Anna Sommer

Anna Sommer is an Associate Teaching Professor at Georgetown University's Center for Jewish Civilization within the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. She specializes in Holocaust studies, Jewish Civilization, and the history of anti-Semitism. Her research focuses on post-World War II Jewish communities in Poland, Holocaust memory, and the role of international aid organizations like the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. She holds a Ph.D. from Jagiellonian University (Kraków) and previously taught there (2007-2010).

Her recent work includes analyzing the Joint Distribution Committee's impact on Jewish education in post-war Poland, published in Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry. She has authored/co-authored books on Holocaust history and co-curated a 2014 exhibition on the Joint's century-long activities in Poland. Her teaching portfolio includes courses on Holocaust and Gender, and she has lectured widely across Poland and the U.S.

From 1998-2018, Sommer served as an educator and guide at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, contributing to public historical interpretation. Her scholarship bridges academic research with public engagement, emphasizing transnational Jewish history and memory preservation.