Associate Professor Tatjana Lichtenstein has been appointed as the new associate director of the Schusterman Center for Jewish Studies, a role which she hopes to use to transform the Jewish identity.

Lichtenstein, who teaches classes on Holocaust studies and Eastern European World Wars in the history department, said she wants to change perceptions of Jewishness from a purely religious identity into an ethnic and cultural one. 

Lichtenstein said a narrow interpretation of Jewish studies leads to a lack of understanding between Jews and non-Jews. For example, Lichtenstein said not all Zionists, or advocates for the development of a Jewish community, believe occupying a territory is necessary to protect their people.

“We think there is only one kind of Zionism, but if you look at history forward instead of backwards from the rearview, there are many different visions of Zionism,” Lichtenstein said. “Zionism can be staying where you are and forming a Jewish identity there.”

Journalism junior Erin Gordon, a foreign exchange student, said UT is a special place to be Jewish because it’s supportive of diversity and makes it easy to learn from one another.

“Learning about the Holocaust really plays into this,” Gordon said. “It reminds us that we truly are stronger together than apart. We need to learn from each other and our history.”

SCJS founding director Robert Abzug said he is amazed by how many non-Jewish students take Jewish studies classes and how many professors are willing to teach them every year. Abzug said new leadership can bring energy and vision to an area such as Jewish studies.

“We want to bring elements of Jewish life and culture into our programming,” Abzug said. “One of the things we wanted to do was create a robust curriculum and create majors.”

Lichtenstein’s book “Zionists in Interwar Czechoslovakia” will be featured at the History Faculty Book Series tomorrow. She is currently working on a new book “Intimacy and Persecution” in addition to directing and teaching.

“One of the things my book deals with is the relationship with Jews and non-Jews,” Lichtenstein said. “My next book focuses on the Holocaust and intermarried Jewish families.”

The Nazis were more careful about their treatment of mixed-race Jewish families because they worried about public opinion, Lichtenstein said.

Studying mass violence and wartime experiences shows how ordinary people respond to divisive events and gives students a historical context of
Jewish culture and society, Lichtenstein said.