Ms. Doreen Eschinger

Professional Background

Ms. Doreen Eschinger received an M.A. in modern history, German philology and anthropology from Humboldt University in Germany. During her fellowship at the Museum, she was a Ph.D. candidate in history at Humboldt University. For her Sosland Foundation Fellowship, Ms. Eschinger conducted research on “Hungarian Jewish Women in the Holocaust (Auschwitz-Ravensbrück).”

Ms. Eschinger has been a visiting lecturer at the Eötvös Lorànd University in Budapest, Hungary. She has presented her work at international conferences and received the Robert Bosch Foundation Scholarship to teach German at the University of Miskolc, Hungary. Ms. Eschinger’s language skills, including fluency in English and German; working knowledge of French and Hungarian; and basic knowledge of Russian and Hebrew, provide her with access to a broad range of archival materials to support her research.

Fellowship Research

While in residence at the Center, Ms. Eschinger conducted original research on the Hungarian Jewish women sent to the Auschwitz and Ravensbrück concentration camps. She examined the unity that existed within the camps amongst the Hungarian Jewish women in regards to gender and the “loss of identity” formed by the extreme conditions of camp life. Ms. Eschinger also focused on the lives of the surviving women and the ways in which concentration camp experiences influenced their lives beyond 1945.

Ms. Eschinger was in residence at the Mandel Center from August 1 to October 31, 2006.