William W. Hagen

William W. Hagen, affiliated with the University of California, Davis, is a historian specializing in European history, particularly focusing on Holocaust studies, antisemitism, and ethnic violence in East-Central Europe. His scholarship spans the social and political history of Poland, Germany, and the dissolution of empires.

• Key Research Areas: Holocaust prehistory, East Elbian peasantry, ethnic violence, political ideologies.

His seminal work Anti-Jewish Violence in Poland, 1914-1920 (2018) analyzes pogroms during the interwar period, while his 2015 article in The Oxford Handbook of Modern German History links antisemitism to genocidal ideologies. Earlier contributions (1998, 2013) explore rural societies and historiographical debates.

• Scientific Awards: Chester Penn Higby Prize (1995-96) for Holocaust research.
• Commentary: Active in political discourse, including analyses of Putin’s war and peace advocacy.