Dr. Simon Goldberg

Professional Background

Dr. Simon Goldberg received his PhD with distinction from the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University for his dissertation, “Writing and Rewriting the History of the Kovno Ghetto, 1941-1999.” His primary research areas include East European Jewish history, Holocaust diaries, the Jewish councils, and the history of knowledge. Prior to his doctoral studies, he helped spearhead the Hong Kong Holocaust and Tolerance Centre, serving as its first Director of Education. 

Dr. Goldberg has received grants and fellowships from the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, the Holocaust Educational Foundation at Northwestern University, and the Claims Conference, where he was a Saul Kagan Fellow in Advanced Holocaust Studies. He is also an alumnus of the prestigious Wexner Graduate Fellowship in the Jewish Studies track. Currently, Dr. ​Goldberg works in the William Levine Family Institute for Holocaust Education, developing content for the USHMM’s online Holocaust Encyclopedia.

Fellowship Research

During his fellowship, Dr. Goldberg will research the postwar trajectories of Lithuanian survivors who formerly served in the Jewish councils and the Jewish ghetto police. Following these individuals into DP camps in Germany and Italy, he will investigate their social and institutional networks, legal entanglements, and the production and circulation of their literary and historical corpora. Dr. Goldberg’s project illuminates the connections between the fraught legacy of Jews “in power” during the war and early knowledge production about the Holocaust. 

Residency Period: August 12, 2024 – August 12, 2026