Prof. Yehuda Bauer was born in 1926 in Prague, Czechoslovakia. He immigrated to Palestine in 1939, served in the Palmach forces and entered the Hebrew University in 1945. From 1946 to 1948 he continued his studies at Cardiff College in Wales, and returned home to fight in the Israeli War of Independence. He then returned to Cardiff to complete his MA degree in 1950. In 1952, Professor Bauer joined Kibbutz Shoval in the Negev.
From 1955-60, Prof. Bauer wrote his Doctoral thesis: "The Palmach Against the Background of Zionist Policies 1939-1944," and received his Ph.D. from the Hebrew University in 1960. Professor Bauer was Chair of the International Institute for Holocaust Research at Yad Vashem, and is now the academic advisor of that institute. Emeritus Professor of Holocaust Studies at the Hebrew University, as well as the Founding Chairman of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism. In 1998 he received the Israel Prize, and in 2000 became a member of the Israeli Academy of Science.
Some of Prof. Bauer's books include: The Holocaust in Historical Perspective (University of Washington Press, 1978), The Jewish Emergence from Powerlessness (University of Toronto Press, 1979), American Jewry and the Holocaust (Wayne State University Press, 1981), The Holocaust as Historical Experience (Holmes & Meier, 1982), Out of the Ashes (Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1989). His book A History of the Holocaust (Franklin Watts, 1982) is a text that is intended for use by senior high school, college and university students.
Prof. Bauer's book Jews for Sale? Nazi Jewish Negotiations, 1939-1945 (Yale University Press, 1994) is about negotiations between Nazi Germany and the Jews for the release of Jews in exchange for money, goods, or political benefits. This book raises tormenting questions and adds a new dimension to Holocaust Studies. His new book Rethinking the Holocaust was published by Yale University Press in 2001 and deals with the major issues of Holocaust research.
Professor Bauer has two daughters and currently resides in Jerusalem.
TOPICS
- The Holocaust and the Establishment of the State of Israel
- Current Religious Controversies in Israel
- The Holocaust in Historical Perspective
- The Allies and their Knowledge of the Holocaust
- Why Study the Shoah?
- Contemporary Antisemitism
- The Jewish People Today
- Antisemitism in Eastern Europe
- The Impact of the Holocaust on Jews and Non-Jews
- Contemporary Jewish World
- Contemporary Jewish Politics
Lecture Bureau
