AJ Solovy

Professional Background

AJ Solovy is a PhD candidate at the University of California, Berkeley. She specializes in modern Europea, 20th century German history, and Jewish studies. Her research engages with mass violence and its aftermath, fascism and the extreme right, and racism and antisemitism. Prior to beginning her doctoral studies, AJ received a bachelor’s degree in history and English from Williams College and a master’s degree in history from the University of Vienna.

Fellowship Research

AJ was awarded a Robert A. Savitt Fellowship to conduct research for her dissertation, provisionally entitled “After Hitler: An Experiential History of SS Members in the Postwar World, 1950-2010.” Her work draws from a broad range of source materials in German, Spanish, French, Italian to explore how former National Socialists - and SS members in particular - reconstructed a sense of self and of history in the decades following the collapse of the Third Reich. Among other topics, her dissertation addresses the formation of SS communities in West Germany and Austria; their interactions with the judicial system; their lives in the GDR; their attitudes towards neo-Nazis; and the narratives SS men constructed about the Holocaust. During her fellowship, she will work with the Museum’s many relevant collections, including oral histories, trial transcripts, newspapers, and family papers.

Residency Period: June 1–July 31, 2023