Dr. Beate Meyer

Professional Background

Beate Meyer is Senior Researcher at the Institute of the History of German Jews in Hamburg, Germany. She received a Ph.D. in political science, and M.A. and B.A. equivalents in political science, history, and German literature at the University of Hamburg. For her Ben and Zelda Cohen Fellowship, Dr. Meyer conducted research for her project, “The Reich Association of Jews in Germany and the Deportation of the Jews from the ‘Old Reich.’”

Dr. Meyer is the author of numerous publications, including the recently published, “Between Self-Assertion and Forced Collaboration: The Reich Association of Jews in Germany, 1939-1945” in editors Francis R. Nicosia and David Scarse’s Jewish Life in Nazi Germany: Dilemmas and Responses (2010); “The Fine Line between Responsible Action and Collaboration: The Reichsvereinigung der Juden in Deutschland and the Jewish Community, 1938-1945” in editors Beate Meyer, Hermann Simon, and Chana Schuetz’s Jews in Nazi Berlin (2009); and “The Inevitable Dilemma: The Reich Association (Reichsvereinigung) of Jews in Germany, the Deportations, and the Jews who went Underground” in editor Moshe Zimmermann’s On Germans and Jews under the Nazi Regime (2006), and “Juedische Mischlinge”: Rassenpolitik und Verfolgungserfahrung 1933-1945 [Half Jews: Racial Policies and Experiences of Persecution, 1933-1945] (1999).

Fellowship Research

During her tenure at the Center, Dr. Meyer researched the dual role of the Reich Association of Jews in Germany, which worked in the interests of the German-Jewish community, but at the same time acted under the comprehensive control of the Gestapo. Her research focused on the motivation of the German-Jewish officials who took responsibility for their community during the organizations existence. In addition to the digitized records of the International Tracing Service, Dr. Meyer used the Museum’s Joseph and Loeb Family Papers, the Records of the Berlin Gestapo, the Questionnaires of the Regional Councils and the Joseph Dainow Collection. Survivor testimonies and other collections also played a role in Dr. Meyer’s research.

Dr. Meyer was in residence at the Mandel Center from September 1 to December 30, 2010.