"In the Best Interest of the Child: Youth, Family, and Identity Among Postwar French Jews, 1944-1954"
Professional Background
Ms. Daniella Doron earned a B.A. in English and history from the University of Maryland. During her fellowship at the Museum, she was a Ph.D. candidate at New York University working on a dual degree in history and Hebrew and Judaic studies. For her ‘Life Reborn’ Fellowship for Research on Displaced Persons, Ms. Doron conducted research for her project “In the Best Interest of the Child: Youth, Family, and Identity among Postwar French Jews, 1944-1954.”
Ms. Doron has earned various fellowships and grants to further her academic work, including the National Foundation for Jewish Culture Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, Council of European Studies: Florence J. Gould Pre-Doctoral Dissertation Grant for Research in France, and the MacCracken Fellowship. While studying at NYU, she served as a Teaching Assistant for several classes. Ms. Doron presented her paper “Les Maisons de l’espoir: Jewish Orphanages and Visions of the Future in Postwar France” to the European History Colloquium at New York University, and “Envisioning the Jewish Family” to the American Academy of Jewish Research in San Diego.
Fellowship Research
While in residence at the Center, Ms. Doron researched the symbolic significance of France’s postwar (1944-1954) reaction to hidden Jewish children. She examined the educational and welfare initiatives brought about as a reaction to the postwar orphaned Jewish children and how the orphaned children operated as important emblems of the future and the past for the Jewish community. In addition, Ms. Doron investigated the changing perception of the French family unit in the ten years following the end of WWII.
Ms. Doron was in residence at the Mandel Center from September 1, 2006 to February 28, 2007.