Professor Cecile Kuznitz

Professional Background

Professor Cecile Kuznitz received a Ph.D. and an M.A. in history from Stanford University, and an A.B. in the history and literature of America and France from Harvard University. During her fellowship at the Museum, she was Assistant Professor of Jewish History and the Director of Jewish Studies at Bard College in New York. For her Miles Lerman Center for the Study of Jewish Resistance Fellowship, Professor Kuznitz conducted research on, “Jewish Scholarship in Times of Crisis: The YIVO Institute, 1933-1944.”

Professor Kuznitz is the author of several articles on the YIVO Institute and Jewish and Yiddish studies. During her fellowship she was awaiting the publication of her manuscript The Palace of the People: YIVO and the Making of Modern Yiddish Scholarship. She has received various awards, scholarships, fellowships, and grants to help advance her research, including: Oxford Center for Hebrew and Jewish Studies Skirball Visiting Fellowship; Center for Advanced Judaic Studies [what institution is this affiliated with] Fellowship; Georgetown University Summer Academic Grant; YIVO Institute for Jewish Research Melezin and Racolin Fellowships; Stanford University Weter Fund award; and Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture Doctoral Scholarship, among others.

Fellowship Research

During her tenure at the Center, Professor Kuznitz researched the role of Jewish scholarship in times of crisis, focusing in particular on the Yiddish Scientific Institute (YIVO) during the complex and dramatic period of 1939-1944. She studied the tension felt at YIVO during WWII between upholding scholarly objectivity while remaining engaged in contemporary political issues and culture. Professor Kuznitz conducted a full analytical treatment of YIVO during WWII concentrating on the trials and contributions [this word doesn’t make sense] the organization faced.

Professor Kuznitz was in residence at the Mandel Center from February 1 to December 30, 2007.