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Professor Hagit Lavsky

Phyllis Greenberg Heideman and Richard D. Heideman Fellow
"German-Jewish Refugees Who Arrived in the USA After 1945: A Chapter in Migration Through Stages"

Professional Background

Professor Hagit Lavsky earned a Ph.D. in contemporary Jewish history, an M.A. in contemporary Jewry and economic history, and a B.A. in history and philosophy from Hebrew University of Jerusalem. During her fellowship at the Museum, she was the Samuel L. and Perry Haber Chair in Post-Holocaust Studies at the Institute of Contemporary Jewry and Professor at the Department of Jewish History at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. For her Phyllis Greenberg Heideman and Richard D. Heideman Fellowship, Professor Lavsky researched “German-Jewish Refugees Who Arrived in the USA after 1945: A Chapter in Migration through Stages.”

Professor Lavsky is the author, editor and co-editor of six books including The History of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem: A Period of Consolidation and Growth (2005); New Beginnings: Holocaust Survivors in Bergen-Belsen and the British Zone (2002) and The Foundation of Zionist Financial Policy: The Zionist Commission, 1918-1921 (1980). Her book Before Catastrophe: The Distinctive Path of German Zionism, 1918-1932 (1990) won the esteemed Arnold Wiznitzer Prize for best book of the year in the field of Jewish history. She is also the author of nearly 30 scholarly articles on a range of subjects relating to Jewish immigration to Palestine, pre-state Israeli society, and Zionism, among other topics. The recipient of a number of distinguished honors for her path-breaking research, Professor Lavsky was awarded a four-year research grant from the Israel Science Foundation to research Jewish immigration to Palestine in the first half of the 20th century. Professor Lavsky has held visiting professorships at Harvard University, Brandeis University, and New York University; was a Research Fellow at St. Antony’s College, Oxford University; and an Honorary Research Fellow at University College of London. She was also a 2004-2005 Matthew Family Fellow at the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies.

Fellowship Research

During her tenure at the Museum, Professor Lavsky examined a specific segment of the German-Jewish emigrants-refugees, who left Germany between 1933 and 1941, but reached the United States after 1945. This study was part of a larger book project on German-Jewish interwar migration that compares the demographics, socio-economic characteristics, and process of adaptation and integration of German Jews who immigrated to Palestine, the United States, and Britain after World War II.

Professor Hagit Lavsky was in residence at the Mandel Center from July 1 to December 30, 2007.