Philip and Muriel Berman Center for Jewish Studies

Joanna Michlic Chosen Helene and Allen Apter Chair of Holocaust Studies and Ethical Values

Joanna B. Michlic was appointed the Helene and Allen Apter Chair of Holocaust Studies and Ethical Values in Lehigh University’s Department of History in April 2007. She taught two courses in Fall 2007—one titled Holocaust: History and Meaning and the second, Genocide in the Twentieth Century. The endowed position was made possible by a generous gift from Helene and Allen Apter ’61 and support from Lehigh’s College of Arts and Sciences. Professor Michlic will also be affiliated with Lehigh’s Philip and Muriel Berman Center for Jewish Studies.

The recipient of a doctorate from University College London and London School of Economics, Dr. Michlic spent three years in Jerusalem working as the Lady Davis Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and as a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Yad Vashem Archives. Prior to coming to Lehigh, the Polish-born educator was an assistant professor in the Holocaust and Genocide Program at Richard Stockton College in Pomona, New Jersey. She also served for two years as a visiting scholar in the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University.

Michlic published Poland's Threatening Other: The Image of the Jew from 1880 to the Present and coedited with Antony Polonsky Neighbors Respond: The Controversy about Jedwabne. Her work-in-progress includes a book project on the identity of Jewish children in Poland from 1945 to 1949. She has written many journal articles that have appeared in such publications as Polin, Studies in Contemporary Jewry, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, Midrasz, East European Jewish Affairs, and Jewish Quarterly. Her recent publications are "The Soviet Occupation of Poland, 1939-41, and the Stereotype of the Anti-Polish and Pro-Soviet Jew" in Jewish Social Studies: History, Culture, Society, and "Who Am I? Jewish Children's Search for Identity in Post-War Poland, 1945-1949" in Polin.

Her research interests include the history and culture of East European Jewry, particularly Polish-Jewish relations in the modern era; the Holocaust and its memory in Eastern Europe; the memory of the past in Eastern Europe; nationalism and minorities in Eastern Europe; and theories of nationalism.

According to Larry Silberstein, Director of the Berman Center, the Apter gift that brought Michlic to campus guarantees Lehigh students--present and future--the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the Holocaust, a terrible but formative event in human history. The appointment, Silberstein added, makes Lehigh University one of a few institutions of higher learning that house an endowed chair in the field of Holocaust Studies.

Allen Apter graduated from Lehigh in 1961 with a degree in industrial engineering. After graduation, he entered his family’s manufacturing business and took a fledgling business and grew it into R.A. Industries of Lansdale, Pa. Apter also serves on the board of the United Jewish Appeal (UJA) Federation in Philadelphia and helped establish the Art Center in Ma’alot, Israel, which he still supports today. Helene Apter is a native of New York City. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Queens College and a master’s degree in development and remedial reading from the City College of New York.

Contact information:

Professor Michlic is on leave during the Spring Semester 2008 and will be responding to her emails on sporadic basis. In the case of an urgent matter, please contact Carolyn Hudacek or Shirley Ratushny at the Berman Center for Jewish Studies.