Jan Burzlaff

Jan Burzlaff is a Research Fellow (Post Doctoral Associate) in the Program of Jewish Studies at Cornell University, affiliated with the College of Arts and Sciences. He received his PhD in Jewish and Modern European History from Harvard University, where he was the William A. Ackman Fellow for Holocaust Studies. Previously, he held fellowships at Princeton University (Jane Eliza Procter Fellow) and École Normale Supérieure, Paris.

Burzlaff's research investigates Holocaust survival strategies through social and transnational lenses, analyzing over 2,000 testimonies across 15 archives. His current book project, Help and Harm: A Social History of Nazi Europe, examines how Nazi persecution reconfigured social relations across occupied Europe. Key interdisciplinary interests include:

• Civilian responses to mass violence
• Everyday life under occupation
• Visual/spatial histories of trauma
• Comparative genocide studies

His publications consistently explore Holocaust social dynamics through methodologies blending history and social sciences, with recent work emphasizing testimony analysis, microhistories of resistance, and comparative frameworks for mass violence.

Awards and fellowships include:

• William A. Ackman Fellowship for Holocaust Studies (Harvard)
• Jane Eliza Procter Fellowship (Princeton)
• École Normale Supérieure Fellowship (Paris)

At Cornell, he will teach JWST 3825: The Past and Future of Holocaust Survivor Testimonies (Spring 2025) and JWST 2467: Holocaust in History and Memory (Fall 2025).