Gideon Greif

Gideon Greif (born 1951 in Tel Aviv) is an Israeli historian.

Education

From 1965 until 1969 Gideon Greif attended Municipal High School (Gymnasium) in Tel Aviv. Later, from 1974 to 1976 he attended Tel Aviv University where he got his Bachelor's degree in Jewish History, studying the History of the Land of Israel. Between 1976 and 1982 he did his Masters degree in Jewish History at Tel Aviv University. Beginning in 1996 until 2001 he studied in Austria at the University of Vienna Modern History for which he obtained his PhD.

Main Positions

Between 1976 and 1982 Gideon Greif was lecturer for Jewish History and member of the Course Development TeamOpen at the University of Ramat Aviv, where he lectured the following themes: The First Temple Period, The Second Temple Period, The Mishna and Talmud Times, The History of the Zionist Idea and The History of the Holocaust. Furthermore he was Educational Director of the Academic Programs in Jewish History. From 1982 until 1983 he was Director of Publications and Editor in Chief of the Israeli Parliament publications of the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) in Jerusalem. Since 1983 he works as Publications Editor, Historian, Educator, Lecturer and Senior Researcher at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem and [Givatayim. Between August and December 2001 he was a visiting professor for Holocaust Studies at "The Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies" for the fall Semester and an advisor to the Holocaust Memorial Center at the Miami Beach University of Miami in Florida. In 2002 and 2003 he worked as a lecturer for Jewish History at the Faculty of Jewish History at the University of Haifa. Since 2005 he is the head of the Polish Desk of the European Department at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.

Honorary Post

Between 1980 and 1984 Gideon Greif was Chairman of the first official organization of children of Holocaust survivors in Israel "The Second Generation of Holocaust Survivors".

Pedagogical Projects

In the year 1993 until 1997 and 2005 Gideon Greif was the initiator and manager of three-weekly seminars in further education for Polish pedagogues and staff of the state museums in Auschwitz, Majdanek und Stutthof.Since 1993 he is the manager of educational projects for teachers (in various countries, also in the United States and Canada) as well as its initiator. Moreover, since 1994 until the present he is the manager of two-weekly seminars in Germany in further education for German pedagogues.Also since 1994 until now he leads educational projects with students at various high schools in Germany, Austria and Poland.

Advisory Positions

Since 1991 Gideion Greif is responsible for the planning and development of exhibitions, films, and educational resources at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Poland where he furthermore is an advisor to the management of the museum at various conferences and pedagogic projects as well as a translator for museum materials and for Israeli visitors of Auschwitz. Since 1995 he also works for the "Survivors of the Shoah" (Visual History Foundation) in Los Angeles where he plans and manages further education seminars for the scientific staff of the foundation, in particular for interviewers of Holocaust survivors. Moreover since 1999 until the present he is a member of the American international advisory council of interviewers at the Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation in New York/Oświęcim.

Publications

* "*Germany's Jews under Nazi Regime 1933-1939" (in Hebrew, The Open University, Tel Aviv 1983)
* "*The Historiography of the Holocaust" (in English, Co-editor with Yisrael Gutman, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem 1989)
* "*The History of the Warsaw Jews" (in Hebrew, Keter, Tel Aviv 1991)
* "*Massuah" (Periodical, in Hebrew, Editor, Massuah, Tel Yitzahk 1994-98)
* "For the Memory" (Periodical, Hebrew, Editor, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem 1994-2000)
* "We Wept without Tears... the Testimonies of the Jewish Sonderkommando in Auschwitz" (in German, I. edition, Böhlau, Köln 1995; II. edition, Fischer T.V., Frankfurt a.M. 1999; in Hebrew, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem 1999; in Polish, ZIH, Warsaw 2002; in English, Yale Univ. Press, New Haven, 2005)
* "The Jeckes" (in German, Böhlau, Köln 2000)
* "Encyclopedia of the Holocaust" (in Hebrew, Sifriat Poalim, Tel Aviv, 1991, several entries; further editions also in German and English)
* "The Holocaust Encyclopedia (Yale Univ. Press, New Haven 2002, several entries)
* "The Auschwitz Album – The Story of Lili Jacob" (in "The Auschwitz Album", edited by Israel Gutman & Bella Gutterman; Yad Vashem, Jerusalem 2002, p.71-86)
* "„Ein abgeschnittenes Leben. Das Tagebuch von Etty Hillesum 1941 – 1943". S. 11 – 26 und: „Anklageschrift: Deutsche, Polen, Juden. Die Versteck – Tagebuecher von Calel Perechodnik". S. 27 – 41, in Walter Schmitz (Hg./Ed.): Erinnerte Shoah. Die Literatur der Ueberlebenden. The Shoah Remembered. Literature of the Survivors. Thelem Verlag. Dresden 2003. ISBN 3935712324
* "„My Brother's keeper. Jews who saved other Jews during the Holocaust", Jerusalem 2004.
* "„Between ‘Normality’ and the ‘Absurd’ – Spheres of Everyday Life in the Sonderkommando in Auschwitz" – Birkenau", in John K. Roth, Jonathan Petropoulos (Editors), Grey Zones. Ambiguity and Compromise in the Holocaust and its Aftermath, Claremont, 2005).

Radio Documenatries

* "The History of the Zionist Movement" (editor & interviewer; 12 chapters,1980)
* "The Yellow Star - History of the Shoah" (editor & interviewer; 67 chapters, 1981-1983)
* "Where was the Sun? - Central Documentary program for Yom Hashoah" (chief editor and interviewer, 1984-1993)
* "I wanted to live - Ruth Eliaz's testimony" (editor & interviewer; 1986)
* "I have been there" (series of documentaries, on various topics, editor; 1986-1989)
* "Saloniki – Auschwitz – The Life and Death of a Jewish Community - was awarded with the „Sokolov-Price for Journalism", as best documentary of 1988. (editor & interviewer; 1987)
* "The Sonderkommando people of Auschwitz-Birkenau - Testimony of Yehoshua Rosenblum" (editor & interviewer; 1987)
* "The March of the Living – the first live broadcast ever from Auschwitz-Birkenau" (1988, 1989, 1992)
* "50 years after the Reichskristallnacht - Live broadcast with eyewitnesses and historians" (editor & interviewer; 1988)

Film Documentaries

* Saloniki - Auschwitz (1988): Scriptwriter, researcher and interviewer
* Jewish Partisans in Eastern Europe (1989): Scriptwriter, researcher and interviewer
* Kielce Pogrom (1990): Historical consultant
* The Warsaw Ghetto uprising (1994): Historical consultant
* The year 1938 – A Turning point in the History of the Jews of Germany (1998): together with the Anti Defamation League (ADL), Berlin: Scriptwriter, researcher and interviewer
* The Gold of the Jews (WDR, 1999): Historical consultant and interviewer
* Holocaust (ZDF, 2000): Chapter on Auschwitz and "The Final Solution": Historical consultant
* Evidence – The Sonderkommando (in preparation, 2003/04)
* The Victory of Lea-Elaine (in preparation, 2003/04), on a journey back to Auschwitz with Lea Elaine Welbel: Initiator, Researcher, Interviewer
* Guide films for the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum, Oświęcim: Translation and editing of the Hebrew versions.

Theatre Play

*"I will get out of here!", based on a chapter from " We Wept without Tears " (Director: Dr. Anton Dick-Boldes; 1996, Berlin): Scriptwriter, researcher and interviewer
*"The Dentist" a play for an actress based on "We Wept without Tears", with actress Razzia Israel

International Conferences and Symposia (selection)

*National Socialist Concentration Camps – Development and Structure: (Weimar, 1995)
*Joint Seminars of Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation and Yad Vashem (Würzburg, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000)
*Joint Seminars between Yad Vashem and the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Berlin Senat, for teachers and educators (Berlin, 1997, 1998).
*Breaking the circle of violence: Max-Planck-Institut for History (Göttingen,1999)
*I want to give testimony – The diaries of Victor Klemperer and the problematic history of German-Jewish relations: Moses-Mendelsohn-Institut of *Potsdam (Waren-Müritz, 2000): Die Jeckes – German Jews in Eretz-Israel: their difficulties, contribution to the land and victory.
*Diaries of Holocaust Survivors: The 2nd International Conference on the Holocaust and Education (Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, 2000)
*Unique testimonies – The worldwide Project of Sonderkommando Survivors: The 3rd International Conference on the Holocaust and Education (Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, 2002)
*The literary heritage of K. Tzetnik (Dresden 2003): lecturer, initiation and organization together with Prof. Walter Schmitz