"Between Utopia and Rescue: The ‘League of Socialist Life’ Before, during and after the Third Reich"
Professional Background
Professor Mark Roseman is the Pat M. Glazer Chair in Jewish Studies at Indiana University. He received a Ph.D. in history from the University of Warwick and a B.A. in history from Christ’s College, Cambridge. For his Ina Levine Invitational Scholar Fellowship, Professor Roseman conducted research for his project, “Between Utopia and Rescue: The ‘League of Socialist Life’ before, during and after the Third Reich.”
Professor Roseman is the author or editor of several publications, including, with Jürgen Matthäus, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Documenting Life and Destruction: Jewish Responses to Persecution, 1933-1946. Volume I: 1933-1938 (2009); with Frank Biess and Hanna Schissler, eds., Conflict, Catastrophe and Continuity: Essays on Modern German History (2007); with Neil Gregor and Nils Roemer, eds., German History from the Margins (2006); with Carl Levy, eds., Three Postwar Eras in Comparison: Western Europe 1918-1945-1989 (2002); The Villa, the Lake, the Meeting: The Wannsee Conference and the ‘Final Solution’ (2002) (and 14 international editions); and The Past in Hiding (2000) (and 4 international editions). He has received several awards and honors for his research, including the 2007-2008 Charles H. Revson Foundation Fellowship for Archival Research at the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum; funding from the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung; the 2003 Geschwister Scholl Prize for “In einem unbewachten Augenblick”; and the 2002 Lucas Prize Project Mark Lynton prize for his book A Past in Hiding. Professor Roseman is also the recipient of various grants and teaching awards, including a grant from the German Academic Exchange Service (2009) and he is a two-time recipient of the Indiana University Trustees Teaching Award for excellence in teaching (history, 2007; Jewish studies, 2005). In 2006 he led the Silberman Seminar for University Faculty: Teaching about the Holocaust at the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. He is on the editorial board of several journals: German History; Holocaust Studies: A Journal of History and Culture; Contemporary European History; and Revue d’histoire de la Shoah.
Fellowship Research
During his tenure at the Center, Professor Roseman researched a little-known German left wing reform group called the “Bund, Gemeinschaft für sozialistisches Leben” or League for Socialist Life. The group was of mixed Jewish and non-Jewish membership and managed to protect its Jewish members and survive Nazi oppression. His research focused on the League’s roots, character, and its actions and their significance. Through this project, Professor Roseman sought to contribute to our understanding of the preconditions and possibilities for rescue in Nazi Germany. He utilized the Museum’s extensive archival collections to complete his research.
Professor Roseman was in residence at the Mandel Center from September 1, 2010 to May 30, 2011.