Department of Jewish History and Contemporary Jewry
Subject: In Loopholes and Gray Areas. A Cross-Border History of Criminal Jewish Networks, 1820s–1914.
Supervisor: Prof. Yfaat Weiss and Prof. Marcos Silber.
Abstract: This PhD project will elucidate the modi operandi of Jewish criminal networks mainly in the realm of fraud, smuggling, illegal (female) migration, and counterfeiting active throughout the 19th century in Central and Eastern Europe as well as in their respective countries of immigration. It also examines cooperatives established to combat these networks, thereby highlighting the interplay between criminal actors, the political and legal systems in which they operated, and the Jewish communities that were called upon by state authorities to provide information or punish misdemeanors. By giving the protagonists and their ways of collaboration center stage, this PhD project will offer an in-depth analysis of the notorious and frequently lamented relation between Jews and criminal activity. Positioned at the interface between legality and normativity, the project opens a social and cultural understanding of trans-imperial enterprises carried out by criminal(ized) Jews.
President Stipend 2021/22