Ms. Christine Hartig

Professional Background

Christine Hartig received an M.A. in medieval and modern history from the University of Göttingen. During her fellowship at the Center, she was a Ph.D. candidate in history at the University of Erfurt in Germany. For her Sosland Foundation Fellowship, Ms. Hartig conducted research for her project “Changing Relationships between the Generations in Jewish Families under the Pressure from Nazi Persecution.”

Ms. Hartig is the author of “‘Conversations about Taking Our Own Lives – Oh, a Poor Expression for a Forced Deed in Hopeless Circumstances’: Suicide among German Jews 1933-1943” (Leo Baeck Institute Yearbook, 2007); “‘Eigene Geschichte’ als Konkurrenz zur Standardisierung von Lebensläufen – Zwei Autogiographien um 1900” [“‘One’s Own History’ in Competition with the Standardizing of Life Stories – 2 Autobiographies around the Year 1900”]; and with Morton Brandt, et. al., “‘Meine ganze Existenz soll sich in Schriftzügen auflösen’,” in Die Kunst der Benennung: Autobiographische Bildungsforschung am Beispiel von Hann-Joseph Orthelis Essay ‘Das Element des Elephanten,’ edited by Hans Rüdiger Müller [“My Entire Existence Should Dissolve in Letters” in The Art of Naming: Autobiographic Education Research as Exemplified by Hann-Joseph Orthelis’ Essay ‘The Element of the Elephant’] (Göttingen, 2005). She is the recipient of a Ph.D. Studentship from the Max Planck Institute for History, Göttingen, Germany; a Fritz Halbers Fellowship from the Leo Baeck Institute in New York; a Minerva Short-Term Research Grant from the Minerva Foundation, Munich, Germany; and has presented at several conferences and seminars. Ms. Hartig has worked as an academic assistant, student assistant, and tutor for several professors at the University of Göttingen.

Fellowship Research

During her tenure at the Center, Ms. Hartig studied the changes between generations in Jewish families during the Holocaust. She focused on the existence and relevance of ideals of the family; conceptions of childhood and adulthood; changes in family relationships; and strategies against persecution. Ms. Hartig compared the records of five Jewish families of different social and religious backgrounds with public documents such as newspapers and publications of Jewish organizations. Her research provided insight into the importance of institutions such as aid agencies in England, Palestine, and the United States in family interactions and ideals of generations.

Ms. Hartig was in residence at the Mandel Center from February 1 to July 30, 2008.