1917-1923, sheds light on the role that the Armenian Genocide played in the context of Bolshevik-Kemalist relations, analyzing how, or to what extent, the genocide influenced the respective actions of Turkish and Russian revolutionary forces – the Kemalists, and the Bolsheviks. The triangular relationship between Turkey, Russia, and the Caucasus reflects the effects of imperial decline and the rise of nationalistic ambition in the Great War’s aftermath. After the 1917 Russian Revolution, the Bolsheviks absorbed Transcaucasian states and defined the fate of territories, such as Nagorno-Karabakh, with equivocal consideration towards indigenous habitants. The entangled histories of the Bolsheviks and Kemalists in the region may have influenced such outcomes whose consequences are manifested via continued inter-ethnic conflict and instability of the region today. The violence and bloodshed that ensued considerably marked the South Caucasus. To date, there are no theories that link the Bolshevik-Kemalist alliance to specific crimes of genocide. An historical analysis employing a transnational perspective will reveal the continuity of violence and genocidal machinations against Armenians in the South Caucasus.

Education:  

  • B.A., History, University of California, Irvine, 2013
  • B.A., French, University of California, Irvine, 2013
  • M.A., History & Literature, Columbia University, 2016
  • M.A., History, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris, 2017

Publications:

Fellowships:

  • Society of Armenian Studies Graduate Research Grant, 2022
  • Kathryn Davis Fellowship for Peace, Middlebury College, 2021
  • Armenian Community Fellow, Clark University, 2018 – 2021
  • New York Public Library Short-Term Research Fellowship, 2020
  • Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Short-term Grant for Armenian Studies, 2018, 2022
  • AGBU Graduate Student Scholarship, 2018, 2019, 2020
  • Margrit and Nishan Atinizian Fellowship, 2017-2018
Ani Garabed Ohanian
Ani Garabed Ohanian

Reconfiguration of the Caucasus: Bolshevik-Kemalist Cooperation and the Armenian Genocide, 1917-1923

Advisor: Taner Akçam

Ohanian’s dissertation project, Reconfiguration of the Caucasus: Bolshevik-Kemalist Cooperation and the Armenian Genocide, 1917-1923, sheds light on the role that the Armenian Genocide played in the context of Bolshevik-Kemalist relations, analyzing how, or to what extent, the genocide influenced the respective actions of Turkish and Russian revolutionary forces – the Kemalists, and the Bolsheviks. The triangular relationship between Turkey, Russia, and the Caucasus reflects the effects of imperial decline and the rise of nationalistic ambition in the Great War’s aftermath. After the 1917 Russian Revolution, the Bolsheviks absorbed Transcaucasian states and defined the fate of territories, such as Nagorno-Karabakh, with equivocal consideration towards indigenous habitants. The entangled histories of the Bolsheviks and Kemalists in the region may have influenced such outcomes whose consequences are manifested via continued inter-ethnic conflict and instability of the region today. The violence and bloodshed that ensued considerably marked the South Caucasus. To date, there are no theories that link the Bolshevik-Kemalist alliance to specific crimes of genocide. An historical analysis employing a transnational perspective will reveal the continuity of violence and genocidal machinations against Armenians in the South Caucasus.

Education:  

  • B.A., History, University of California, Irvine, 2013
  • B.A., French, University of California, Irvine, 2013
  • M.A., History & Literature, Columbia University, 2016
  • M.A., History, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris, 2017

Publications:

Fellowships:

  • Society of Armenian Studies Graduate Research Grant, 2022
  • Kathryn Davis Fellowship for Peace, Middlebury College, 2021
  • Armenian Community Fellow, Clark University, 2018 – 2021
  • New York Public Library Short-Term Research Fellowship, 2020
  • Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Short-term Grant for Armenian Studies, 2018, 2022
  • AGBU Graduate Student Scholarship, 2018, 2019, 2020
  • Margrit and Nishan Atinizian Fellowship, 2017-2018
Ani Garabed Ohanian

Reconfiguration of the Caucasus: Bolshevik-Kemalist Cooperation and the Armenian Genocide, 1917-1923

Advisor: Taner Akçam

Ohanian’s dissertation project, Reconfiguration of the Caucasus: Bolshevik-Kemalist Cooperation and the Armenian Genocide, 1917-1923, sheds light on the role that the Armenian Genocide played in the context of Bolshevik-Kemalist relations, analyzing how, or to what extent, the genocide influenced the respective actions of Turkish and Russian revolutionary forces – the Kemalists, and the Bolsheviks. The triangular relationship between Turkey, Russia, and the Caucasus reflects the effects of imperial decline and the rise of nationalistic ambition in the Great War’s aftermath. After the 1917 Russian Revolution, the Bolsheviks absorbed Transcaucasian states and defined the fate of territories, such as Nagorno-Karabakh, with equivocal consideration towards indigenous habitants. The entangled histories of the Bolsheviks and Kemalists in the region may have influenced such outcomes whose consequences are manifested via continued inter-ethnic conflict and instability of the region today. The violence and bloodshed that ensued considerably marked the South Caucasus. To date, there are no theories that link the Bolshevik-Kemalist alliance to specific crimes of genocide. An historical analysis employing a transnational perspective will reveal the continuity of violence and genocidal machinations against Armenians in the South Caucasus.

Education:  

  • B.A., History, University of California, Irvine, 2013
  • B.A., French, University of California, Irvine, 2013
  • M.A., History & Literature, Columbia University, 2016
  • M.A., History, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris, 2017

Publications:

Fellowships:

  • Society of Armenian Studies Graduate Research Grant, 2022
  • Kathryn Davis Fellowship for Peace, Middlebury College, 2021
  • Armenian Community Fellow, Clark University, 2018 – 2021
  • New York Public Library Short-Term Research Fellowship, 2020
  • Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Short-term Grant for Armenian Studies, 2018, 2022
  • AGBU Graduate Student Scholarship, 2018, 2019, 2020
  • Margrit and Nishan Atinizian Fellowship, 2017-2018
Mohammad Sajjadur Rahman
Mohammad Sajjadur Rahman

Wartime Collaborators and the Politics of Justice in Bangladesh (1971-1975)

Advisor: Ken MacLean

Sajjad is engaged in researching and writing his dissertation, Against Freedom: Understanding the “Anti-Liberation Forces” in Bangladesh’s War of Independence. His project examines different narratives about the East Pakistani loyalists, widely referred to as “collaborators,” who supported Pakistan’s counter-insurgency operations against Bengali freedom fighters in 1971. Rahman argues that the post-war construction of the image of the collaborator as the “enemy within” depended upon many “silences” about the violent birth of Bangladesh.

Education:

  • Bachelor of Social Sciences (B.S.S.) Honors in International Relations from the University of Dhaka; Session: 1997-98 – 2000-01; Degree Awarded: 2003.
  • Master of Social Sciences (M.S.S.) in International Relations from the University of Dhaka, Session: 2001-02, Degree Awarded: 2005.
  • Master in International Policy Studies (MAIPS): Monterey Institute of International Studies; Monterey, California, USA; Specialization: Terrorism Studies; Session: 2008-09; Degree Awarded: 2009.

Publications:

Fellowships:

  • Fromson Fellow, 2015-2019
  • Hilda and Al Kirsch Graduate Research Award, 2017
  • CGS- Square Fellowship, 2017
Mohammad Sajjadur Rahman
Mohammad Sajjadur Rahman

Wartime Collaborators and the Politics of Justice in Bangladesh (1971-1975)

Advisor: Ken MacLean

Sajjad is engaged in researching and writing his dissertation, Against Freedom: Understanding the “Anti-Liberation Forces” in Bangladesh’s War of Independence. His project examines different narratives about the East Pakistani loyalists, widely referred to as “collaborators,” who supported Pakistan’s counter-insurgency operations against Bengali freedom fighters in 1971. Rahman argues that the post-war construction of the image of the collaborator as the “enemy within” depended upon many “silences” about the violent birth of Bangladesh.

Education:

  • Bachelor of Social Sciences (B.S.S.) Honors in International Relations from the University of Dhaka; Session: 1997-98 – 2000-01; Degree Awarded: 2003.
  • Master of Social Sciences (M.S.S.) in International Relations from the University of Dhaka, Session: 2001-02, Degree Awarded: 2005.
  • Master in International Policy Studies (MAIPS): Monterey Institute of International Studies; Monterey, California, USA; Specialization: Terrorism Studies; Session: 2008-09; Degree Awarded: 2009.

Publications:

Fellowships:

  • Fromson Fellow, 2015-2019
  • Hilda and Al Kirsch Graduate Research Award, 2017
  • CGS- Square Fellowship, 2017
Mohammad Sajjadur Rahman

Wartime Collaborators and the Politics of Justice in Bangladesh (1971-1975)

Advisor: Ken MacLean

Sajjad is engaged in researching and writing his dissertation, Against Freedom: Understanding the “Anti-Liberation Forces” in Bangladesh’s War of Independence. His project examines different narratives about the East Pakistani loyalists, widely referred to as “collaborators,” who supported Pakistan’s counter-insurgency operations against Bengali freedom fighters in 1971. Rahman argues that the post-war construction of the image of the collaborator as the “enemy within” depended upon many “silences” about the violent birth of Bangladesh.

Education:

  • Bachelor of Social Sciences (B.S.S.) Honors in International Relations from the University of Dhaka; Session: 1997-98 – 2000-01; Degree Awarded: 2003.
  • Master of Social Sciences (M.S.S.) in International Relations from the University of Dhaka, Session: 2001-02, Degree Awarded: 2005.
  • Master in International Policy Studies (MAIPS): Monterey Institute of International Studies; Monterey, California, USA; Specialization: Terrorism Studies; Session: 2008-09; Degree Awarded: 2009.

Publications:

Fellowships:

  • Fromson Fellow, 2015-2019
  • Hilda and Al Kirsch Graduate Research Award, 2017
  • CGS- Square Fellowship, 2017
Jessa Sinnott
Jessa Sinnott

Anti-Jewish Pogroms and Neighborhood Violence in Nazi-Occupied Poland (1941)

Advisor: Thomas Kühne

Sinnott’s dissertation examines neighborhood and pogrom violence in Nazi (and Soviet) occupied Poland. The chief objective of her research is to create a fluid snapshot of a local sociocultural reality in which the murder of Polish Jewry took place. This project will consider three overarching categories of analysis to develop a narrative of the perpetration of mass violence: the identification of actors and methods of aggression, ethnic and/or national socialization and shifting moralities, and the economic incentives for committing intra-communal violence. This microhistory will provide a framework in which to examine the broader themes of interethnic relations in Poland, Polish antisemitism, and the national identity and culture that allowed for attitudes of indifference and violence in the face of Jewish suffering; demonstrating the ways in which anti-Jewish, neighborhood aggression fit into the totality of occupational violence.

Education:

  • B.A., Anthropology, University of California, Irvine, 2015
  • M.A., European and Mediterranean Studies, NYU, 2018

Publications:

Fellowships:

  • Sidney and Rosalie Rose Fellowship  2019-2021
  • Conny Kristel Fellowship, European Holocaust Research Infrastructure, 2022-2023
  • American Councils Title VIII Combined Research and Language Training Program, 2022-2023
Jessa Sinnott
Jessa Sinnott

Anti-Jewish Pogroms and Neighborhood Violence in Nazi-Occupied Poland (1941)

Advisor: Thomas Kühne

Sinnott’s dissertation examines neighborhood and pogrom violence in Nazi (and Soviet) occupied Poland. The chief objective of her research is to create a fluid snapshot of a local sociocultural reality in which the murder of Polish Jewry took place. This project will consider three overarching categories of analysis to develop a narrative of the perpetration of mass violence: the identification of actors and methods of aggression, ethnic and/or national socialization and shifting moralities, and the economic incentives for committing intra-communal violence. This microhistory will provide a framework in which to examine the broader themes of interethnic relations in Poland, Polish antisemitism, and the national identity and culture that allowed for attitudes of indifference and violence in the face of Jewish suffering; demonstrating the ways in which anti-Jewish, neighborhood aggression fit into the totality of occupational violence.

Education:

  • B.A., Anthropology, University of California, Irvine, 2015
  • M.A., European and Mediterranean Studies, NYU, 2018

Publications:

Fellowships:

  • Sidney and Rosalie Rose Fellowship  2019-2021
  • Conny Kristel Fellowship, European Holocaust Research Infrastructure, 2022-2023
  • American Councils Title VIII Combined Research and Language Training Program, 2022-2023
Jessa Sinnott

Anti-Jewish Pogroms and Neighborhood Violence in Nazi-Occupied Poland (1941)

Advisor: Thomas Kühne

Sinnott’s dissertation examines neighborhood and pogrom violence in Nazi (and Soviet) occupied Poland. The chief objective of her research is to create a fluid snapshot of a local sociocultural reality in which the murder of Polish Jewry took place. This project will consider three overarching categories of analysis to develop a narrative of the perpetration of mass violence: the identification of actors and methods of aggression, ethnic and/or national socialization and shifting moralities, and the economic incentives for committing intra-communal violence. This microhistory will provide a framework in which to examine the broader themes of interethnic relations in Poland, Polish antisemitism, and the national identity and culture that allowed for attitudes of indifference and violence in the face of Jewish suffering; demonstrating the ways in which anti-Jewish, neighborhood aggression fit into the totality of occupational violence.

Education:

  • B.A., Anthropology, University of California, Irvine, 2015
  • M.A., European and Mediterranean Studies, NYU, 2018

Publications:

Fellowships:

  • Sidney and Rosalie Rose Fellowship  2019-2021
  • Conny Kristel Fellowship, European Holocaust Research Infrastructure, 2022-2023
  • American Councils Title VIII Combined Research and Language Training Program, 2022-2023
MK Speth
MK Speth

Performing Trauma: Examining healing & reconciliation in the tourist spaces of post-genocide Rwanda

Advisor: Elyse Semerdjian

Speth researches the intersection between genocide, tourism, and transitional justice. Her dissertation project focuses on Rwanda and the ways in which tourism serves as a space in which state-produced discourses around conflict/reconciliation, neo-colonial imaginaries of Otherness, and personal trauma narratives converge. She aims to understand the ways that illegible sites of power relations inherent to tourism relate to and influence extensive and ongoing transitional justice efforts, including nation-building, reconciliation, peacebuilding and both societal and personal healing.

Education:

  • B.S., Biology & Environmental Studies, Ursinus College, Collegeville, 2015
  • M.Esc, Environmental Anthropology, Yale University School of the Environmental, New Haven, 2020

Fellowships:

MK Speth
MK Speth

Performing Trauma: Examining healing & reconciliation in the tourist spaces of post-genocide Rwanda

Advisor: Elyse Semerdjian

Speth researches the intersection between genocide, tourism, and transitional justice. Her dissertation project focuses on Rwanda and the ways in which tourism serves as a space in which state-produced discourses around conflict/reconciliation, neo-colonial imaginaries of Otherness, and personal trauma narratives converge. She aims to understand the ways that illegible sites of power relations inherent to tourism relate to and influence extensive and ongoing transitional justice efforts, including nation-building, reconciliation, peacebuilding and both societal and personal healing.

Education:

  • B.S., Biology & Environmental Studies, Ursinus College, Collegeville, 2015
  • M.Esc, Environmental Anthropology, Yale University School of the Environmental, New Haven, 2020

Fellowships:

MK Speth

Performing Trauma: Examining healing & reconciliation in the tourist spaces of post-genocide Rwanda

Advisor: Elyse Semerdjian

Speth researches the intersection between genocide, tourism, and transitional justice. Her dissertation project focuses on Rwanda and the ways in which tourism serves as a space in which state-produced discourses around conflict/reconciliation, neo-colonial imaginaries of Otherness, and personal trauma narratives converge. She aims to understand the ways that illegible sites of power relations inherent to tourism relate to and influence extensive and ongoing transitional justice efforts, including nation-building, reconciliation, peacebuilding and both societal and personal healing.

Education:

  • B.S., Biology & Environmental Studies, Ursinus College, Collegeville, 2015
  • M.Esc, Environmental Anthropology, Yale University School of the Environmental, New Haven, 2020

Fellowships:

Andy Burnstein
Andrew Burnstein

TBD

Advisor:Frances Tanzer

First year student Andy Burnstein researches the intellectual history of the idea of the Shtetl. Inspired by his own family history, Burnstein aims to trace how the Shtetl, the popular understanding of which exists more as an idea than a historical reality, is discursively constructed over time. Burnstein is designing this project to be a global cultural history, spanning a transnational geography that includes Russia, Galicia, the former Hapsburg Empire, the United States, and Israel.  He hopes to turn his analysis on himself and interrogate his own romanticization of the Shtetl and understand how the shame and pride of his family’s own shtetlekh origins have helped fuel their own understandings of their identity.

Education:

  • B.A., Whitman College, Washington, 2020
  • M.S., University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom, 2022

Publications:

Fellowships:

Andy Burnstein
Andrew Burnstein

TBD

Advisor:Frances Tanzer

First year student Andy Burnstein researches the intellectual history of the idea of the Shtetl. Inspired by his own family history, Burnstein aims to trace how the Shtetl, the popular understanding of which exists more as an idea than a historical reality, is discursively constructed over time. Burnstein is designing this project to be a global cultural history, spanning a transnational geography that includes Russia, Galicia, the former Hapsburg Empire, the United States, and Israel.  He hopes to turn his analysis on himself and interrogate his own romanticization of the Shtetl and understand how the shame and pride of his family’s own shtetlekh origins have helped fuel their own understandings of their identity.

Education:

  • B.A., Whitman College, Washington, 2020
  • M.S., University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom, 2022

Publications:

Fellowships:

Andrew Burnstein

TBD

Advisor:Frances Tanzer

First year student Andy Burnstein researches the intellectual history of the idea of the Shtetl. Inspired by his own family history, Burnstein aims to trace how the Shtetl, the popular understanding of which exists more as an idea than a historical reality, is discursively constructed over time. Burnstein is designing this project to be a global cultural history, spanning a transnational geography that includes Russia, Galicia, the former Hapsburg Empire, the United States, and Israel.  He hopes to turn his analysis on himself and interrogate his own romanticization of the Shtetl and understand how the shame and pride of his family’s own shtetlekh origins have helped fuel their own understandings of their identity.

Education:

  • B.A., Whitman College, Washington, 2020
  • M.S., University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom, 2022

Publications:

Fellowships:

Nadia Cross
Nadia Cross

Never Forget, Never Again: Holocaust Memory in the United States Post-9/11

Advisor: Frances Tanzer

Cross’s dissertation proposal is titled “Never Forget, Never Again: Holocaust Memory in the United States Post-9/11.” This project documents the relationship between Holocaust memory and the memorialization of September 11th in the United States from the immediate aftermath of the attacks to present day. It is her intention to study how Holocaust memory has been mobilized in liberal and conservative spaces to contextualize American and Middle Eastern relations. After researching these politically motivated approaches to Holocaust memory, she hopes to uncover how these representations of Holocaust memory have transformed Holocaust education and memorization in the United States to encompass elements of these liberal and conservative views. She seeks to answer: What is the history of the discourses on Holocaust memory that is connected to American and Middle Eastern relations before and after 9/11 and what have been the lasting effects of these changes?

Education:

  • B.A., Film and TV, Minor – Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Boston University, 2017.
  • M.A., Human Rights, Columbia University, 2021.

Publications:

Fellowships:

Nadia Cross
Nadia Cross

Never Forget, Never Again: Holocaust Memory in the United States Post-9/11

Advisor: Frances Tanzer

Cross’s dissertation proposal is titled “Never Forget, Never Again: Holocaust Memory in the United States Post-9/11.” This project documents the relationship between Holocaust memory and the memorialization of September 11th in the United States from the immediate aftermath of the attacks to present day. It is her intention to study how Holocaust memory has been mobilized in liberal and conservative spaces to contextualize American and Middle Eastern relations. After researching these politically motivated approaches to Holocaust memory, she hopes to uncover how these representations of Holocaust memory have transformed Holocaust education and memorization in the United States to encompass elements of these liberal and conservative views. She seeks to answer: What is the history of the discourses on Holocaust memory that is connected to American and Middle Eastern relations before and after 9/11 and what have been the lasting effects of these changes?

Education:

  • B.A., Film and TV, Minor – Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Boston University, 2017.
  • M.A., Human Rights, Columbia University, 2021.

Publications:

Fellowships:

Nadia Cross

Never Forget, Never Again: Holocaust Memory in the United States Post-9/11

Advisor: Frances Tanzer

Cross’s dissertation proposal is titled “Never Forget, Never Again: Holocaust Memory in the United States Post-9/11.” This project documents the relationship between Holocaust memory and the memorialization of September 11th in the United States from the immediate aftermath of the attacks to present day. It is her intention to study how Holocaust memory has been mobilized in liberal and conservative spaces to contextualize American and Middle Eastern relations. After researching these politically motivated approaches to Holocaust memory, she hopes to uncover how these representations of Holocaust memory have transformed Holocaust education and memorization in the United States to encompass elements of these liberal and conservative views. She seeks to answer: What is the history of the discourses on Holocaust memory that is connected to American and Middle Eastern relations before and after 9/11 and what have been the lasting effects of these changes?

Education:

  • B.A., Film and TV, Minor – Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Boston University, 2017.
  • M.A., Human Rights, Columbia University, 2021.

Publications:

Fellowships:

Nicole Toedli
Nicole Toedtli

When Perpetrators Become Victims: Members of the Wehrmacht as Inmates in Nazi Concentration Camps

Advisor: Thomas Kühne

It was during her time at the Mittelbau-Dora Concentration Camp Memorial that Nicole Toedtli first came across her dissertation topic. While working on clarifying the fate of a former inmate, she stumbled across a list of twelve so-called Zwischenhäftlinge (or Z-Häftlinge), an inmate category she had never heard of before. The inmate category of Zwischenhaft was introduced in summer 1944 to denote Wehrmacht soldiers who were either sentenced to prison or to death by a military court, but who were transferred to concentration camps to perform slave labourers for the war effort instead of being imprisoned or executed. Although the existence of members of the Wehrmacht as inmates in Nazi concentration camps has long been known, the group has not been studied as such. Scholars on World War II military history as well as scholars on the Nazi concentration camp system and specific concentration camps have mentioned the group in their writing. However, both fields have done so mostly in passing and neither field has studied the group in detail. Consequently, Wehrmacht soldiers are the most understudied group of inmates in Nazi concentration camps.

Education:

  • B.A., International Relations, University of Geneva (or: Université de Genève), Geneva/Switzerland, 2015.
  • M.A., History – Holocaust and Genocide Studies, University of Amsterdam (or: Universiteit van Amsterdam), Amsterdam/The Netherlands, 2016.

Publications:

Fellowships:

 

Nicole Toedli
Nicole Toedtli

When Perpetrators Become Victims: Members of the Wehrmacht as Inmates in Nazi Concentration Camps

Advisor: Thomas Kühne

It was during her time at the Mittelbau-Dora Concentration Camp Memorial that Nicole Toedtli first came across her dissertation topic. While working on clarifying the fate of a former inmate, she stumbled across a list of twelve so-called Zwischenhäftlinge (or Z-Häftlinge), an inmate category she had never heard of before. The inmate category of Zwischenhaft was introduced in summer 1944 to denote Wehrmacht soldiers who were either sentenced to prison or to death by a military court, but who were transferred to concentration camps to perform slave labourers for the war effort instead of being imprisoned or executed. Although the existence of members of the Wehrmacht as inmates in Nazi concentration camps has long been known, the group has not been studied as such. Scholars on World War II military history as well as scholars on the Nazi concentration camp system and specific concentration camps have mentioned the group in their writing. However, both fields have done so mostly in passing and neither field has studied the group in detail. Consequently, Wehrmacht soldiers are the most understudied group of inmates in Nazi concentration camps.

Education:

  • B.A., International Relations, University of Geneva (or: Université de Genève), Geneva/Switzerland, 2015.
  • M.A., History – Holocaust and Genocide Studies, University of Amsterdam (or: Universiteit van Amsterdam), Amsterdam/The Netherlands, 2016.

Publications:

Fellowships:

 

Nicole Toedtli

When Perpetrators Become Victims: Members of the Wehrmacht as Inmates in Nazi Concentration Camps

Advisor: Thomas Kühne

It was during her time at the Mittelbau-Dora Concentration Camp Memorial that Nicole Toedtli first came across her dissertation topic. While working on clarifying the fate of a former inmate, she stumbled across a list of twelve so-called Zwischenhäftlinge (or Z-Häftlinge), an inmate category she had never heard of before. The inmate category of Zwischenhaft was introduced in summer 1944 to denote Wehrmacht soldiers who were either sentenced to prison or to death by a military court, but who were transferred to concentration camps to perform slave labourers for the war effort instead of being imprisoned or executed. Although the existence of members of the Wehrmacht as inmates in Nazi concentration camps has long been known, the group has not been studied as such. Scholars on World War II military history as well as scholars on the Nazi concentration camp system and specific concentration camps have mentioned the group in their writing. However, both fields have done so mostly in passing and neither field has studied the group in detail. Consequently, Wehrmacht soldiers are the most understudied group of inmates in Nazi concentration camps.

Education:

  • B.A., International Relations, University of Geneva (or: Université de Genève), Geneva/Switzerland, 2015.
  • M.A., History – Holocaust and Genocide Studies, University of Amsterdam (or: Universiteit van Amsterdam), Amsterdam/The Netherlands, 2016.

Publications:

Fellowships:

 

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Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies

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