Dr. Nataliia Ivchyk

Professional Background

Nataliia Ivchyk received her PhD in history from Yuriy Fed’kovych Chernivtsi National University. She is an associate professor at the Department of Political Science at Rivne State University for the Humanities and is a co-founder of the NGO Center of Studies for Memory Policy and Public History "Mnemonics.” Dr. Ivchyk joined the Department of History at the University of British Columbia as a visiting scholar for the 2022-2024 academic year. She currently holds a residency at the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre, documenting the stories of Jewish survivors who moved to Vancouver from the former Soviet Union. Dr. Ivchyk’s research examines gender and children's experiences during the Holocaust, as well as memory politics in Ukraine and East Central Europe. 

Dr. Ivchyk’s recent research projects include: "Disgraced Worlds: Jewish Families during the Holocaust" (European Holocaust Research Infrastructure, 2022), "Gender and Everyday Life in Volhynia and Podolia Jewish Ghettos" (Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies, Germany, 2021), "Life and Agony of the Jews in the Rivne Ghetto: Reconstructing Women's Experiences" (Yad Vashem, Israel, 2018), and "Ghettos in the General District of Volhynia and Podolia in Memories of Jewish Victims and Neighbors" (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2017-2018).

Fellowship Research

Nataliia Ivchyk was awarded the Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus Endowment Fellowship for her research project, "(Non) Children's Voices of Jewish Families during the Holocaust in Ukraine." Her project examines the experiences of Jewish families and children in the ghetto of the General Districts of Volhynia, Podolia, and Zhytomyr (Reich Commissariat Ukraine) with a focus on their behavior, interactions, survival strategies, and decision-making during moral dilemmas. Dr. Ivchyk also analyzes the functioning of Jewish families during the Holocaust, focusing on aspects such as family relations, the psychological atmosphere within families, and children's perspectives on themselves and parenthood. Additionally, her project represents how members of Jewish families responded to the challenges posed by the Nazi "New Order" and how gender roles and psychological characteristics transformed under extreme conditions.

This fellowship allows Dr. Ivchyk access to the Museum’s archival collections, which contain important eyewitness documents, personal papers, court records, and survivors' and witnesses' oral histories. The testimonies of Jewish survivors, particularly those of children, add personal stories for a deeper understanding of life and conditions in the ghetto during World War II in Ukraine.

Residency Period: January 1, 2025–August 31, 2025