Holocaust/Genocide

[kotov]

Anybody else studying/planning to study in this area? If so, where did you apply/where do you go? I applied to Clark, which is like the Holy Grail for this field, I gather, as well as a few others...I realize I may be the only one in this area, as it's kind of unpleasant.

[Bukharan]

Did you consider Britain? Manchester and University College London offer an MA in Holocaust Studies.

[kotov]

Did you consider Britain? Manchester and University College London offer an MA in Holocaust Studies.

Eh. I was aware of it but it was never a realistic option for me. I don't have the financial footing for it. :/

[TMP]

Holocaust is one of my interests. I am actually puzzled by your list for PhD and MA. I did look up the PhD programs and I applaud you for finding those people. I looked up at least 20-25 schools, mainly finding names through library catalogues and the Journal of Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Why didn't you look at UCLA, American, or Northwestern? They each have someone who specializes in the Holocaust and another person or two in Eastern Europe. I know that Romania isn't widely studied here in the US but anyone doing Eastern Europe should be interested in advising you in general. Also you can always get a Romanian historian from another school for your diss committee if you need to. American's deadline is January 15th so you can still apply.

One of the posters last year was a Romanian interested in Romanian history and was accepted off a waitlist at Indiana. You might want to search through the posts for the person's profile.

Although super-competitive, look into applying to the US Holocaust Museum for a summer internship. The people are just fabulous. They'll certainly take a serious interest in you because of your languages (Romanian, Ukrainian). It's the biggest factor there. I was accepted because of my Russian, even though I had only just one year of it at the time! I found out only because, on the first day, the guy said to me, "Here are the Russian stuff that you need to read through and tell me what's in this. So you know, the fact that you have Russian is the reason why I hired you over everyone else." I think my dictionary almost broke from all the flipping through for translations.

How's your Deutsch?

[kotov]

I did look at UCLA and American. Honestly, I wish I had applied to American already. It just got kind of lost somewhere along the line of my list of things to do. I may still try to sneak that in before the deadline. UCLA wasn't realistic for me because of financial considerations, really -- even if I had gotten funding, I couldn't afford to live there.

I had looked into the Holocaust Museum too. My main problem would be finding somewhere to live in the area and the fact that it's way up the East Coast from me; don't get me wrong, I'd love to work there, and since Romania was responsible for more deaths than anyone other than Germany in the Holocaust, I'd imagine its a useful language skill. I'm still going to apply and see what happens.

Romanian and the chance to study it more in-depth was the main thing that attracted me to Indiana, as they have a couple of faculty in history who are from Romania (and the fact that it's my most well-known and most effusive letter writer's alma mater wasn't bad either).

My German is alright I guess? As good as it can get for one year? If I had the money I would stay over the summer and work on more of it, though I'm pretty good at teaching myself and can pick languages up quickly (I minored in English and focused on linguistics).

I'm aware I picked schools erratically. I mentioned my reasons for Indiana, and I'd think Clark is pretty obvious (the Strassler Center is like the Mecca of Holocaust Studies in the US). Central Michigan may not be highly ranked, but funding is at least guaranteed, and you get to spend a year in Germany. Also, a professor there wrote one of my favorite books on the Holocaust and would be an eager advisor for some of the ideas I have floating around that relate more to Germany. South Carolina was a choice both for geography and more geared toward my interest in Eastern Europe, though I'd still focus on genocide (the Holodomor). Auburn and Georgia Tech were to appease my mother by picking something close to home. Overbearing bitch didn't even go to college and wants to tell me how to run my grad school application process even though she clearly doesn't understand how it works and can't grasp the concept of funding. A couple of the MA programs are good fits, but I hope to God it doesn't come down to that point.

[TMP]

HAHA. My mother was less-than-thrilled about my Midwest schools. "It's in middle of nowhere!" I said, "Mom, the NFL stadium is within an hour's drive and the team is actually GOOD." That usually gets her to be quiet. But it doesn't stop her from praying that I'll get into one of the East Coast schools. My grandmother wanted me to apply to California schools, where she is, but the recent budget collapse convinced her to let her dreams go. The parents and grandparents are now in total understanding of how the whole PhD thing works (after 2 cycles... gosh...) and are supportive of wherever I get in, just as long as I get accepted with funding.

Dang, I wished I had looked more into CMU. A year in Germany as part of the academic program? Awesome. Yes, your Romanian would certainly be an advantage but know enough German to navigate your way around the library and the archives to find the documents you need (and then you can give them to someone who actually knows German to translate).

[kotov]

Yeah, I just don't think mom understands that there aren't that many good schools in the south for what I want to do. And yeah, Central Michigan is pretty sweet for the level of program it is, I guess. It's even centered around transnational history. Sadly, the deadline was the 3rd. I'll be really depressed if I don't at least get in there. My real hope is to get to go to Ukraine to look through the thousands of pages of archives they just declassified on the Holodomor. Tons of opportunity for new and original research/perspective. It's an exciting prospect to me.

Edited January 5, 2011 by kotov

[downrabbithole]

I am interested in studying it as well. I am very interested in theater and France, so I'm looking to write a dissertation on the Holocaust in Film and theatre in France. Clark was 100% not interested in me because I'm not totally researched based. In addition, I feel like staying in the US to do a PhD on the Holocaust seems bizarre. I'm really hoping to go to Europe, but it will all come down to $$$, scholarships, etc.

[rsldonk]

With the Romanian aspect, have you maybe looked at a place with a good Slavic/East European Studies program? Washington would be a good place to look too.

[kotov]

That was my rationale for applying to Indiana. I generally tried to stay east of the Mississippi with my applications for family reasons. Washington is literally at the opposite corner of the country for me...doubt I'd have gotten in anyway. Maybe Indiana? In my wildest dreams?

[vtstevie]

I'm an Americanist in the MA program at the University of Vermont and can tell you from experience that many of my colleagues study Modern Germany and the holocaust. I can't speak to it myself, but apparently our program is fairly highly regarded and has plenty of resources and funding for those who study this area.