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Ms. Jennifer Marlow

Robert Savitt Fellow
"Nannies and Housemaids: Female Aid and the Family in Nazi Occupied Poland"

Professional Background

Jennifer Marlow is a Ph.D candidate in history at Michigan State University. She received a B.A. in history at Saginaw Valley State University in Michigan. For her Robert Savitt Fellowship, Ms. Marlow conducted research on her dissertation, “Nannies and Housemaids: Female Aid and the Family in Nazi Occupied Poland.”

Ms. Marlow is the recipient of many fellowships and awards, including an American Council of Learned Societies Dissertation Fellowship in East European Studies, two Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships, two Michigan State University History Department Summer Language Study Fellowships, the Frank and Adelaide Kussy Fellowship for the Study of the Holocaust and the Kenneth E. Corey Research Enhancement Award. In 2007, she presented her research at the Women’s History Symposium at Saginaw Valley State University. She will present her current research this September at the upcoming International Polish Studies Conference at the University of Michigan, and at the Yad Vashem International Institute for Holocaust Research conference “Hiding, Sheltering and Borrowing Identities as Avenues of Rescue During the Holocaust,” which will take place in December 2010 in Jerusalem. Ms. Marlow has language skills in Polish and German.

Fellowship Research

During her tenure at the Center, Ms. Marlow researched the role of Polish Catholic nannies and housemaids in assisting their former Jewish employers during the Holocaust. Her research analyzed the actions of Polish and Jewish women while including the entire family dynamic, and suggested that pre-war patterns of interaction between the two communities affected the willingness of individuals to involve themselves in rescue and resistance. To complete her research, Ms. Marlow utilized the Museum’s extensive archival collections, including the Emmanuel Ringelblum Collection and the Shoah Visual History Foundation oral testimonies collection. She also used Jewish survivors’ testimonies and both oral histories and memoirs of Jewish and Polish authors.

Ms. Marlow was in residence at the Mandel Center from July 1 to August 30, 2010 and March 31 to April 13; July 15 to August 30, 2011.