Dubnow Institute Leipzig Post-Doc Research Fellowship on Jewish History and Culture

The Leibniz Institute for Jewish History and Culture – Simon Dubnow seeks applications for a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship.

The Fellowship will commence effective from 1 April 2018.

The research of the Dubnow Institute (DI) – member of the Leibniz Association – focuses on Jewish history and culture, primarily in East Central and East­ern Europe, extending from the Middle Ages to the present. It represents this focus in study programs at Leipzig University, and presents the results of its research work to the academic and general public.

The Postdoctoral Fellowship hereby advertised is anchored within the research project »Material Traces of German Speaking Jews: Book Collections and Libraries in Eastern Europe after World War II«, which aims at the reconstruction of history and memory of the German speaking Jews in Eastern Europe from a material culture perspective. Focusing on Jewish book collections, which were moved, destroyed, and fragmented by the Nazis and resurfaced after the end of the war in numerous places in Poland, Czechos­lovakia, the Baltic States, and Romania, on the one hand the significance of their recovering and salvage for the rebuilding of Jewish life after 1945 will be analyzed. On the other hand, the postwar history and continuous impact of the different German-Jewish traditions and knowledge preserved in the objects within and outside of East Central Europe will be examined.

This is a full-time fellowship amounting to € 2,900 per month with a duration of two years.

Project Description

The successful applicant will write a short monography that will present – on the example of selected, iconic places for the chosen topic, such as Prague, Warsaw, Cernauti, Jerusalem and New York – the processes of assembling, looting, dispersal, realignment and transfer of Jewish book collections, thereby portraying the history and memory of German speaking Jewry from Eastern Europe in the twentieth century. The project member will also organize a research colloquium on the subject.

Eligibility

The applicant should hold a doctorate, achieved at a high level of excellence, in one of the subject disciplines relevant for the DI, in particular history, Jewish Studies, German Studies or the cultural sciences. He/She should also have acquired research experience in an international context. Knowledge of Eastern European languages, Yiddish or Hebrew are desired.

Application Deadline

Applications should be submitted by 4 March 2018; the fellowship starts on 1 April 2018, provided the approval of funding.

Documentation to be Submitted

• cover letter
• CV
• list of publications
• copy of final diplomas, certificate of doctoral degree (and copies of other relevant diplomas, transcripts and assessments)
• outline of the proposed research project, oriented to the frame of content sketched above (max. 5 pp.)
• copy of one significant publication (essay of some 20–30 pp.).