Brandeis University, United States
Prof. Dr. Antony Polonsky, Emeritus
Albert Abramson Professor of Holocaust Studies, Emeritus
Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies
Official University Profile: Brandeis University – Antony Polonsky
Expertise: Modern Jewish History; East European Jewish History; Polish-Jewish Relations; Holocaust Studies; History of Poland; Russian History; Zionism; Jewish National Movements; Modern European History.
CURRICULUM VITAE
Academic Profile
Prof. Dr. Antony Polonsky is Albert Abramson Professor of Holocaust Studies Emeritus at Brandeis University and one of the world’s foremost historians of Polish Jewry and East European Jewish history. His scholarship has profoundly influenced the study of Jewish life in Poland, the Holocaust, and the political and cultural history of East European Jewry.
Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, he studied at the University of the Witwatersrand before completing postgraduate studies at Oxford University. Throughout his distinguished academic career, he has taught at the London School of Economics, the University of Oxford, the University of Warsaw, and Brandeis University.
Prof. Polonsky is also the founding Chief Historian of the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw. His research combines political, social, intellectual, and cultural history to examine Jewish life in East Central Europe from the eighteenth century to the modern era.
QUALIFICATIONS
B.A., University of the Witwatersrand.
B.Litt., University of Oxford.
D.Phil., University of Oxford.
ACADEMIC POSITIONS AND APPOINTMENTS
Albert Abramson Professor of Holocaust Studies, Brandeis University.
Professor of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, Brandeis University.
Professor Emeritus, Brandeis University.
Reader in Modern European History, London School of Economics.
Lecturer in Modern History, University of Oxford.
Visiting Professor, University of Warsaw.
Founding Chief Historian, POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews.
Editor-in-Chief, Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry.
RESEARCH
Prof. Polonsky’s research focuses on the history of Jews in Poland and Eastern Europe from the eighteenth century through the twentieth century. His work explores Jewish political thought, nationalism, interethnic relations, antisemitism, the Holocaust, and post-war memory.
A major focus of his scholarship has been the complex relationship between Jews and their non-Jewish neighbors in East Central Europe. His publications emphasize the diversity of Jewish life in Poland before the Holocaust and examine the transformation of Jewish communities under changing political regimes.
His research has played a major role in reshaping international understanding of Polish-Jewish history and Holocaust studies.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Modern Jewish History
East European Jewish History
Polish-Jewish Relations
Holocaust Studies
History of Poland
Russian History
Jewish Political Thought
Zionism
Jewish National Movements
Modern European History
Memory Studies
Jewish Cultural History
ACADEMIC LEADERSHIP
Albert Abramson Professor Emeritus, Brandeis University.
Founding Chief Historian, POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews.
Editor-in-Chief, Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry.
Member of numerous international advisory and editorial boards in Jewish Studies and Holocaust Studies.
PRIZES AND AWARDS
Honorary Doctorate, University of Warsaw.
Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland.
Lifetime Achievement Award, Association for Jewish Studies.
Numerous international distinctions for contributions to Jewish history and Holocaust scholarship.
PUBLICATIONS
Selected Publications
The Jews in Poland and Russia, Volumes I–III. Littman Library of Jewish Civilization.
Politics in Independent Poland, 1921–1939.
The Beginnings of Communist Rule in Poland.
Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry. (Editor-in-Chief, multiple volumes).
The Neighbors Respond: The Controversy over the Jedwabne Massacre in Poland.
My Brother’s Keeper? Recent Polish Debates on the Holocaust.
Numerous articles and edited volumes on Polish Jewish history, East European Jewry, the Holocaust, nationalism, and modern European history published in leading international journals and academic presses.