Sven-Erik Rose

Sven-Erik Rose is an Associate Professor of German and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Davis. He holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature & Literary Theory from the University of Pennsylvania, an M.A. from the same institution, and a B.A. in German Literature from Reed College. His research focuses on German and German-Jewish literature, Holocaust studies, trauma theory, and interdisciplinary approaches to cultural memory. Rose has been recognized with prestigious awards, including the Jordan Schnitzer Book Award (2015) and DAAD fellowships, and has contributed to major journals like New German Critique and Jewish Social Studies. He has edited special issues on memory and curated projects on Holocaust archives and postmemory. Rose’s teaching spans courses on Kafka, the Holocaust, and critical theory, emphasizing global humanities and interdisciplinary inquiry.

• Education: Ph.D./M.A. Comparative Literature (UPenn), B.A. German Literature (Reed College)
• Research Highlights: German-Jewish intellectual history, Yiddish literature, Holocaust representation, Kant/Hegel/Marx/Freud

His current book project explores Holocaust archives and survivor testimony. Rose has held fellowships at the Simon-Dubnow-Institut and participated in seminars on memory and trauma studies. He received grants totaling $160,295 for secular Jewish studies curriculum development from the Posen Foundation.

• Awards: AJS Jordan Schnitzer Award (2015), DAAD Faculty Summer Seminar (2016), Simon-Dubnow Fellowship (2014 & 2011)
• Grants: Posen Foundation Grant (2006–2012)

Rose’s work bridges literature, philosophy, and visual culture, exemplified by his edited volume Ambivalent Sites of Memory in Postwar Germany and his monograph Jewish Philosophical Politics in Germany, 1789–1848.