Dr. Bernard Suchecky

Professional Background

Dr. Bernard Suchecky received a Ph.D. in history at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris and an M.A. in sociology from the Université d’Etat in Belgium. During his fellowship at the Museum, he was Archivist at the Musée Juif de Belgique in Brussels. For his Charles H. Revson Foundation Fellowship for Archival Research, Dr. Suchecky conducted research for his book project “Jewish Resistance to Annihilation, 1939-1940.”

Dr. Suchecky is co-author with Fr. Georges Passelecq of L’Encyclique cachée de Pie XI. Une occasion manquéede l’Eglise face à l’antisémitisme (Institue de France, 1996), which has been translated and published in German, Italian, Spanish, and in English as The Hidden Encyclical of Piux XI (Harcourt Brace, 1997). He has also published many articles on his work in scholarly journals. Dr. Suchecky is the recipient of the Chanoine Deueuch Award from the Institut des sciences morales et politiques, Institut de France, two Doctoral Student Scholarships from the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, and two fellowships at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. He has worked for B’nai B’rith Europe, the International Catholic-Jewish Historical Commission, and the Université Libre de Bruxelles and Foundation de la Mémoire Contemporaine, among other institutions. With his broad language skills he is able to conduct research in French, English, Yiddish, Dutch, German, Italian, and Spanish.

Fellowship Research

During his tenure at the Museum, Dr. Suchecky researched Jewish resistance to the “Final Solution.” He analyzed the interplay between informal communication and more official efforts to publicize the Nazis’ plans, between personal and civil disobedience and organized, armed struggle. His use of newly-discovered records shed light on the understanding of resistance during the Holocaust. Dr. Suchecky focused on four thematic areas rather than a chronological or geographic basis: informing and alerting, hiding and rescue, daily resistance, and armed combat and uprisings.

Dr. Suchecky was in residence at the Mandel Center from September 1, 2003 to February 1, 2004.