Ms. Tamar Lewinsky

Professional Background

Ms. Tamar Lewinsky earned an M.A. in Jewish studies from the University of Duisburg, an M.A. in Yiddish language from the University of Düsseldorf, and a B.A. in Jewish studies from the University of Duisburg. During her fellowship at the Museum, she was a Ph.D. candidate in Jewish history and Lecturer in Yiddish at the University of Munich. For her Sosland Foundation Fellowship, Ms. Lewinsky conducted research on, “Goles Daytshland: Yiddish Literature in Germany, 1945-1950.”

Ms. Lewinsky is the author of “Displaced Writers? Zum kulturellen Selbstverstaendnis jiddischer DP-Schriftsteller,” in Susanne Schoenborn (ed.), Zwischen Erinnerung und Neubeginn (Munich 2006); and, with Anthony Kauders, “Juedisches Leben nach der Katastrophe,” in Michael Brenner and Richard Bauer (eds.), Juedisches Muenchen, (Munich, 2006). She is the recipient of several prestigious scholarships including the Racolin Memorial Fellowship from the YIVO Institute and fellowships from Swiss National Science Foundation, Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, and the Otto-Herz-Studienstiftung. Ms. Lewinsky has completed Yiddish studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the University of Bruxelles, the Oxford Institute for Yiddish Studies, and the University of Vilnius. She has also participated in the 2005 ‘Life Reborn’ Summer Research Workshop on Survival, Displacement, Struggle: Jewish DPs in the Wake of the Holocaust, organized by the Miles Lerman Center for the Study of Jewish Resistance at the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Fellowship Research

During her tenure at the Center, Ms. Lewinsky conducted research on the body of literature created by Jewish displaced persons in the aftermath of the Holocaust, which consists of several major Yiddish newspapers and dozens of published books. In particular she examined the historical and social contexts in which Yiddish and Hebrew writing emerged after the war. Ms. Lewinksy also examined the impact of literary creativity on Jewish identity and Holocaust survivors immediately after the war.

Ms. Lewinsky was in residence at the Mandel Center from July 1 to 31, 2006.