Devra Katz (Israel), graduate student, University of Haifa, “Emotions in Stutthof: An Analysis of the Social Function of Emotions in a Prisoner Society”.

Devra Katz is currently completing her MA at the University of Haifa in the field of Holocaust Studies. 

A visit to Auschwitz and what remains of her grandfather’s shtetl in Ukraine at the age of eleven ignited an interest in the field that has only grown with time. She received her B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin in history and sociology and upon graduation was quick to move to Israel in order to study and work at Yad Vashem. 

Her MA thesis investigates the function of emotions among prisoners in the Stutthof concentration camp. Her research explores various examples of emotions through prisoners’ experiences in friendships, relationships, intimacy, survival, bonding, and shame by dissecting survivor testimonies in both German and Yiddish. She seeks to examine the subjective and collective social role of emotions that have largely been overlooked in traditional circles of historiography.

During her fellowship at the Institut für Zeitgeschichte, Devra will utilize the Institut’s archives, as well as other archives in Germany, to collect survivor testimonies from various sources as well as primary documents relative to the Stutthof camp.

During her time as a student at the University of Haifa, she has received awards for excellence from both the university and Yad Vashem. She is fluent in English and Hebrew while maintaining an academic level of German, Yiddish, Turkish, French, and Italian.

Devra can be contacted at dev.feld@gmail.com.