And talking of student research, Borns Jewish Studies Senior Elise Mendelson has been hard at work too. Every year, the US State Department calls for student research via its so-called Diplomacy Labs, in which around 40 universities and colleges across the USA take part. Last year, they called for research on Roma resistance to the Holocaust to help enhance the Department’s background knowledge when it goes in to bat on European issues of minority rights and restitution. Mark Roseman bid for the project, to be conducted by a selection of the very best undergraduates in his History of Genocide course, taught in Fall 2024.

Elise writes:

Last semester, I had the incredible opportunity to participate in the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomacy Lab, where my team and I researched the experiences and resistance of the Roma and Sinti during World War II. Focusing on Hungary and Austria, I gained a deep understanding of this often-overlooked history by studying regional experiences and highlighting testimonies from survivors.