Ms. Alexa Stiller

Professional Background

Ms. Alexa Stiller received an M.A. in history, sociology, and political science from the University of Hannover in Germany. At the time of her fellowship, she was a Ph.D. candidate and a lecturer at the Department of History, University of Hannover. For her Charles H. Revson Foundation Fellowship for Archival Research, Ms. Stiller conducted research for her dissertation project, “The ‘Volkstumspolitik’ of the SS, 1939-1945.”

Ms. Stiller is the author of “Zwischen Zwangsgermanisierung und Fünfter Kolonne: ‘Volksdeutsche’ als Häftlinge und Bewacher in den Konzentrationslagern” in Akim Jah, Christoph Kopke, Alexander Korb, and Alexa Stiller, eds. Nationalsozialistische Lager . Neue Forschungen zur Geschichte der Konzentrationslager und zur Gedenkstättenpädagogik. (Muenster 2006), and “Die fruehe Strafverfolgung der nationalsozialistischen Vertreibungs- und Germanisierungsverbrechen: der ‘RuSHA Prozess’ in Nuernberg 1947-1948” in Timm C. Richter, ed. Krieg und Verbrechen. Situation und Intention: Fallbeispiele. (Muenchen 2006). Ms. Stiller is the recipient of research grants and scholarships from the German Historical Institute in Warsaw, the Heinrich Boell Foundation, and the German Historical Institute in Washington, D.C. She has also had internships at the U.S. National Archives and Record Administration and the Federal Archives in Berlin.

Fellowship Research

While in residence at the Center, Ms. Stiller researched the RuSHA Case of the Nuremberg Subsequent Proceedings. She examined the conception of the case, raised questions about why other agencies which deported Jews and Poles were not tried, and what connection the prosecutors found between the ‘Volkstumspolitik’ and the Holocaust while they were first using the term “genocide” by R. Lemkin. Ms. Stiller’s research revealed a greater understanding of the ‘Final Solution’ and its connection to the Germanization of living space and the National Socialist “new order”.

Ms. Alexa Stiller was in residence at the Mandel Center from March 1 to July 31, 2007.