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Professor David Shneer (1972 - 2020)听

I鈥檓 writing with the devastating news听that our beloved friend and colleague, Professor David Shneer, passed away on the morning of November 4th听after a long battle with cancer. David was many things 鈥� a groundbreaking听scholar,听a visionary leader, a passionate activist, and a devoted teacher. For so听many members of this community and the Jewish Studies world across the globe,听though, David was much more. He was a friend,听mentor, and role model 鈥撎齭omeone whose warmth, generosity, and deep and abiding care for those around him听transformed and inspired lives. He was someone听who made CU 葫芦娃视频, Colorado, and academia听a home for so many of us.

The Mishnah teaches that each person听should make for themselves a friend, acquire for themselves a teacher, and judge听everyone favorably. David exemplified what friendship, learning, and embracing 鈥撎齛nd听changing 鈥� the world truly mean. We are grateful for the time that we had听with him, and heartbroken by his loss.

May his memory be for a blessing.

Elias Sacks

Director, Program in Jewish Studies
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You can learn more about David鈥檚 life and career, and make a donation in David鈥檚 memory,听HERE.

Prof. Shneer:

David Shneer was the inaugural听Louis P. Singer Endowed Chair in Jewish History, Professor of听听and听Jewish Studies, and former Chair of the Department of听听at the University of Colorado听葫芦娃视频. He was a听听for the Association for Jewish Studies, faculty director for听, co-editor in chief of听,听and was听the听inaugural faculty director of CU 葫芦娃视频's听Post Holocaust American Judaism Archive听(now the ).

Called a 鈥減athbreaking鈥� scholar by the听Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Shneer's research focuses on 20th century European, Russian, and Jewish history and culture.听His book,听Through Soviet Jewish Eyes: Photography, War, and the Holocaust听(Rutgers University Press, 2011),听winner of the 2013 Jordan Schnitzer Prize of the Association for Jewish Studies and听finalist for the National Jewish Book Award,听looks at the lives and works of two dozen Soviet Jewish World War II military photographers to examine what kinds of photographs they took when they encountered evidence of Nazi genocide on the Eastern Front.听In fall 2011, the traveling museum exhibit听Through Soviet Jewish Eyes debuted at the CU Art Museum in 葫芦娃视频, Colorado, and then showed at the听听in New York City, the听, the University of Louisiana's Museum of Art, and at the Illinois Holocaust Museum in Chicago through September 2015.

His other books include听Queer Jews, finalist for the Lambda Literary award,听Yiddish and the Creation of Soviet Jewish Culture, finalist for the National Jewish Book Award, and听New Jews: The End of the Jewish Diaspora, which has sparked discussion in publications like the听Economist听and the听Jerusalem Post. For more on Professor Shneer's book projects, see the听听on his website.

He project,听Art is My Weapon: The Radical Musical Life of Lin Jaldati,听examines Yiddish musical culture's role in European history from 1933 through 1989 through the life and work of Lin Jaldati, a Dutch-Jewish Yiddish-singing cabaret singer, who survived the Holocaust and was the last person to see Anne Frank alive.听After the war, she moved to East Germany and became the Yiddish diva of the Communist world until her death in 1988.听He recently published a short biography, in German, about her life and work,听:听.听

Shneer's听book,听听(Oxford, 2020)听explores听the history of a single image from the moment the Soviet photographer encountered the first liberated Holocaust killing site in January 1942 in the southern Russian city of Kerch.听

Shneer lectured听nationally and internationally and wrote for the听Huffington Post, Rocky Mountain News听and the听Denver Post听as well as publications dedicated to Jewish life and culture, including听Forward, Pakntreger,听Jewcy, and听Nextbook. Shneer听was听a scholar-in-residence and听taught at the University of California campuses at Berkeley and Davis, and at the University of Illinois, the National Yiddish Book Center, the University of Wisconsin, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, serving as the Pearl Resnick Fellow, and the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. He served听as co-editor-in-chief of听East European Jewish Affairs听and on the editorial boards of听Journal of Jewish Identities, the Association for Jewish Studies' magazine听Perspectives, and for the book series Borderlines with Academic Studies press.听He additionally served听as consultant to numerous Jewish agencies on questions of contemporary Jewish identity, as well as听on the board of directors of the Association for Jewish Studies. He won prestigious fellowships from the Social Science Research Council, Hadassah-Brandeis Institute, the International Research and Exchange Council, and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

In his broader work, Shneer co-founded听Jewish Mosaic, the first national Jewish LGBT organization, which merged with听听in 2010, and was education director of Congregation Sha'ar Zahav, the LGBT outreach synagogue of the San Francisco Bay Area, from 1997 through 2001. His work with the Jewish non-profit world includes consulting with organizations around issues of integrating post-Soviet Jews into Jewish communal life, having served as co-chair of Limmud Colorado, vice-chair of听Keshet, and working with Facing History and Ourselves, a global non profit dedicated to fostering a democratic, human-rights oriented education in high schools.

Areas of research related to Jewish Studies:

Russian Jewish history, Yiddish culture, Jews and sexuality, diaspora studies, Holocaust Studies

Courses:

• Introduction to Jewish History: Bible to 1492 (HIST/JWST 1818)
• History of Yiddish Culture (HIST/JWST 4544)
• Modern European Jewish History (HIST 4803)
• Europe Between Nazism and Stalinism听(HIST 4020)
• Global Seminar to Israel and the West Bank: Justice, Human Rights, and Democracy (JWST 4302/IAFS 3520)

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