Start of Main Content

Ms. Kelsey Norris

L. Dennis and Susan R. Shapiro Fellow
"Displaced Persons and the Politics of Family Reunification in the Postwar Soviet Union"

Professional Background

Kelsey Norris is currently PhD candidate in History at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. She holds an MA in History from the same institution. As a L. Dennis and Susan R. Shapiro Fellow, Ms. Norris will be conducting research for her project entitled “Displaced Persons and the Politics of Family Reunification in the Postwar Soviet Union.”

Ms. Norris has speaking and reading abilities in Russian. She has reading abilities in both Polish and German.  

Ms. Norris is the author of “Soviet Displaced Persons and the Politics of Family Reunification in the USSR, 1939-1991” in Freilegungen: Rebuilding Lives – Child Survivors and DP Children in the Aftermath of the Holocaust and Forced Labor (2017). She has presented at the 2016 Max Mannheimer Studienzentrum and International Tracing Service (ITS) Academic Workshop and the 2015 Slavics Without Borders Graduate Student Conference.

Fellowship Research

While in residence at the Mandel Center, Ms. Norris researched post-World War II population displacement and the politics of family reunification in the Soviet Union. She used the museum’s various collections, including the International Tracing System archive, to explore how Soviet citizens attempted to find their lost relatives.

Ms. Norris was in residence at the Mandel Center until November 30, 2017.