From Student to Researcher: Studying Holocaust History at Touro Berlin

How Holocaust Studies Can Transform Academic Learning Into Research, Remembrance and Responsibility

Studying the Holocaust at graduate level involves much more than learning a sequence of historical events. It means working critically with evidence, examining how history has been documented and represented, engaging with questions of memory and responsibility, and developing the research skills required to preserve knowledge for future generations.

At Touro Berlin, this journey lies at the heart of the MA in Holocaust Studies, an English-taught program dedicated to education, research and remembrance. Students explore historical, literary, philosophical, psychological and societal dimensions of the Holocaust while learning to approach an extraordinarily complex field with academic rigor and an awareness of the individuals whose lives stand behind the historical record.

For some students, that process can also represent the beginning of a longer academic journey. Graduate study develops the skills required to move from reading existing scholarship toward asking original questions, working with historical sources and contributing to research. This is the journey from student to researcher.

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Holocaust Research Begins With Evidence

Researching the Holocaust carries a particular responsibility because behind every document, statistic, photograph and historical record are individual human experiences.

Graduate students therefore need to learn not only what happened but how historians know what happened, which sources are available, how those sources should be interpreted and where limitations or gaps in the historical record remain.

Touro Berlin's Holocaust Studies program approaches the genocide through empirical reconstruction while remaining mindful of its victims. Students examine the mechanisms through which modern industrial societies developed systems of exclusion and persecution, while also studying the systematic persecution and murder of European Jews.

The program further examines perpetration, collaboration and memory through historical, psychological and sociological frameworks, giving students several academic perspectives from which to investigate difficult questions.

Developing this ability to work across disciplines is an important step in moving from student to researcher. Instead of simply receiving information, students learn to evaluate evidence, question interpretations and construct arguments that can be supported by historical sources.

Survivor Testimony Connects History With Individual Experience

One of the most powerful sources available to Holocaust researchers is survivor testimony.

Documents can establish policies, dates, movements and institutional decisions, but personal testimony provides another dimension of historical understanding by preserving individual experiences of persecution, displacement, survival, loss and the consequences that continued long after the Holocaust itself.

Engaging with Shoah survivors therefore goes beyond collecting information. It requires preparation, sensitivity and an understanding that the person speaking is not simply a historical source but an individual sharing deeply personal experiences.

At Touro Berlin, the journey from student to researcher recognizes this responsibility. Survivor testimony can contribute to understanding questions of restitution and remembrance while preserving personal histories that future generations will increasingly encounter through recordings, archives and scholarship rather than through direct conversation. Each interview can therefore become part of a much larger process of historical preservation.

From Testimony to Historical Memory

Preserving testimony is only one part of the research process. Scholars must also consider how personal experiences are interpreted, contextualized and eventually communicated to other people.

This is where Holocaust research intersects with the study of memory. How does an individual remember an experience decades later? How do families transmit memories between generations? How do museums transform testimony into exhibitions? How do documentaries use interviews? How should educators present survivor accounts to students who may have little previous knowledge of the Holocaust?

These questions become increasingly significant as the number of living Holocaust survivors declines. Future generations will encounter the Holocaust primarily through archives, recordings, museums, memorials, educational materials, films, literature and historical scholarship. The researchers, educators, archivists and curators working with these materials therefore carry an important responsibility for how historical knowledge is preserved and communicated.

Touro Berlin's MA addresses this connection by examining not only Holocaust history but also the representation and memorialization of that history.

Learning to Work With Archives

Archives are fundamental to historical research because they preserve the materials through which scholars reconstruct the past.

Touro Berlin students have access to international archives as part of the Holocaust Studies program, allowing them to engage with the kinds of sources that underpin historical scholarship.

Learning how to work with archival material changes the nature of studying history.

Instead of relying entirely on conclusions already presented in textbooks and academic publications, researchers begin examining the evidence from which those conclusions were constructed. They can compare documents, investigate inconsistencies, identify unanswered questions and explore subjects that may deserve further study.

These are essential research skills for students considering careers in historical research, academia, museums, archives or Holocaust education.

Memorials and Museums as Places of Research

Holocaust research does not take place exclusively in libraries and archives. Museums and memorials also play an important role in determining how history is preserved and communicated.

Touro Berlin's program incorporates virtual tours of Holocaust memorials as well as funded excursions and opportunities to engage with memorial sites. Students examine how these places have developed and how their approaches to remembrance influence public understanding of the Holocaust.

For a researcher, visiting a memorial involves different questions from those of an ordinary visitor. Why were particular objects or documents selected? How is the historical narrative structured? Whose experiences receive attention? How does architecture influence the visitor's understanding? How has an exhibition changed over time? What educational objectives guide the institution?

Learning to ask such questions helps students understand that remembrance itself has a history.

Berlin as an Environment for Holocaust Research

Studying Holocaust history through a university based in Berlin creates an important connection between academic work and place.

Berlin contains memorials, museums, archives and historical sites associated with Jewish life, National Socialism, persecution, deportation, resistance and Holocaust remembrance. The city therefore provides opportunities to encounter the physical environments in which history is researched and represented.

Touro Berlin has its own longstanding connection with Holocaust education. The university's program provides students with opportunities to work with Berlin memorial sites, and former students have described the professional value of these experiences.

The relationship between university study and the institutions surrounding it can be particularly valuable for students who hope eventually to work within research, museums, archives or public history.

Developing Research Through Small Academic Communities

Research is rarely an entirely solitary process. Scholars develop ideas through conversations with professors, other researchers and fellow students, and graduate education provides an important environment in which those academic relationships can develop.

Touro Berlin's Holocaust Studies program uses small online and sometimes hybrid classes, allowing students to engage closely with faculty and classmates.

The program's faculty bring academic publications, research experience and professional connections to the classroom, while students also have opportunities to participate in shared online courses with students in Israel.

This international dimension is especially important within Holocaust Studies because the history and memory of the Holocaust extend across national boundaries. Comparing perspectives from different countries can help students understand how historical interpretation and Holocaust education vary according to national and cultural contexts.

When a Master’s Degree Becomes the Beginning of a Research Career

For students interested in academia, completing an MA can provide the foundation for further research at doctoral level.

Touro Berlin already provides examples of graduates who have followed this path.

Niels Pohl, a graduate of the program, describes his cooperation with Touro professors as being characterized by mutual appreciation and a shared interest in researching Holocaust history and developing practical approaches for the present. He continued his academic career as a researcher and doctoral candidate at the Centre for Holocaust Studies of the Institute for Contemporary History (IfZ) in Munich.

Another graduate, Svea Hammerle, gained practical experience during her degree through curating exhibitions, developing educational materials and working with Berlin memorial sites. She subsequently continued into doctoral research at the Leibniz Centre for Contemporary History.

These examples illustrate what the transition from student to researcher can look like. A Master's degree does not automatically determine a graduate's professional destination, but it can provide the research methods, academic relationships, practical experience and specialized knowledge needed to pursue further scholarship.

Research Can Also Lead Beyond the University

Becoming a researcher does not necessarily mean spending an entire career within a university. The research skills developed through Holocaust Studies can be relevant across museums, archives, memorial institutions, education, documentary production, nonprofit organizations and other areas concerned with historical knowledge and public communication.

Touro Berlin identifies potential professional directions including Holocaust education, historical research, museum and archival work, academic scholarship, documentary filmmaking, writing, nonprofit work, communications, international relations, advocacy and public policy.

Different careers naturally have different professional requirements, but many depend upon the same fundamental abilities developed through serious graduate research: finding reliable information, evaluating evidence, understanding context and communicating conclusions accurately.

Research as an Act of Preservation

The transition from student to researcher also changes a person's relationship with history.

Initially, students encounter a field through books, lectures, documents and established scholarship. As their knowledge develops, they begin asking their own questions, examining primary sources, engaging critically with interpretations and considering what they themselves might contribute.

Within Holocaust Studies, that transition carries particular significance. Research can contribute to preserving testimony, documenting individual experiences, understanding systems of persecution and challenging inaccurate representations of the past. It can help museums construct responsible exhibitions, educators develop stronger materials and future scholars continue investigating questions that remain unanswered.

Working with survivor testimony makes this responsibility especially tangible. Each testimony preserves an individual perspective that cannot be replaced once it is lost.

The researcher therefore becomes part of the connection between past and future.

Study Holocaust Studies at Touro Berlin

Touro Berlin's MA in Holocaust Studies is taught completely in English and examines subjects including Jewish history, Holocaust research methods, representations of the Holocaust, Holocaust education and memorialization, Holocaust representation in film, literature, museums and memorials, and questions of justice after the Holocaust.

The program combines online learning with some hybrid elements, international academic connections, archives and engagement with Holocaust memorial sites. Touro Berlin also encourages professionals to consider completing the program part-time.

For students who want to move beyond learning established history toward researching, preserving and communicating it, the MA provides an environment in which that development can begin.

The journey from student to researcher is ultimately a journey toward greater responsibility.

It means learning to ask better questions, treating evidence carefully, listening responsibly to testimony and understanding that historical research influences how future generations will encounter the past.

At Touro Berlin, Holocaust Studies connects that academic responsibility with remembrance, ensuring that studying history is not simply about looking backward, but also about preserving knowledge for those who will come next.

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.