“Passage to Casablanca: Rescuing and Humanitarian Relief in Morocco during World War II”
Professional Background
Professor Susan Gilson Miller is a professor of History at the University of California, Davis. She earned her PhD in History and Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in 1976 and her MA in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, in 1964. Her area of expertise is contemporary Moroccan history.
While in residence at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, Professor Miller conducted research on a project entitled “Passage to Casablanca: Rescuing and Humanitarian Relief in Morocco during World War II.”
Professor Miller is fluent in English, French, and Arabic. She also possesses linguistic skills in German, Hebrew, Italian, and Spanish. All of these languages are important in the study of Moroccan history.
Professor Miller has a long list of published works including A History of Modern Morocco, 1830-2000 (2013); Berbers and Others: Beyond Tribe and Nation in the Maghrib, co-edited with Katherine E. Hoffman (2010); The Architecture and Memory of the Minority Quarter of the Muslim Mediterranean City, co-edited with Mauro Bertagnin (2010); and “The Mellah of Fez: Reflections on the Spatial Turn in Moroccan Jewish History,” in Jewish Topographies; Visions of Space, Traditions of Place, (2008). Courses she has taught at the University of California, Davis, include History of North Africa, 1830 to the Present; History of Jews in Muslim Lands, 600-1750; and Jews Among Muslims: The History and Cultures of the ‘Sephardim'.
Fellowship Research
During her time as Norman Raab Foundation Fellow Professor Miller examined the many holdings of the Museum that relate to Morocco, including records from the National Library of Morocco and the personal archives of Hélène Cazes-Benatar, representative of the American Joint Distribution Committee in Morocco during the war years. Her aim is to write a scholarly book about the war years in Morocco, focusing on both Jewish and non-Jewish experiences that helped to shape the politics of the post-war era.
Professor Miller was in residence at the Center from April 1 to June 30, 2014.