Dr. Claudia Schoppmann

Professional Background

Dr. Claudia Schoppmann received a Ph.D. in modern history from the Technical University of Berlin and studied German studies, history, and journalism at the Free University of Berlin and the University of Münster in Germany. During her fellowship at the Museum, she was a Research Fellow at the Zentrum für Antisemitismusforschung in Berlin. For her Charles H. Revson Foundation Fellowship for Archival Research, Dr. Schoppmann conducted research for her project “Solidarity with Jews in Germany: A Special Form of Resistance against the National Socialist Extermination Policy.”

Dr. Schoppmann has written several books and is perhaps best known for her work Days of Masquerade: Life Stories of German Lesbians during the Third Reich (Columbia University Press, 1996), the first in-depth look of its kind to be translated into English. Her dissertation on the persecution of homosexuals during the Third Reich was also groundbreaking in the fields of Holocaust and genocide studies for its emphasis on the experiences of lesbians. She has also written extensively on German women writers in exile, Jewish women in Germany after the Holocaust, women’s biographies, and the rescue of Jews in Germany. Dr. Schoppmann has received numerous grants for her work including fellowships from the Berlin Senate to conduct research on women’s biographies during the Third Reich and women in exile. She has been affiliated with the Berlin History Workshop, Inc., the University of Bremen, and the Heimatmuseum Berlin-Charlottenburg. She presented her research on the persecution of lesbians at the 2000 symposium “The Persecution of Homosexuals under the Nazi Regime” at the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. For her work at the Zentrum für Antisemitismusforschung, Dr. Schoppmann led an extensive research project on the rescue of Jews in Germany. The project, which involved compiling a database of rescuers and the persecuted, lay the critical foundation for research on this topic.

Fellowship Research

During her tenure at the Museum, Dr. Schoppmann expanded upon her work at the Zentrum für Antisemitismusforschung and researched the solidarity of Jews in Germany as a special form of resistance against the Nationals Socialist extermination policy. For this comprehensive study, she canvassed the Museum’s archives for documentation on both successful and failed rescue attempts in Germany, examining the socioeconomic differences among individuals that aided in rescue, the risks involved in particular rescue scenarios, and the extent to which attempts were made by those acting individually or as part of a larger network.

Dr. Schoppmann was in residence at the Mandel Center from September 1 to December 23, 2003.