After receiving her B.A. in History and Germanic Studies at the University of Maryland (2015), Lauren completed a year of AmeriCorps service as a “Volunteer in Service to America,” working to administer the Holocaust survivor program at the Jewish Social Service Agency in Rockville, Maryland (2015-2016), before coming to to ̽̽ to begin an M.A. in History. She was drawn to the History program at ̽̽ for the opportunity it provided her to work under the supervision and guidance of the Holocaust historians affiliated with the Miller Center for Holocaust Studies.
During her time affiliated with the Miller Center at ̽̽, Lauren studied under and worked as a research and teaching assistant for Professors Jonathan Huener, Francis Nicosia, Susanna Shrafstetter, and Alan Steinweis. These historians provided the training and opportunities necessary for success in the field of Holocaust studies. She remembers fondly the care and dedication the late Frank Nicosia showed in discussing her research and writing. As her advisor, Jonathan Huener’s knowledge of the Holocaust in Poland was influential in her trajectory to study the experiences of Polish women forced laborers in Germany during World War II. The support of the Miller Center allowed her to undergo German language training, research at the National Archives and the USHMM, and present her work at conferences.
She feels that one of the most important learning experiences at ̽̽ was how well-rounded the program was in exposing her to different histories. She took a course on Latin American History with Professor Sarah Osten, for which she conducted oral history interviews with former Peace Corps Volunteers, including her father, for a research paper on the Guatemalan genocide. Another notable course at ̽̽ was on the Indigenous Cree of the James Bay Region with Professor David Massell, which included a week-long trip to Quebec.
Lauren’s master’s research at ̽̽ focused on “Ausländerkinder-Pflegestätten,” or “foreign child-care facilities,” German facilities established across the German Reich during World War II as collection centers for the infants born to Polish and Soviet civilian forced laborers employed in the German war economy. This early focus on Polish forced labor, which she began as an intern at the USHMM (2014-2015) and later continued there as a Graduate Research Assistant (2017), set the stage for her doctoral research.
Post-̽̽ Experiences
After graduating from ̽̽ in 2018, Lauren received a U.S. Fulbright Student Research Grant (2018-2019) in affiliation with the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz University Hannover to continue studying “foreign child-care facilities” in archives across Germany. This endeavor allowed her to collaborate with German researchers and institutions, fostering an international network in Germany on the topic of forced labor.
After her time in Germany, Lauren chose the University of Toronto for its distinguished History and Jewish Studies programs and the expertise of historian Doris Bergen, whom Lauren had learned about at ̽̽ when Bergen was affiliated with the Miller Center. Beginning her Ph.D. in 2019, Lauren has achieved significant success in the program. She has been awarded several fellowships and awards, including the Claims Conference Saul Kagan Fellowship in Advanced Shoah Studies (2022-2024), the Sharon Abramson Grant from the Holocaust Education Foundation at Northwestern University (2024), and a visiting fellowship at the Leibniz-Zentrum für Zeithistorische Forschung (2022). From 2021 to 2022, she was invited to work as a research contractor at the USHMM, where she wrote entries for a forthcoming volume of the Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933-1945 project, which will examine sites of persecution for non-Jewish victims of the Nazi regime. Throughout her doctoral program, Lauren has also been active in presenting at and organizing academic conferences, working as a graduate teaching assistant, and facilitating a genocide and human rights educational program.
Lauren is currently writing her dissertation, “‘Always one step away from death, always afraid’: Jewish Women and Girls who ‘Passed’ as Polish-Christian Forced Laborers in Germany during the Holocaust.” This integrated history on the experiences of Jewish women and girls who passed as Polish-Christian forced laborers in Germany illuminates the experience and implications of passing to the study of the Holocaust, foregrounding passing as not only an individual act but a performance involving actor, supporting actors, and audience, and one contingent on the wartime circumstances, stakes, and setting. Lauren was awarded a Sosland Foundation Fellowship with the Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the USHMM, where she will take residency from January to August 2024 to complete her dissertation.
Lauren Fedewa’s academic and professional journey reflects her unwavering commitment to education and research in Holocaust and genocide studies. She is grateful to ̽̽ and its faculty for the years that shaped her, professionally and personally, and looks forward to continued collaboration with the Miller Center.