Molly Pucci

Dr. Molly Pucci is an Assistant Professor of Twentieth Century European History at Trinity College Dublin. During the 2023-2024 academic year, she is on leave at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. She holds a PhD in History from Stanford University and an MA in Russian, East European, and Central Asian Studies from Harvard University.

Her research focuses on secret police systems in Communist Eastern Europe, radical leftist activism, and legal theory in revolutionary contexts. Notable works include Security Empire: The Secret Police in Communist Eastern Europe (Yale UP, 2020) and Marxism and the Interpretation of Dreams: Visions of Communism in Czechoslovakia in the 1920s (forthcoming, Stanford UP 2025). Recent articles explore Cold War-era intelligence networks and post-WWII state-building processes.

• Awards: Max Weber Postdoctoral Fellowship (European University Institute), Geballe Dissertation Prize Fellowship (Stanford Humanities Center)
• Grants & Projects: Current research examines international histories of leftist activism and political trials in the 1920s-1930s

Her work integrates archival research with interdisciplinary approaches, analyzing how secret police structures shaped political repression and state formation in Eastern Europe.