The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies awards fellowships on a competitive basis to support significant research and writing about the Holocaust. We welcome proposals from scholars in all relevant academic disciplines, including history, political science, literature, Jewish studies, philosophy, religion, sociology, anthropology, comparative genocide studies, law, and others.
ABOUT THE PROGRAMS
Center fellows have access to approximately 70 million pages of Holocaust related archival documentation; the Museum’s extensive library; oral history, film, photo, art, artifacts, and memoir collections; and a Holocaust survivors and victims database. Many of these sources have not been examined by scholars and offer unprecedented opportunities to deepen knowledge about the Holocaust and further advance the field of Holocaust studies.
In addition, fellows have access to the digitized holdings of the International Tracing Service (ITS) relating to the fates of 17.5 million people who were subject to incarceration, forced labor, and displacement as a result of World War II. Over the next several years, the Museum expects the complete receipt of more than 100 million digital images of archival material from the ITS. We especially encourage proposals from applicants interested in the ITS records.
Center fellows work with other new and established Holocaust scholars from the United States and abroad, enabling them to test ideas, share research findings, debate methodological or interpretive approaches, and develop comparative frameworks for individual projects. The Center’s weekly fellows meetings and senior seminar programs provide stimulating forums for debate and discussion. Fellows also participate in the Center’s outreach activities at universities and other academic institutions, both locally and throughout the United States.
In addition to the fellowship competition, each year the Academic Committee of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council invites two distinguished scholars in the field of Holocaust studies to take up residency at the Center as the J. B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Senior Scholar-in-Residence and the Ina Levine Invitational Scholar.
AWARD DETAILS
The Center awards fellowships-in-residence to candidates working on their dissertations (ABD), postdoctoral researchers, and senior scholars. Because a principle focus of the program is to ensure the development of a new generation of Holocaust scholars, we especially encourage scholars early in their careers to apply. Applicants must be affiliated with an academic and/or research institution when applying for a fellowship. We will also consider immediate post-docs and faculty between appointments.
Melanie Hembera (left), 2012 Institut für Zeitgeschichte–United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Exchange of Scholars Fellow, and Rachel Deblinger, 2011–12 Charles H. Revson Foundation Fellow, conduct research at the Museum. —US Holocaust Memorial Museum
The specific fellowship and the length of the award are at the Center’s discretion. Individual awards generally range up to nine consecutive months of residency; a minimum of three consecutive months is required. No exceptions are allowed. Fellowships of five months or longer have proven most effective.
Stipends range up to $3,500 per month for the purpose of defraying local housing and other miscellaneous living expenses and are subject to US tax law. Residents of the Washington, DC, metropolitan area receive a reduced stipend of $1,750 per month. Awards include a stipend to offset the cost of direct travel to and from Washington, DC. Residents of the Washington, DC, metropolitan area do not receive a travel stipend.
The Center is able to provide visa assistance to fellows and their dependents, if necessary. Fellows are responsible for securing their own housing accommodations and health insurance. We do not provide support allowances for accompanying family members.
The Center provides work space and access to a computer, telephone, facsimile machine, and photocopier. We encourage cost-sharing by home institutions or other relevant organizations to extend the residency of the applicant at the Center or to make possible additional research at other institutions in the Unites States and abroad.
Our Donors
The Center’s 2013–14 fellowships are made possible by the generous support of the following individuals and organizations:
- Ben and Zelda Cohen Foundation
- Cummings Foundation
- Helene, Michael, Adam, Gina, Reid, and Carleigh Elkus
- Gordon Family Foundation
- Phyllis Greenberg Heideman and Richard D. Heideman
- Miles Lerman Center for the Study of Jewish Resistance
- William S. and Ina Levine Foundation
- Matthew Family Charitable Trust
- Norman Raab Foundation
- Judith B. and Burton P. Resnick Foundation
- Pearl Resnick Fellowship Fund
- J. B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Charitable Trust
- L. Dennis and Susan R. Shapiro
- The Sosland Family
- Takiff Family Foundation
- Diane and Howard Wohl
