Academic Research at Touro Berlin: From Holocaust Studies to Contemporary Social Challenges

Where Academic Knowledge Meets Questions That Matter Today

A university is not only a place where existing knowledge is taught. It is also a place where new questions are asked, evidence is examined, interpretations are challenged and research contributes to a deeper understanding of society.

At Touro Berlin, academic research extends across subjects that connect history with contemporary social challenges, including Holocaust and occupation history, antisemitism, social media, hate speech, education, memory and intercultural communication.

Through projects developed with academic institutions, public organizations and community partners, Touro Berlin researchers investigate questions that are historically significant while also remaining highly relevant to the present. Some projects examine how young people recognize and respond to antisemitic hate speech online, while others investigate the German occupation of Poland, the legacy of Raphael Lemkin and the concept of genocide, or the challenges contemporary antisemitism creates for memorial and educational institutions.

Together, these projects demonstrate an approach to academic research at Touro Berlin that connects rigorous scholarship with education, public understanding and real social questions.

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Researching Antisemitism in the Digital World: Project Radiate

Social media has created unprecedented possibilities for communication, but digital platforms have also become environments where discrimination and hate speech can spread rapidly.

Project Radiate examined how familiar adolescents and emerging adults are with different forms of hate speech on social media, with particular attention given to their ability to recognize antisemitic hate speech. The research did not stop at identifying whether young people recognized problematic content. It also investigated their emotional reactions and behavioral responses, helping researchers understand how young people respond when encountering antisemitism in digital environments.

The knowledge generated through the project was then used to create a peer-to-peer guide and pilot training project designed to help other young adults respond to these situations and develop effective counterspeech.

The one-year project was funded by the U.S. State Department and administered through the U.S. Embassy in Berlin. At Touro Berlin, it was led by Prof. Larisa Buhin-Krenek and Prof. Özen Odağ, with assistance from students Bilge Isakov and Noa Shwartz.

The participation of students is particularly significant because it demonstrates how university research can provide opportunities to engage with academic work beyond conventional classroom learning.

RESPOND!: Developing Tools Against Antisemitic Hate Speech

Touro Berlin's research into antisemitism and digital communication extends further through RESPOND! Nein zu Judenhass im Netz! RESPOND! is a four-year research project focused on addressing and combating antisemitism online. Its central objective is to develop, implement and evaluate a Media Competence Training that teaches young media users how to identify and counter different forms of antisemitic hate speech on social media.

The project brings Touro Berlin together with Hochschule Bielefeld, Universität Potsdam and the Jüdische Gemeinde zu Berlin as a community partner. Led by Prof. Dr. Özen Odağ and Prof. Larisa Buhin-Krenek, PhD, the research illustrates how academic investigation can move from understanding a problem toward developing educational responses to it.

Rather than studying online hate speech only as an abstract phenomenon, RESPOND! connects research with media education and practical tools intended for young people navigating digital spaces.

This connection between research and application is particularly relevant in a world where social media increasingly influences how people encounter information, political discussion, identity and prejudice.

Researching the German Occupation of Poland

Another major area of research at Touro Berlin focuses on twentieth-century European history and the Holocaust. The project “Poland under German Occupation. A Handbook” addresses the enormous and complex body of research surrounding the German occupation of Poland during the Second World War.

Even specialists face challenges navigating the extensive scholarship in this area, while gaps in knowledge and disputed interpretations remain. Differences in language can create additional barriers, limiting the extent to which researchers in different countries engage with one another's work.

The project therefore aims to identify and critically evaluate scholarly literature across the different occupation areas, compile established facts and data, and identify knowledge gaps and current academic debates.

Its scope includes the invasion and occupation of Poland, exploitation, forced labor and terror, the Holocaust and German policies toward Jews, Roma, Poles, Ukrainians and others, as well as everyday life, culture, religion, resistance and collaboration within Polish society.

The project also examines social memory, Polish-German disputes and reconciliation, demonstrating that historical research does not end with reconstructing what happened. It also considers how that history continues to be understood and discussed by later generations.

The planned handbook is approximately 600–700 pages and is intended for publication in both Polish and German, with audiences extending beyond universities to museums, memorial institutions and interested members of the public. The principal investigators are Prof. Dr. Stephan Lehnstaedt of Touro University Berlin and Prof. Dr. Paweł Machcewicz of the Instytut Spraw Politycznych PAN in Warsaw, with additional German and Polish partner institutions involved in the project.

Raphael Lemkin and the History of the Concept of Genocide

Another Touro Berlin research project turns attention toward Raphael Lemkin, whose work became fundamental to the development of the modern concept of genocide. Born in 1900 to Jewish parents in what was then Russian Poland, Lemkin studied law, literature and philosophy and became increasingly concerned with ethnic violence and the protection of minorities.

After fleeing during the Second World War, he continued his work abroad and eventually published “Axis Rule in Occupied Europe” in 1944. In this work, Lemkin introduced the term “genocide” while systematically examining Nazi occupation policies and the persecution of Jews across occupied Europe.

His ideas subsequently played an important role in the development of the United Nations Genocide Convention, adopted in 1948. Despite the historical importance of Axis Rule in Occupied Europe for Holocaust studies, genocide studies, international law and human rights, Touro Berlin's research page explains that the work had remained available only in English.

A project led by Prof. Dr. Stephan Lehnstaedt of Touro University Berlin and Dr. Daniel Brewing of RWTH Aachen therefore set out to create a commented German edition of Lemkin's work.

The project involves more than translating a historical text. Lemkin's analysis must also be contextualized and classified for contemporary readers, while the extensive historical source material contained within the original work must be identified and addressed in its original languages.

The intended audience extends from academic researchers and university teaching to international-law practitioners and political education concerning National Socialism, the Holocaust, genocide, human rights and international law. In this way, historical scholarship becomes part of making an influential intellectual work accessible to new audiences.

IANSGE: Researching Contemporary Challenges at Memorial Sites

One of the current research initiatives presented by Touro Berlin is IANSGE — Israel-Related Antisemitism as an Educational Challenge at Memorial Sites.

The project investigates how developments since the Hamas-led attack in Israel on October 7, 2023, and the subsequent war in Gaza have affected the work of concentration camp memorials and other institutions commemorating the Nazi era. Rather than assuming how these institutions have been affected, the project is designed to investigate the question through research.

Touro Berlin is conducting the collaborative project with the Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz Memorial and Educational Center. Researchers are interviewing directors and educational staff at eight concentration camp memorials and sites commemorating the Nazi era, supplemented by group discussions with freelance guides.

The objective is to examine whether, and in what ways, Israel-related antisemitism has influenced educational and memorial work since October 7, 2023. Dr. Dagmar Lieske is responsible for organizing and conducting the research, while the project is led by Prof. Dr. Stephan Lehnstaedt and Dr. Lieske.

The project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology, and Space (BMFTR) under the funding program “Causes and Dynamics of Contemporary Antisemitism” for 2026–2030. Project partners include the Anne Frank Center e.V., Bergen-Belsen Memorial and Buchenwald Memorial, with support from Prof. Dr. Julia König of the University of Wuppertal. IANSGE illustrates particularly clearly how historical research, Holocaust education and contemporary social questions can intersect.

From Holocaust History to Contemporary Antisemitism

Viewed together, Touro Berlin's research projects reveal an important connection between understanding the past and examining the present.

Research into the German occupation of Poland helps reconstruct and evaluate historical knowledge about National Socialist occupation, persecution and the Holocaust. Work on Raphael Lemkin examines the intellectual and legal history surrounding genocide, while projects such as Radiate and RESPOND! investigate contemporary antisemitism within digital environments.

IANSGE brings these dimensions together in another way by asking how contemporary antisemitism affects institutions whose work is dedicated to educating people about National Socialism and preserving historical memory.

These are different research questions requiring different methods, but they share an emphasis on evidence, education and responsible academic inquiry. For students interested in Holocaust Studies, this research environment is especially relevant because it demonstrates that studying the Holocaust does not exist in isolation from questions of memory, representation, education and contemporary society.

Students as Part of an Academic Research Environment

Academic research can also change what it means to be a university student. A traditional understanding of university education might imagine professors producing research while students simply receive established knowledge in the classroom. In practice, exposure to active research can encourage students to see academic knowledge differently.

Research begins with questions for which the answer is not already written at the end of a textbook. Students learn that evidence has to be located and evaluated, methodologies need to be selected carefully, interpretations can be debated and conclusions must be supported.

Project Radiate provides a direct example of student participation, with Touro Berlin students Bilge Isakov and Noa Shwartz assisting the project's academic leads.

For students considering graduate education or research careers, exposure to this environment can help connect university study with the process through which knowledge is actually produced.

Research and the MA in Holocaust Studies

Touro Berlin's academic research also provides an important context for its MA in Holocaust Studies. The Master's program examines areas including the history of the Jews, Holocaust Studies, research methods, representations of the Holocaust, Holocaust education and memorialization, the Holocaust in film, literature, museums and memorials, and justice after the Holocaust.

These subjects connect naturally with several of the university's research activities.

A student learning about Holocaust memorialization, for example, can understand why research into contemporary challenges at memorial sites matters. Someone studying Holocaust research can see how scholars approach disputed historical questions surrounding occupation and persecution, while students interested in genocide can encounter the continuing importance of Raphael Lemkin's work.

The relationship between teaching and research therefore provides another dimension to graduate study: students are not only learning about an established field but are studying within an environment where researchers continue to investigate its unanswered and evolving questions.

Research That Reaches Beyond the University

One of the recurring characteristics of Touro Berlin's research projects is collaboration.

The university's researchers work with other universities, memorial institutions, Jewish community organizations and research centers, while projects have received support from institutions including the U.S. State Department, German federal ministries and research foundations.

The intended audiences also extend beyond academic specialists. The Polish-German handbook project is intended for museums, memorials and the interested public as well as academia. The Lemkin project aims to reach educators and practitioners in international law in addition to researchers. RESPOND! is developing media competence training for young people, while IANSGE examines challenges faced directly by memorial and educational institutions.

Research therefore becomes a bridge between university scholarship and the wider society in which academic knowledge can be applied, discussed and communicated.

Academic Research as Part of Touro Berlin

Touro Berlin's research activities demonstrate the breadth of questions that can emerge when history, psychology, communication, education and contemporary society intersect.

From investigating antisemitic hate speech on social media to developing educational responses, from reconstructing the complexities of German occupation in Poland to making Raphael Lemkin's foundational work more accessible, and from studying Holocaust memory to examining the challenges currently facing memorial institutions, these projects connect academic inquiry with subjects that continue to matter.

They also show why research remains a fundamental part of university life. Research allows scholars to revisit existing knowledge, identify what remains unknown, test assumptions against evidence and develop new ways of understanding both historical and contemporary problems.

For students at Touro Berlin, particularly those interested in Psychology, Holocaust Studies and related areas, this academic environment provides a wider context for what happens in the classroom. University education teaches us what is already known. Academic research asks what we still need to understand. At Touro Berlin, those questions continue to be explored.

Note: This blog provides educational and editorial content on a variety of topics. The views and interpretations expressed in individual articles do not necessarily reflect the official position of Touro University Berlin or Touro University.