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Event Series

Jews in Modern Europe Seminar

Chairs

Derek J. Penslar
Derek J. Penslar
William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Director, The Center for Jewish Studies, Harvard University
Natalie Behrends
Natalie Behrends
Ph.D. Candidate in History, Harvard University; Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
 


This Jews in Modern Europe Seminar welcomes presentations on work in progress in the history, politics, society, and culture of modern European Jewry. Its purview reaches from early modernity to the present, and it welcomes presentations with a comparative, transnational, and international orientation as well as a specific national focus.

Seminar Events Calendar

Who Will Rescue Us? The Lives of Jewish Children Who Fled to France and the U.S. During the Holocaust Jews In Modern Europe Seminar — Who Will Rescue Us? The Lives of Jewish Children Who Fled to France and the U.S. During the Holocaust
March 31, 2025
4:00pm - 5:30pm
  • Laura Hobson Faure – Professor of Contemporary History and Chair of Modern Jewish History, University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne
  • Chair Derek J. Penslar – William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Director, The Center for Jewish Studies, Harvard University
To Be or Not to Be Jewish and Hungarian: Dilemmas of Identity in the Films of István Szabó Jews in Modern Europe Seminar — To Be or Not to Be Jewish and Hungarian: Dilemmas of Identity in the Films of István Szabó
February 18, 2025
4:00pm - 5:30pm
  • Susan Rubin Suleiman – C. Douglas Dillon Research Professor of the Civilization of France, Emerita, and Research Professor of Comparative Literature, Emerita, Harvard University; Faculty Associate, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
  • Chair Derek J. Penslar – William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Director, The Center for Jewish Studies, Harvard University
Who Lived, Who Died? - A Book Discussion with Peter Gourevitch Jews in Modern Europe Seminar — Who Lived, Who Died? - A Book Discussion with Peter Gourevitch
November 13, 2024
4:00pm - 5:30pm
  • Peter Gourevitch – Founding Dean and Distinguished Professor Emeritus, School of Global Policy and Strategy, University of California, San Diego
  • Laura Levine Frader – Professor Emeritus, Northeastern University; Local Affiliate & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
  • Chair Derek J. Penslar – William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Director, The Center for Jewish Studies, Harvard University
Vanishing Vienna: Modernism, Philosemitism, and Jews in a Postwar City Jews in Modern Europe Seminar — Vanishing Vienna: Modernism, Philosemitism, and Jews in a Postwar City
April 3, 2024
4:00pm - 5:15pm
  • Frances Tanzer – Rose Professor of Holocaust Studies and Jewish Culture, Clark University
  • Chair Derek J. Penslar – William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Director, The Center for Jewish Studies, Harvard University
Sojourns: German-Jewish Refugees and Survivors in Their Late 20th Century Hometowns Jews in Modern Europe Seminar — Sojourns: German-Jewish Refugees and Survivors in Their Late 20th Century Hometowns
February 21, 2024
4:15pm - 5:30pm
  • Helmut Walser Smith – Professor of History, Vanderbilt University
  • Chair Derek J. Penslar – William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Director, The Center for Jewish Studies, Harvard University
From King to Peasant: Class Imagination in the Formative Years of Jewish Nationalism Jews in Modern Europe Seminar — From King to Peasant: Class Imagination in the Formative Years of Jewish Nationalism
February 15, 2024
4:30pm - 6:00pm
  • Rhona Burns – Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Jewish Studies, Harvard University; Editor, Eyruvin
  • Chair Derek J. Penslar – William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Director, The Center for Jewish Studies, Harvard University
Jews and Crypto-Christianity in 18th-Century Europe: The Case of Rabbi Jonathan Eibeschütz Jews in Modern Europe Seminar — Jews and Crypto-Christianity in 18th-Century Europe: The Case of Rabbi Jonathan Eibeschütz
November 28, 2023
4:00pm - 5:30pm
  • Pawel Maciejko – Associate Professor & Leonard and Helen R. Stulman Chair in Classical Jewish Religion, Thought, and Culture, Johns Hopkins University
  • Chair Derek J. Penslar – William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Director, The Center for Jewish Studies, Harvard University
CANCELLED: Between Testimony and Trial: A Transnational History of the Kamenets-Podolsk Massacre of 1941 Jews in Modern Europe Seminar — CANCELLED: Between Testimony and Trial: A Transnational History of the Kamenets-Podolsk Massacre of 1941
October 31, 2023
4:00pm - 5:30pm
  • Anastasia Fairchild – Ph.D. Candidate in Political Science & Comparative Politics, Center for International Studies, SciencesPo
  • Chair Derek J. Penslar – William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Director, The Center for Jewish Studies, Harvard University
Bruno Schulz and the Hijacking of History Jews in Modern Europe Seminar — Bruno Schulz and the Hijacking of History
October 25, 2023
4:00pm - 5:30pm
  • Benjamin Balint – Author
  • Chair Derek J. Penslar – William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Director, The Center for Jewish Studies, Harvard University
Subcontractors of Guilt: Holocaust Memory and Muslim Belonging in Postwar Germany Jews in Modern Europe Seminar — Subcontractors of Guilt: Holocaust Memory and Muslim Belonging in Postwar Germany
September 19, 2023
12:30pm - 1:45pm
  • Esra Özyürek – Associate Professor in Contemporary Turkish Studies, European Institute, London School of Economics and Political Science
  • Chair Derek J. Penslar – William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Director, The Center for Jewish Studies, Harvard University
"In Antwerp We Speak Diamond" – City Branding & the Specter of Europe's Jewish Merchant Jews in Modern Europe Seminar — "In Antwerp We Speak Diamond" – City Branding & the Specter of Europe's Jewish Merchant
March 31, 2022
12:30pm - 1:45pm
  • Sam Shuman – Rabin-Shvidler Joint Post-Doctoral Fellow in Jewish Studies, Fordham University and Columbia University
  • Chair Derek J. Penslar – William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Director, The Center for Jewish Studies, Harvard University
Israel's Moment: International Conflict Over the Jewish State European Politics Seminar & Jews in Modern Europe Seminar — Israel's Moment: International Conflict Over the Jewish State
March 9, 2022
4:00pm - 5:00pm
  • Jeffrey Herf – Distinguished University Professor of History, University of Maryland
  • Derek J. Penslar – William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Director, The Center for Jewish Studies, Harvard University
  • Chair Laura Levine Frader – Professor Emeritus, Northeastern University; Local Affiliate & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
Badges of Servitude: White Christian Supremacy and the Rejection of Jewish and Black Equality Jews in Modern Europe Seminar — Badges of Servitude: White Christian Supremacy and the Rejection of Jewish and Black Equality
February 11, 2022
12:30pm - 1:30pm
  • Magda Teter – Shvidler Chair in Judaic Studies and Professor of History, Fordham University
  • Chair Derek J. Penslar – William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Director, The Center for Jewish Studies, Harvard University
Jewish Politics Between Minorityhood and Triage in Interwar Poland Jews in Modern Europe Seminar — Jewish Politics Between Minorityhood and Triage in Interwar Poland
November 5, 2021
12:00pm - 1:00pm
  • Kenneth Moss – Harriet and Ulrich E. Meyer Professor of Jewish History and the College, University of Chicago
  • Chair Derek J. Penslar – William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Director, The Center for Jewish Studies, Harvard University
The Alliance Israélite Universelle and the Racial Politics of Ethnography Jews in Modern Europe Seminar — The Alliance Israélite Universelle and the Racial Politics of Ethnography
October 14, 2021
12:00pm - 1:00pm
  • Rachel Smith – Ph.D. Student, Department of History, UCLA
  • Chair Tsiona Lida – Ph.D. Student in History, Harvard University; Graduate Student Affiliate & Seminar Coordinator, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
"An Unspeakable Jewish Tragedy" – Jews, the Munich Revolution, and the Rise of Nazism Jews in Modern Europe Seminar — "An Unspeakable Jewish Tragedy" – Jews, the Munich Revolution, and the Rise of Nazism
May 6, 2021
12:30pm - 1:45pm
  • Michael Brenner – Abensohn Chair in Israel Studies and Director, Center for Israel Studies History, American Universityy, American University
  • Chair Derek J. Penslar – William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Director, The Center for Jewish Studies, Harvard University
The House of Fragile Things Jews in Modern Europe Seminar — The House of Fragile Things
April 22, 2021
12:30pm - 1:45pm
  • James McAuley – Global Opinions Columnist, The Washington Post
  • Chair Derek J. Penslar – William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Director, The Center for Jewish Studies, Harvard University
The Rise and Fall of Jewish International Politics, 1919-1949 Jews in Modern Europe Seminar — The Rise and Fall of Jewish International Politics, 1919-1949
March 11, 2021
12:30pm - 1:45pm
  • Rotem Giladi – Associate Researcher, Leibniz Institute for Jewish History and Culture, Simon Dubnow in Leipzig; Adjunct Professor, Hebrew University of Jerusalem Law Faculty
  • Chair Derek J. Penslar – William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Director, The Center for Jewish Studies, Harvard University
The Jewish Eighteenth Century and the Transformative Year 1782 Jews in Modern Europe Seminar — The Jewish Eighteenth Century and the Transformative Year 1782
December 3, 2020
1:00pm - 2:15pm
  • Shmuel Feiner – Professor of Jewish History, Bar-Ilan University; Chair, The Historical Society of Israel
  • Chair Derek J. Penslar – William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Director, The Center for Jewish Studies, Harvard University
Tehran Children: On the Trail of WWII Refugees in Central Asia and the Middle East Jews in Modern Europe Seminar — Tehran Children: On the Trail of WWII Refugees in Central Asia and the Middle East
November 6, 2020
12:00pm - 1:15pm
  • Mikhal Dekel – Professor and Director of the Rifkind Center for the Humanities and Arts, City College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York
  • Chair Derek J. Penslar – William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History & Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, CES, Harvard University
Ghetto: The History of a Word Jews in Modern Europe Seminar — Ghetto: The History of a Word
October 22, 2020
1:00pm - 2:15pm
  • Daniel B. Schwartz – Associate Professor of History, Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, The George Washington University
  • Chair Derek J. Penslar – William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Director, The Center for Jewish Studies, Harvard University
WEBINAR | The Eagle and the Jewish Question: Jews in the Polish Collective Imagination Today Jews in Modern Europe Seminar — WEBINAR | The Eagle and the Jewish Question: Jews in the Polish Collective Imagination Today
May 5, 2020
2:00pm - 3:00pm
  • Konstanty Gebert – Journalist and a co-founder, Polish Council of Christians and Jews; Visiting Faculty Spring 2020, Grinell College
  • Derek J. Penslar – William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Director, The Center for Jewish Studies, Harvard University
CANCELLED - Empire of Uncertainty: Interwar Jewish Politics and British Imperialism in the Age of Nationalism Jews in Modern Europe Seminar — CANCELLED - Empire of Uncertainty: Interwar Jewish Politics and British Imperialism in the Age of Nationalism
April 23, 2020
4:30pm - 6:00pm
  • Elizabeth Imber – Assistant Professor of History and the Michael and Lisa Leffell Chair in Modern Jewish History, Clark University
  • Chair Derek J. Penslar – William Lee Frost Professor of Modern Jewish History & Resident Faculty, CES, Harvard University
WEBINAR | Theodor Herzl: The Charismatic Leader Jews in Modern Europe Seminar — WEBINAR | Theodor Herzl: The Charismatic Leader
April 17, 2020
2:00pm - 3:00pm
  • Derek J. Penslar – William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Director, The Center for Jewish Studies, Harvard University
  • Chair Alexander Kaye – Karl, Harry, and Helen Stoll Assistant Professor of Israel Studies, Brandeis University
The Bacterial Turn in Yiddish Literature: Two Case Studies Jews in Modern Europe Seminar — The Bacterial Turn in Yiddish Literature: Two Case Studies
February 20, 2020
4:30pm - 6:00pm
  • Sunny Yudkoff – Assistant Professor, Department of German, Nordic and Slavic, & the Mosse/Weinstein Center for Jewish Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • Chair Derek J. Penslar – William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Director, The Center for Jewish Studies, Harvard University
Jewish Emancipation Reimagined Jews in Modern Europe Seminar — Jewish Emancipation Reimagined
February 6, 2020
4:30pm - 6:00pm
  • David Sorkin – Lucy G. Moses Professor of Modern Jewish History, Yale University
  • Chair Derek J. Penslar – William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History, CES Resident Faculty and Seminar Chair, Harvard University
Emigration from Paradise: Jewish Stories from Interwar Hungary Jews in Modern Europe Seminar — Emigration from Paradise: Jewish Stories from Interwar Hungary
November 21, 2019
4:30pm - 6:00pm
  • llse Josepha Lazaroms – Lecturer, Graduate Gender Program, Utrecht University; Research Fellow in Jewish Studies, Martin Buber Chair, Goethe University Frankfurt; German Kennedy Memorial Fellow & Visiting Scholar 2019-2020, CES, Harvard University
  • Chair Derek J. Penslar – William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Director, The Center for Jewish Studies, Harvard University
A Premonition of the Shoah? R. A. Reiss’s Photographs of Monástir, 1917 Jews in Modern Europe Seminar — A Premonition of the Shoah? R. A. Reiss’s Photographs of Monástir, 1917
November 7, 2019
4:30pm - 6:00pm
  • Chair Derek J. Penslar – William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Director, The Center for Jewish Studies, Harvard University
Diasporic Home-Making: Jews in Paris and Berlin in the 20th Century Jews in Modern Europe Seminar — Diasporic Home-Making: Jews in Paris and Berlin in the 20th Century
October 24, 2019
4:30pm - 6:00pm
  • Leora Auslander – Professor of European Social History and the Arthur and Joann Rasmussen Professor in Western Civilization, The University of Chicago
  • Chair Derek J. Penslar – William Lee Frost Professor of Modern Jewish History & Resident Faculty, CES, Harvard University
The Survival of the Jews in France, 1940-1944 Jews in Modern Europe Seminar & European Union Seminar — The Survival of the Jews in France, 1940-1944
October 17, 2019
4:30pm - 6:00pm
  • Jacques Sémelin – Professor in Modern History and Political Science, Science Po; Senior Researcher Emeritus, Center for International Studies (CERI-CNRS)
  • Chair Derek J. Penslar – William Lee Frost Professor of Modern Jewish History; CES Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Harvard University
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