Dr. Robert Thompson

Professional Background

Dr. Robert Thompson holds a PhD from the department of Hebrew and Jewish studies at the University College London. He also holds a bachelor's degree in history and politics from the University of Oxford, and a master’s degree in Jewish history and culture from the University of Southampton. The Royal Historical Society awarded his master's thesis Proxime Accessit for their Rees Davies Prize 2020, and his article "'The true physicians here are the padres': British Christian Army Chaplains and the Liberation of Bergen-Belsen" will be published by The English Historical Review.

Dr. Thompson is a distinguished Trustee of the National Holocaust Centre and Museum in the United Kingdom, which serves as a crucial site for Holocaust learning and remembrance. Additionally, Thompson previously worked as senior programme manager for the Council of Christians and Jews, where he worked closely with the International School of Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem. He has presented his research widely through academic conferences, seminars, and on the BBC.

Fellowship Research

Dr. Robert Thompson was awarded the Sosland Foundation Fellowship for his research project, “Liberators, Occupiers, Pastors: Christian Encounters with Holocaust Survivors in Post-War Occupied Germany.” This project presents a new perspective on the study of Christian responses to the Holocaust, focusing on the “lived religion” of ordinary Christians rather than formal theology and institutional Church doctrine. Thompson’s research will analyze how the encounters that ordinary Christians had with Holocaust survivors in postwar occupied Germany changed the way they understood the Jewish experience of Nazi persecution and impacted their Christian faith.

Through the Sosland Foundation Fellowship, Thompson will advance his research through the diverse resources made available by the USHMM, with particular emphasis on the American perspective, to bear upon his case studies of Christians who encountered Jews in postwar occupied Germany: army chaplains, relief workers, government officials, and independent activists. By investigating these sources, Thompson aims to contextualize his microhistorical approach to make wider connections with transatlantic Christian-Jewish relations in the Holocaust’s aftermath. In doing so, Thompson’s research will reveal the previously overlooked people, places, and encounters which first influenced post-Holocaust Christianity.

Residency Period: January 1–August 31, 2024