Ruth Leiserowitz is Professor of East European History at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Deputy Director at the German Historical Institute in Warsaw. Her research is focused on European history of the nineteenth and the twentieth century, particularly transnational history, history of the Baltic region, Jewish history, and the history of memory and border regions. Her book Sabbatleuchter und Kriegerverein: Juden in der ostpreußisch-litauischen Grenzregion 1812–1942 (Osnabrück: fibre, 2010) deals with Jewish life in a border region, emphasizing its transnational character. In her last monograph, "Heldenhafte Zeiten. Die polnischen Erinnerungen an die Revolutions- und Napoleonischen Kriege 1815–1945" [Heroic Times, Heroic Times, The Polish Memories of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars 1815-1945,] (Paderborn: Schöningh, 2017) she analyzes memories in historical novels. She is currently writing a collective biography of Warsaw students in the 19th century. In addition, she deals with questions of Jewish spaces and examines in which measure the political changes at the turn of the 18th century had an impact on the life and work of Litvak merchants. Also she coworks in the project „Klaipeda Region 1945 - 1960: The Formation of a New Society and its Reflections in Family Stories“ conducted by Sigita Kraniauskienė (PhD Sociology), financed from the Lithuanian Science Council (LIP-091/2016).
This chapter analyses interviews with Jewish residents of Klaipeda, in Lithuania, who arrived in ... more This chapter analyses interviews with Jewish residents of Klaipeda, in Lithuania, who arrived in the city after the Second World War. This part of the story of Soviet Jews immediately after the war has never been told before because of a lack of sources and because no institutionalized history existed. Jewish immigration as a feature of Soviet military and economic integration of the harbour town of Klaipėda was not a unique event, but rather took place in regions that were being integrated into the USSR in 1945. Jews who had lived there before the war and the Jewish new arrivals frequently felt a bond through their common experience of having been evacuated into the interior of the USSR. They all shared in the experience of Sovietization. The Yiddish language still played a role for many within their homes. Although the Jews were unable to practise their religion openly, given that there were no religious structures in the city after the Second World War, Klaipėda was an attractive place for immigration. The motives for settling in the city are depicted as well as aspects of Jewish identity—it is a Jewish history without Jewish institutions.
This chapter analyses interviews with Jewish residents of Klaipeda, in Lithuania, who arrived in ... more This chapter analyses interviews with Jewish residents of Klaipeda, in Lithuania, who arrived in the city after the Second World War. This part of the story of Soviet Jews immediately after the war has never been told before because of a lack of sources and because no institutionalized history existed. Jewish immigration as a feature of Soviet military and economic integration of the harbour town of Klaipėda was not a unique event, but rather took place in regions that were being integrated into the USSR in 1945. Jews who had lived there before the war and the Jewish new arrivals frequently felt a bond through their common experience of having been evacuated into the interior of the USSR. They all shared in the experience of Sovietization. The Yiddish language still played a role for many within their homes. Although the Jews were unable to practise their religion openly, given that there were no religious structures in the city after the Second World War, Klaipėda was an attractive place for immigration. The motives for settling in the city are depicted as well as aspects of Jewish identity—it is a Jewish history without Jewish institutions.
Please see the conference program. If you want to participate, please register at capkova@usd.cas... more Please see the conference program. If you want to participate, please register at capkova@usd.cas.cz by 28 February 2017.
Applying gender analysis to the field of Holocaust Studies has yielded important results. Whereas before the 1990s, most Holocaust scholarship focused almost exclusively on the experiences of male victims, expanding to include women’s experiences has both opened up new areas of inquiry and raised crucial questions about established areas. And yet this developing scholarly conversation has limitations as well. As Joan Ringelheim, an early adopter, pointed out in her later work, scholarship about women during the Holocaust easily becomes essentializing; at times even suggesting that women were somehow more capable of facing the Nazi onslaught. More recently Pascale Rachel Bos has argued that many of the perceived differences between the experiences of men and women may have more to do with the way the different genders were taught to express themselves than with actual differences. Even more fundamentally, however, examining the Holocaust and its aftermath through the lens of gender requires breaking up the Jewish or Roma family.
Tax lists from the first half of the 19th century , 2023
In the first decades of the Augustów Voivodeship within the Kingdom of Poland, the town councils ... more In the first decades of the Augustów Voivodeship within the Kingdom of Poland, the town councils kept extensive tax lists. These sources are now in the AGAD in Warsaw. The present text explains what information, especially about Jewish inhabitants, can be found in these documents. This text is based on a presentation at the 2023 IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy in London, on August 2, 2023.
Einige Spuren Erich Mendelsohns in Ostpreußen Der nachstehende Vortrag wurde in einer polnischen ... more Einige Spuren Erich Mendelsohns in Ostpreußen Der nachstehende Vortrag wurde in einer polnischen Fassung am 15. Oktober 2016 im Rahmen des ersten Erich-Mendelsohn-Festivals in Olsztyn gehalten und liegt unter dem Titel "Ślady Ericha Mendelsohna w Prusach Wschodnich" gedruckt vor. 1
CFP: New approaches to the history of the Suvalkija , 2020
The two-day workshop will take place on 14-15th October 2020 at the Regional Museum in Marijampol... more The two-day workshop will take place on 14-15th October 2020 at the Regional Museum in Marijampolė It is organised by the Vilnius Branch of the German Historical Institute Warsaw in cooperation with the Regional Museum Marijampolė. Travel and accommodation for promised contributions will be covered by the organisers
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Applying gender analysis to the field of Holocaust Studies has yielded important results. Whereas before the 1990s, most Holocaust scholarship focused almost exclusively on the experiences of male victims, expanding to include women’s experiences has both opened up new areas of inquiry and raised crucial questions about established areas. And yet this developing scholarly conversation has limitations as well. As Joan Ringelheim, an early adopter, pointed out in her later work, scholarship about women during the Holocaust easily becomes essentializing; at times even suggesting that women were somehow more capable of facing the Nazi onslaught. More recently Pascale Rachel Bos has argued that many of the perceived differences between the experiences of men and women may have more to do with the way the different genders were taught to express themselves than with actual differences. Even more fundamentally, however, examining the Holocaust and its aftermath through the lens of gender requires breaking up the Jewish or Roma family.