Robert Coleman

PhD Student

Education

• B.A. in History, William & Mary, 2025

Interest Area(s)

Holocaust Studies; Jewish history; Eastern European Studies; Social History; Oral History; Memory Studies; Gender and Sexuality Studies; Cultural Production; Antisemitism

I specialize in Eastern European Jewish history and am especially concerned with the history and memory of the Holocaust in the former Soviet Union. My work seeks to place survivor and local witness testimonies in conversation with each other to examine issues such as everyday life, gendered experiences, social dynamics, cultural production, and interethnic/class relations during the Holocaust. I am particularly interested in exploring the Holocaust in the Vilna Ghetto and Lithuanian provinces to reveal how Jews and locals lived through, survived, witnessed, and remembered Nazi occupation and genocide. Ultimately, my research hopes to humanize and underscore Jews' and locals' experiences in order to contribute to our understanding of the Holocaust as well as other genocides and mass atrocities.