Dr Claudia Prestel

Reader in Modern European and Jewish History

Contact Details

Biography

I have undertaken extensive research in German-Jewish history, in particular social and women's history in the 19th and 20th centuries. Some of my research deals with Jewish education in the period of emancipation, Jewish welfare policies, Jewish poor in the 19th century, Jewish reform schools and correctional education in the 20th century, feminist and Zionist constructions of gender in German Zionism, the Jewish family in crisis and the "New Jewish" woman. My other areas of research deal with Palestine Studies with a focus on gender and nationalism. I was on the editorial board of METIS. Zeitschrift fuer Historische Frauenforschung und feministische Praxis and I am a board member of the Schriftenreihe. Studien und Dokumente zur juedischen Bildungsgeschichte in Deutschland as well as the Arbeitskreis "Geschichte der Juedischen Wohlfahrt in Deutschland" and the European Association of Israel Studies.

Research

• Research Interests
• Publications  

PhD Supervision

Central European Jewish history, especially social and women's history; issues of gender and memory in the context of Palestinian history; modern Jewish history; Middle Eastern history, in particular Palestine Studies and the Arab-Israeli conflict.  

Teaching

My teaching interests are in modern Jewish history, in particular in Central Europe. The module will look at the emancipation of Jews in various countries, patterns of acculturation and assimilation, the emergence of modern Jewish nationalism (in particular Zionism) and the role of Jewish women in the making of the Jewish middle class.
I also teach modules in Middle Eastern History, in particular a Special Subject on Israel/Palestine, the story of a land, 1882 to the present and a First Year Module focusing on Palestine and Israel through memoirs.

Most Recent Publications

Books

1. "Jugend in Not: Fürsorgeerziehung in deutsch-jüdischer Gesellschaft, 1901-1933 (Böhlau Verlag, Wien/Köln/Weimar, 2003)
2. Jüdisches Schul- und Erziehungswesen in Bayern 1901-1933. Tradition und Modernisierung im Zeitalter der Emanzipation, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1989 (Schriftenreihe der Historischen Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften; vol. 36)

Articles and chapters

1. ‘Confronting Old Structures: Regina Jonas, the First Female Rabbi’, in: Judith Szapor/Andrea Peto, Maura Hametz, Marina Calloni (eds.), Jewish Intellectual Women in Central Europe 1860-2000: Twelve Biographical Essays (Edwin Mellen Press), pp. 375-410
2. Zwischen Feminismus, Antisemitismus und Zionismus: Neue berufliche Orientierungen jüdischer Frauen aus Deutschland und Österreich an Fallbeispielen, in: MEDAON – Magazin für jüdisches Leben in Forschung und Bildung, 7. Jg., 2013, Nr. 7, S. 1-12, online unter http://medaon.de/pdf/MEDAON_12_Prestel_Artikel.pdf
3. ‘Die deutsch-jüdische Presse und die weibliche Sexualität:“Freie Liebe” oder die Rückkehr zu traditionellem jüdischem Familienleben?’, in: Eleanore Lappin/Michael Nagel (eds.), Frauen und Frauenbilder in der europäisch-jüdischen Presse von der Aufklärung bis 1945, edition lumière: Bremen 2007, pp. 123-141