Professional Background
Alexandra Pulvermacher is a researcher at the University of Klagenfurt, Austria, where from 2018 to 2023 she also served as a pre-doctoral assistant. She holds a PhD and a master’s degree in Slavic studies and history.
Dr. Pulvermacher’s research examines the repression of the Polish resistance by the Gestapo and the NKVD between September 1939 and June 1941. Her findings reveal that, in Soviet and German occupied Poland, the NKVD suppressed the resistance more effectively than the Gestapo due to greater personnel resources, more extensive institutional experience, and the implementation of more sophisticated methods.
Dr. Pulvermacher is currently engaged in a research project on the fate of Soviet prisoners of war (POWs) in occupied Ukraine, 1941-1944. She has recently published an article in the Revue d’histoire de la Shoah, examining the experiences of Jewish female Red Army soldiers during World War II.
Ms Pulvermacher has been awarded fellowships by the Center for Holocaust Studies at the Institute for Contemporary History, Munich and from Yad Vashem .
Fellowship Research
While at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum as a Randolph and Elizabeth Braham Fellow, Alexandra Pulvermacher will examine the fate of Soviet Jewish POWs in the German-occupied territories of the Soviet Union. There they were systematically identified, segregated, and murdered, and consequently, their prospects of survival were markedly lower than those of non-Jewish POWs.
Dr. Pulvermacher's research addresses the following questions: What survival strategies did Jewish POWs develop and employ under conditions of extreme violence and deprivation? To what extent did internal social and ethical dynamics among Soviet prisoners shape the status and treatment of Jewish inmates? What specific challenges confronted those Jewish POWs who succeeded in escaping from captivity? How did the experiences of female Jewish POWs diverge from those of their male counterparts? Finally, how did Jewish POWs experience liberation and filtration?
Dr. Pulvermacher plans to utilize the Museum’s extensive archival holdings, including relevant copies of key post-Soviet archives, the interview collection “Jewish Fates: Ukraine – Twentieth Century,” and the photographic collection “Nazi Persecution of Soviet Prisoners of War.”
Residency Period: January 1, 2027 – April 30, 2027