Samuel Kassow

Dr. Samuel D. Kassow (born 1946) is an American historian of the history of Ashkenazi Jewry. He was born in a displaced persons' camp in Stuttgart, Germany. His mother survived because a classmate hid her and her sister in a dug-out underneath the barn on his family's farm, whilst his father was arrested by the Russians and spent the duration of the war in a Soviet prison camp.^[1][2] He grew up in New Haven, Connecticut.^[3] Kassow earned his B.A. from Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut, in 1966, his M.Sc. from the London School of Economics in 1968, and his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1976. He is married to Lisa Kassow, director of the Zachs Hillel House at Trinity College. He has two daughters named Miri and Serena.^[4] Kassow was the Charles Northam Professor at Trinity College for many years. He is a consultant to the Museum of History of the Polish Jews opened on the site of the Warsaw Ghetto.^[5]

In his books, Who Will Write Our History? Rediscovering a Hidden Archive From the Warsaw Ghetto and Who Will Write Our History? Emanuel Ringelblum, the Warsaw Ghetto, and the Oyneg Shabes Archive, Kassow speaks about the importance of preserving historical documents and the past. He describes the historical events going on during World War Two in the 1940s that affected and eventually eliminated the Warsaw Ghetto. His main focus is the three archives created in absolute secrecy by a small group of people that lived in the Warsaw Ghetto which were uncovered and studied about ten years later.^[6]

Books

• Students, Professors, and the State inTsarist Russia: 1884-1917, University of California Press, 1989. ISBN 0-520-05760-0.
• Between Tsar and People: the Search for a Public Identity in Tsarist Russia. Edith Clowes, Samuel Kassow, James L. West eds. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ 1991. ISBN 0-691-03153-3.
• The Distinctive Life of East European Jewry, YIVO, New York 2004
• Who will Write our History: Emanuel Ringelblum and the Oyneg Shabes Archive, Indiana University Press, 2007

References

1. No Happy Ending; Centerpiece of Jewish Film Fest Is an Unsentimental Look at the Holocaust in Hungary, Hartford Courant, SUSAN DUNNE, March 16, 2006
2. Remembering the Holocaust Delegates Journey Overseas For Memorial Ceremony, Hartford Courant, KATHLEEN GORMAN, May 12, 1995
3. Survivors' son will discuss 'cultural resistance' at Yom HaShoah event, Zak Mazur, Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle, March 29th, 2002
4. RESIDENTS HONORED FOR 'REPAIRING WORLD,' Hartford Courant, Michael Raciti, May 18, 2008
5. CT News (June 8, 2010), Samuel Kassow elected to American Academy for Jewish Research Jewish Ledger, Connecticut Edition. Retrieved December 22, 2013.
6. Kassow, Samuel. "Interview With Samuel Kassow." Interview with Marshall Poe. Audio blog post. New Books in History. 30 Jan. 2009. 07 May 2009.

External links

• Samuel Kassow at the Internet Movie Database
• Samuel Kassow’s Who Will Write Our History? - Review by Clara Weiss