Dr. Alison Rose

Professional Background

Alison Rose received her Ph.D. in Jewish History from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1997), her master’s degree in history from the University of Washington (1988), and her bachelor’s degree in history from Reed College (1985). Currently, she is an adjunct professor of Gender and Women’s Studies at the University of Rhode Island and an adjunct professor of History at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina. Additionally, Dr. Rose has published two books, Jewish Women in Turn of the Century Vienna (University of Texas Press, 2008) and Antisemitism, Gender Bias, and the “Hervay Affair” of 1904: Bigotry in the Austrian Alps (Lexington Books, 2016), and several articles and book chapters. Rose has participated in conferences in Europe, the United States and Canada. Most recently, she was a presenter at “Resorts, Spas, and Sommerfrische: Jewish Cultures of Rest and Recreation” (June, 2023, Bad Aussee, Austria). Previously, Dr. Rose was a Fellow at the Holocaust Educational Foundation Summer Institute on the Holocaust and Jewish Civilization (Northwestern University, 2019) and at the Holocaust Educational Foundation Regional Institute (2021).

Fellowship Research

Alison Rose was awarded a Broadening Academia Initiative Hybrid Fellowship for her research project, “Mountains and Mountaineering as a Theme in Jewish Lives in the Holocaust and Holocaust Memory.” Rose’s project focuses on the multidimensional role that mountains played for Jews before, during, and after the Holocaust. Specifically she explores how the mountains helped Jews assimilate into Austrian culture only to later help them hide from persecution and extermination, and how they might now play a role in connecting second and third generation survivors with their roots. Dr. Rose’s project considers everyday encounters between Jews and non-Jews in pre-war mountain resorts; contributions made by Austrian Jews to the development of mountaineering, skiing, Alpine tourism, culture, and clubs (that they would later be expelled from); literature and films that depict Jewish life in the mountains; and Jewish contributions to the popularization of traditional Alpine costumes (Tracht) that they were later banned from wearing. The experiences of mountain Jews before and during the Holocaust, Jews who hid in or escaped through the mountains, the establishment of refugee camps in former mountain resort and Alpine towns, and the role of the Holocaust in shaping Jewish memories of pre-war visits to the mountains and mountain resorts will also be considered. Her work aims to contribute to developing new and relatable ways of memorializing the Holocaust through activities such as hiking, skiing, and mountaineering, by literally tracing their footsteps while embracing the natural beauty of the landscapes where Jews lived their lives before the war.

This fellowship provides Dr. Rose with the opportunity to use the archival collections of the USHMM, including oral histories, personal and family papers, family collections, testimonies, films, and organizational records to further her research on this topic. Access to the archives will provide insight into the experiences of Alpine Jewish communities, the lives of individual Jews in Alpine regions, and Jewish experiences hiding and escaping through the mountains during the Holocaust.

Fellowship Period: November 1, 2024-April 30, 2025