“The Buildings are Still There, the Memories are Gone- The Yellow Star Houses of Budapest”
Professional Background
Dr. András Lénárt is currently Research Fellow at the National Széchényi Library in Budapest, Hungary. Dr. Lénárt holds a PhD in Economic and Social History, as well as three MA degrees (in History, Spanish and Sociology) from ELTE University Budapest (Hungary). As the Gerald M. Fisch Memorial Fellow at the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, Dr. Lénárt will be conducting research for his project, “The Buildings are Still There, the Memories are Gone- The Yellow Star Houses of Budapest.”
Dr. Lénárt is fluent in Spanish and English, and has reading and conversational skills in French and German.
As the recipient of several fellowships throughout his academic career, Dr. Lénárt is likewise the author of numerous articles and book chapters. Some of his publications include, “Mass Murderers in Plain Clothes: The Life of Arrow Cross Party Members,” (2014), "'Petty' Arrow-Cross supporters in the Interior Ministry files,” (2016), and “The Legacy of World War II and Belated Justice in the Hungarian Films of the early Kádár Era." His most current chapter, "Sisi Redux: The Empress Elisabeth and Her Cult in Post-Communist Hungary,” was recently published in Sissi’s World: The Empress Elisabeth in Memory and Myth (2018).
Fellowship Research
While in residence at the Mandel Center, Dr. Lenart initiated research on the Yellow-Star Houses project and investigate why so little about everyday life these Houses is known. Drawing on the Museum's resources, he sought to understand why popular memory confuses them with the so-called 'protected' houses, as well as why this topic has not become more well-known or documented throughout contemporary Holocaust discourse.
Dr. Lenart was in residence from April 1 to September 30, 2018.