Dr. Idit Gil

Professional Background

Idit Gil is Senior Lecturer at The Open University (Israel). She received a Ph.D. and an M.A. in history at Tel Aviv University, and an M.A. in history at Indiana University at Bloomington. For her Phyllis Greenberg Heideman and Richard D. Heideman Fellowship, Dr. Gil conducted research for her project, “The ‘Radom Transport’ – Natzweiler #III: A Case Study about the Experience of Jewish Forced Labor.”

Dr. Gil is the recipient of scholarships and awards, including the Porter Scholarship for outstanding Ph.D. candidates (1997), the Scholarship for Latin American Studies (1996-1997) and the Kouriel Scholarship for outstanding Ph.D. candidates in the social studies and in the humanities (1996). Dr. Gil has taught several courses on democracy, social democracy, nationalism and teaching the Holocaust and genocides.

Fellowship Research

During her time at the Center, Dr. Gil conducted research on the transport of 2,187 Jewish men from Radom (Poland) to KZ Vaihingen (Germany) via Auschwitz. Her research focused on personalizing the experiences of the workers who came from several geographical regions and toiled in various work frameworks on various assignments. Dr. Gil aimed to study the labor development of the ‘Radom Transport,’ examine the question of economy versus ideology, determine the power struggles between various bodies, investigate the social aspects of the workers’ experiences, view survival strategies and understand the KZ German camps. Dr. Gil utilized mostly the ITS records and oral testimonies to complete her research, as well as archival collections from Poland, such as the Generalgouvernement Amt des Districts Radom records, 1940-1944; the German Occupation records from the Archive of New Records, Poland; the Records of the Regierung des Generalgouvernement; and records from Wiezienie w Radomia – the prison in Radom – and concentration camps in Germany such as Vaihingen, Hesental, Bisingen, Dautmergen, Kochendorf, Leonberg, and Unterinexigen.

Dr. Gil was in residence at the Mandel Center from April 1 to July 30, 2011.