Modern Jewish Histor
Human Rights History
Holocaust History and Memory
Current Projects
My current research deals with Western activism on behalf of Soviet Jews in the 1970s and 1980s. Using performance and mediatization theory, I analyze as to how far the notions “human rights” and “freedom” were performed as specifically American values by politicians and activists in the context of the Soviet Jewry movement – and what this tells us about why and when an issue has a particularly high potential to create a large societal and political consensus about its worthiness and urgency. Additionally, I am preparing my dissertation “Hero of Western Universalism: The Commemoration of Raoul Wallenberg during the Cold War,” which inquired into the uses of universalistic rhetoric in the commemoration of rescue during the Holocaust, for publication as a book.
Curriculum Vitae
Fellowships and Grants
- Oct' 2024- Postdoctoral Fellow | Martin Buber Society of Fellows in the Humanities and Social Sciences at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
- 2024- Junior Fellow | KFG (Center for Advanced Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences) “Universalism and Particularism in European Contemporary History” at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.
- 2023- PhD Completion Scholarship of the Ursula Lachnit-Fixson Foundation.
- 2022- AJS Travel Grant.
- 2022- Minerva Short Term Research Grant.
- 2021- DAAD Travel Grant.
- 2015–2016 DAAD One-year Scholarship.
Professional positions
- 2018–2022 Research Associate (PhD Candidate) | Selma Stern Center for Jewish Studies Berlin-Brandenburg / Center for Research on Antisemitism at Technical University Berlin. Research Group “Narratives of the ‘Rescue of Jews’ after 1945 in Comparative Perspective”.
- 2018- Assistant of Prof. Jacques Semelin | Sciences Po Paris, Centre de Recherches Internationales.
- 2016–2017 Volunteer | Association Convoi 77 (European Holocaust education project), Paris
- 2017- Intern | Yad Vashem, Research Institute, Jerusalem
- 2014- Intern | German Resistance Memorial Center, Berlin
Education
- 2018–2024 PhD in Modern History, Technical University Berlin, Summa Cum Laude
- 2016–2018 M.A. in Human Rights and Humanitarian Action, Sciences Po Paris, Paris School of International Affairs, Summa Cum Laude
- 2015–2016 International Student, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rothberg International School
- 2013–2016 B.A. in Political Science, Sciences Po Paris, French-German Campus Nancy, Summa Cum Laude
Publications
- Ida Richter, “Nazi Crimes Before West German Courts: Fritz Bauer as a Visionary of International Criminal Justice?” In Journal of International Criminal Justice, Oxford University Press, Volume 18, Issue 1, March 2020, 167–83 (peer-reviewed).
- Ida Richter (ed., with Manja Herrmann, Stefanie Schüler-Springorum, Charlotte Weber), Rettung als Konzept: Interdisziplinäre Lesarten. 7. Jahrbuch des Selma Stern Zentrums für Jüdische Studien Berlin-Brandenburg. Leipzig: Hentrich & Hentrich 2021.
- Ida Richter, “Angel of Rescue: Raoul Wallenberg und der Prozess gegen Adolf Eichmann,” in: Manja Herrmann, Stefanie Schüler-Springorum, Charlotte Weber, Ida Richter, Rettung als Konzept: Interdisziplinäre Lesarten. 7. Jahrbuch des Selma Stern Zentrums für Jüdische Studien Berlin-Brandenburg. Leipzig: Hentrich & Hentrich 2021, 50–60.
- Ida Richter (with Manja Herrmann, Stefanie Schüler-Springorum, Charlotte Weber), “Rettung als Konzept–Interdisziplinäre Lesarten. Zur Einführung,” in: Rettung als Konzept: Interdisziplinäre Lesarten. 7. Jahrbuch des Selma Stern Zentrums für Jüdische Studien Berlin- Brandenburg. Leipzig: Hentrich & Hentrich 2021, 7–12.
- Ida Richter (with Charlotte Weber), “Conference Report: New Approaches to the Rescue of Jews during the Holocaust: History, Politics, Commemoration,” November 23–25, 2020, online (Berlin), in: H-Soz-Kult, May 8, 2021.
Presentations (selection)
- 2024 “Intersections of Human Rights Discourse and Holocaust Memory in the 1970s and 1980s: The Case of the British ‘Women’s Campaign for Soviet Jewry,’” KFG Colloquium: Europe’s History of the Present – Universalism and Particularism. Munich, May 22.
- 2022 “The Making of a Human Rights Symbol: Raoul Wallenberg’s Commemoration in the United States in the Early 1980s,” Annual Conference of the Association for Jewish Studies. Boston, December 19.
- 2021 “Border-transcending Memory? The Case of Raoul Wallenberg,” Doctoral School of the Centre Marc Bloch. Berlin, December 8.
- 2021 “The Making of a ‘Holocaust Hero’: Raoul Wallenberg and the Trial against Adolf Eichmann,” GEOP Interdisciplinary Research Workshop: Representations of Polish Rescuers of Jews in a Comparative Perspective. Warsaw (online), July 6.
- 2020 “From Rescue Activity in Budapest to the Council of Europe’s Human Rights Prize: Raoul Wallenberg and Universalizing Narratives of Rescue during the Holocaust,” New Approaches to the Rescue of Jews during the Holocaust: History, Politics, Commemoration. Berlin (online), November 25.
- 2020 “The Entanglement of the Holocaust with Human Rights: The Case of Raoul Wallenberg’s Early Reception,” Genealogies of Memory 2020: The Holocaust between Global and Local Perspectives. Warsaw (online), November 10.