"Jewish Family Life in the Lodz and Warsaw Ghettos"
Professional Background
Ms. Rachel Iskov earned an M.A. and a B.A. with Honors in history from the University of Toronto. During her fellowship at the Museum, she was a Ph.D. candidate at the Strassler Family Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University. For her Charles H. Revson Foundation Fellowship for Archival Research, Ms. Iskov conducted research on her doctoral dissertation “Jewish Family Life in the Lodz and Warsaw Ghettos.”
In addition to her doctoral studies, Ms. Iskov has been involved in a number of outreach activities relating to Holocaust education. She served on the planning committee for Holocaust Education Week in Toronto, Canada—a ten-day series of lectures and programs on the Holocaust involving over one hundred events. She also served as the Holocaust Education Chair of the Jewish Students’ Union at the University of Toronto, and participated in the Educator Seminar Series on “Holocaust Education: Historical Context and Pedagogical Challenges” at The Holocaust Education and Memorial Centre of Toronto. For the 60th anniversary of the destruction of the Lodz Ghetto, Ms. Iskov helped to facilitate a commemorative event in Toronto involving leaders of the city of Lodz.
Fellowship Research
During her tenure at the Museum, Ms. Iskov researched an understudied aspect of Holocaust history: Jewish life in the midst of the catastrophe. She addressed the impact of Nazi ghettoization policy on Jewish family life in the Lodz and Warsaw ghettos, examining how traditional gender and generational roles changed as a result.
Ms. Iskov was in residence at the Mandel Center from November 15, 2004 to May 18, 2005.