Jan Gerber

Jan Gerber serves as Research Department Head for Politics at Leipzig's Dubnow Institute since 2010 and was appointed Honorary Professor for Modern and Contemporary History with a focus on Modern Jewish History at Leipzig University in January 2024. His academic work centers on Holocaust memory transformation, labor movement history, and intellectual history, with significant contributions to understanding Stalinist antisemitism and comparative memory cultures.

Education includes an MA in Political Science, History, and Media/Communication Sciences from Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg (2004), followed by doctoral studies funded by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung culminating in a 2009 PhD on "The German Left and the Collapse of the Eastern Bloc." He completed his habilitation at Leipzig University in 2016 with research on the 1952 Slánský trial in Prague.

Gerber's research examines Holocaust memory's evolution alongside colonialism/postcolonialism frameworks, the political left's historical trajectories, and Jewish intellectual history. He investigates how memory cultures intersect with national identity, political ideology, and transnational trauma comparisons, particularly in Eastern European contexts. His work frequently analyzes the Slánský trial, Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, and Holocaust representation in labor movements.

Recent publications reveal strong trends in comparative memory studies, especially Holocaust-colonialism parallels, and deepen analyses of Stalinist purges. His work spans historical methodology, critical theory, and transnational perspectives, with increasing focus on multidirectional memory frameworks and the Global South's political semantics. Key recurring themes include victimhood dialectics, recognition politics, and historical trauma's contemporary manifestations.

Scientific Awards:

• Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Doctoral Fellowship
• Trusted Lecturer Appointment by Hans-Böckler Foundation

Gerber leads the Dubnow Institute's Politics research department and directs major collaborative projects including the Leibniz Cooperative Excellence initiative "The Short Life of Soviet Yiddish Literature" (with Regensburg University and Leibniz Center for Literary/Cultural Research) and the Dubnow Yearbook project "Looking at the Ghetto... The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising." He has secured multiple research grants focusing on Holocaust memory and labor movement history.

As head of the Politics research department, Gerber oversees thematic projects on memory politics, political semantics, and historical consciousness. His upcoming 2025 monograph "Das Verschwinden des Holocaust. Zum Wandel der Erinnerung" (The Disappearance of the Holocaust: On the Transformation of Memory) examines Holocaust memory's fading in contemporary discourse, with scheduled presentations in Frankfurt and Cologne.