Ms. Laura Brade

Professional Background

Ms. Laura Brade is a PhD Candidate in History, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and her dissertation is entitled “Coerced Voluntary Migration: Jewish Flight from the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, 1939-1941.” She earned her Master’s Degree in History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2011. Ms. Brade presented a paper entitled “Integration through Emigration: Organizational Cooperation in Facilitating Flight from the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia” at the World Congress of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem, 2013 as well as a paper entitled “‘Temporary’ Exile: National Differences in Czech and Austrian Kindertransport Experience” at the Powell and Heller 2011 Holocaust Conference, Pacific Lutheran University in Parkland, Washington. She possesses skills in Czech, German, and Spanish. While in residence at the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, Ms. Brade worked on her project entitled “Coerced Voluntary Migration: Jewish Flight from the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, 1939-1941.”

Ms. Brade was an organizer and presenter for the UNC Transnational and Minority History Working Group Conference in 2012. She also participated in a summer research workshop held at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, “Exploring the plight and path of Jewish refugees, survivors, and Displaced Persons,” in 2012. Ms. Brade has earned several awards and fellowships, including the Claims Conference Saul Kagan Fellowship in Advanced Shoah Studies, 2012-2013 and 2013-2014; Fulbright U.S. Student Fellowship – Czech Republic, 2012-2013; European Holocaust Research Infrastructure Fellowship, 2012; and Yad Vashem International Institute Summer Fellowship, 2011.

Fellowship Research

For her Margit Meissner Fund for the Study of the Holocaust in Czech Lands Fellowship, Ms. Brade examined the database of the International Tracing Service as well as records relating to countries of immigration and those of international relief organizations. The International Tracing Service (ITS) database is the best source for determining the fate of potential emigrants, in this case those who were trying to escape Nazi persecution in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia in the modern Czech Republic. The archival paper trails of many potential emigrants end without us knowing if they were successful in their attempts at flight, and the ITS database is a crucial resource for many researchers including Ms. Brade. 

Ms. Brade was in residence at the Mandel Center from October 1, 2013 to February 29, 2014.