Dr. Elliot Nidam Orvieto

Professional Background

Dr. Elliot Nidam Orvieto received a master's in Contemporary Jewry from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a PhD from the History of the Jewish People Department at Tel Aviv University. He currently serves as the Academic Assistant to the Head of Yad Vashem's International Institute for Holocaust Research and the Head of the Academic Affairs Section, of International Institute for Holocaust Research, where he has been involved in different projects including the Children's Project (Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture) 1999-2003; Righteous Among the Nations in France and Belgium (Ford Foundation Project) 2006-2010; and The Hiding Jews in Convents (Cooper Chair); and Collection of Archives from Religious Institutions Project, 2012-present.

Dr. Nidam Orvieto has authored several articles, including "The Help Given to Jews in Convents in France during the Holocaust: Introduction to the Topic" in Zagłada Żydów. Studia i Materiały (2016); “Jewish Rescue by a French Capuchin" in Yad Vashem Studies (2014). He has also presented papers at many conferences, most recently at the 2023 Lessons and Legacies Conference for his paper, "A Reexamination of the Issues Surrounding the Retrieval of Jewish Children from Catholic Religious Institutions in France.”

Fellowship Research

Dr. Elliot Nidam Orvieto was awarded the Phyllis Greenberg and Richard D. Heideman Invitational Fellowship for his research project, "Between Periphery and Center: The Return of Jewish Children, Hidden in Roman Catholic Religious Institutions in France and Belgium." His research investigates Jewish children who remained in Roman Catholic religious institutions in France and Belgium after the liberation. The project reexamines the often controversial issues and debates surrounding custody and the return of Jewish children, who had been hidden in Catholic institutions during the war, to surviving parents, relatives, or organizations operated by the Jewish community. This study will analyze the policies, interests, and decisions by the Church's center, i.e., the Vatican, and the passage of instructions to the Church's periphery, i.e., the religious communities, and the intermediate level, i.e., the local episcopacy. It will analyze to what extent moral and doctrinal issues and attitudes toward Jews, influenced the decision-making process and the different responses. Moreover, the research will shed light on the actions and decisions that different religious communities took on the grassroots level regarding the remaining Jewish children in their care. Furthermore, it investigates to what extent the religious communities operated following the policies of the Church's center and Canon Law, as well as whether their actions were, to some extent, a continuation of their traditional patterns of operation. Utilizing an interdisciplinary approach, Dr. Nidam Orvieto examines Jewish and non-Jewish perspectives through the Museum's archival collections in relation to the Vatican and the Catholic religious institutions during and after the war. 

Residency Period: July 1, 2024-September 31, 2024