Center for Medicine, Holocaust and Genocide Studies

The Center for Medicine, Holocaust and Genocide Studies offers Strauss Fellowships for early-career scholars: ABDs, postdocs and assistant professors (or equivalent professional stage). Made possible through the generosity of Franklin Strauss, MD, these fellowships support scholarship addressing the intersection of healthcare and medicine with the Holocaust, other genocides or mass violence, broadly conceived. Reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of the center, fellowships are open to scholars studying relevant topics through any number of fields. 

Antara Chatterjee, PhD, was the center’s inaugural Strauss Fellow. While in residence at the center in June and July 2022, Dr. Chatterjee, assistant professor of English in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research in Bhopal, India, worked on her project "Disease, Contagion and Trauma in the 1947 Partition of India." Her research examines the experiences of disease, particularly infectious disease, within the histories of mass violence and displacement among the refugees of the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947. In particular, she explores how disease added a further layer and dimension to the loss of life and trauma from the partition. As a literary and cultural scholar interested in histories of collective violence, trauma and memory as well as illness and contagion, Chatterjee's interdisciplinary approach to her subject lies at the intersection of the studies of medical humanities, trauma and memory.

Alexandra M. Szabó has been selected for the 2022-23 Strauss Fellowship. A doctoral candidate at Brandeis University, Szabó is conducting research for her dissertation, which is tentatively titled "Fertility Events and Experiences of the Holocaust: A Look at Hungarian Women." Her project focuses on persecuted women's experiences of abortions, sterilizations, stillbirths and miscarriages in the shadow of Nazi persecution. She seeks to understand this specific history of Hungarian Jewish and Romani women's intimate experiences before, during and after the Holocaust, with an integrated historical approach. Through her investigation of this underexplored topic, Szabó will illuminate a new dimension of Holocaust history by providing deeper insight of the oppressive systems that politicized women's reproductive health.

The call for applications for the 2023-24 Strauss Fellowship is now available. The deadline for submission is April 30, 2023.