In 1914, seven million Jews across Eastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean were caught in the crossfire of warring empires in a disaster of stupendous, unprecedented proportions. In response, American Jews developed a new model of humanitarian relief for their suffering brethren abroad, wandering into American foreign policy as they navigated a wartime political landscape. The effort continued into peacetime, touching every interwar Jewish community in these troubled regions through long-term refugee, child welfare, public health, and poverty alleviation projects. Against the backdrop of war, revolution, and reconstruction, this is the history of American Jews who went abroad in solidarity to rescue and rebuild Jewish lives in Jewish homelands. As they constructed a new form of humanitarianism and re-drew the map of modern philanthropy, they rebuilt the Jewish Diaspora itself in the image of the modern social welfare state.

Jaclyn Granick is Lecturer in Modern Jewish History at Cardiff University. She received her PhD in international history from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland, and held a Newton International fellowship for postdoctoral research at Oxford. Her first monograph, the subject of this presentation, was published in June by Cambridge University Press in its Human Rights in History series. Dr Granick’s interests lie at the intersection of modern Jewish history and international history, especially on philanthropy and humanitarianism, diaspora and non-state politics in conflicts, and gender. Her next project is on Jewish Country Houses, a collaborative endeavor funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

About this event

Jaclyn Granick will be speaking on South Campus, but the event will also be streamed via Zoom for those who cannot attend in person . Please choose your ticket accordingly.

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