Professional Background
Tamara Gleason Freidberg received her PhD in history from the Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies at the University College London (UCL). During her doctoral studies, she taught history at UCL and Yiddish at Royal Holloway University. Dr. Gleason Freidberg received both her master’s degree and bachelor's degree in history from the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
Dr. Gleason Freidberg’s research has been supported by multiple institutions, including the Institute for Historical Research, School of Advanced Study at the University College London; the Rothschild Foundation Hanadiv Europe; Fordham University’s Jewish Studies Program & the New York Public Library; the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture; and the European Association for Jewish Studies. Her work includes publications on Mexican Yiddish literature, transnational Yiddish networks, and Jewish antifascists in Mexico.
In addition to her academic work, Dr. Gleason Freidberg facilitates Yiddish discussion sessions for Holocaust survivors at the Holocaust Survivors’ Centre in London. She is an active organizer of the Yiddish House London, where she has co-organized Yiddish-speaking tours, talks, and a Jewish Languages Festival.
Fellowship Research
While at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum as a Fred and Maria Devinki Memorial Fellow, Tamara Gleason Freidberg will conduct research on early Holocaust commemoration efforts in Mexico. She intends to conduct a comprehensive study of the Yiddish press and archival materials in Yiddish, Spanish, English, and Hebrew related to political, pedagogical, and cultural activism, challenging entrenched narratives about how Jews discussed and memorialized the Holocaust. Dr. Gleason Freidberg plans to utilize the Museum's vast archival collections and oral interviews that document Yiddish-antifascist activism and the multigenerational commemoration efforts of the Jewish community in Mexico.
Residency Period: September 1, 2025–April 30, 2026