Barnabas Balint
Research Topic
Accelerated Development into Adulthood: The Changing Roles of Young Hungarians During the Holocaust
Supervisor: Zoe Waxman
I am a Doctoral candidate in History at Magdalen College, with a specific interest in the history of the Holocaust and its impact on society. Before starting my DPhil, I completed my undergraduate degree in History at the University of Exeter in 2019 and my master’s at Oxford in 2020. My multi-lingual research (in English, French and Hungarian) combines the history of childhood, gender and identity to explore Jewish youth responses to persecution during the Second World War. I am currently focsuing on the experiences of Jewish youth during the Holocaust in Hungary under the supervision of Dr Zoe Waxman.
I have written, published and presented internationally on aspects of the Holocaust across Europe and hold Research Fellowships from the Center for Advanced Genocide Research at the University of Southern California and the European Holocaust Research Infrastructure. I am also committed to having an impact outside the academy; I have been employed as a Communications Officer for the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, have organized major outreach conferences for schools at the Universities of Exeter and Oxford, and am joint Postgraduate Representative for the British Association of Holocaust Studies. Furthermore, in support of Holocaust education and commemoration I have led ceremonies, written blog posts, conducted training sessions and spoken to UK national leaders including the Chief Rabbi, Metropolitan Police Commissioner, and Prime Minister.
Activities
At Oxford, I convene the Holocaust Studies Reading Group, an informal community of students researching issues relating to the Holocaust that meets four times a term to discuss the latest scholarship and research. In June 2021, I co-convened an international workshop entitled Rallying Europe: Intersectional Approaches To Youth In The Mid-Twentieth Century, and am co-editing a special issue of the European Review of History to publish our proceedings in early 2024. As Academic Officer for the Oxford History Graduate Network, I support students and help provide opportunities for us all to share and disucss our research interests. Outside of the academy, I have also organised an Oxford Events Series for Holocaust Memorial Day 2022, part of the Humanities Cultrual Programme funded by the Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities and the Magdalen College Trust. This series of 7 events with 18 speakers brought together members of the University and members of the public to learn about the Holocaust and its contemporary relevance and was atteneded by over 600 people. For the 2021/2 academic year, I am the joint Postgraduate Representative for the British Association of Holocaust Studies, working with Charlie Knight from the University of Southampton to support postgraduate students and organise the annual BAHS Postgraduate Conference.
Publications
Journal Articles
'Coming of Age During the Holocaust: The Adult Roles and Responsibilities of Young Hungarian Jews in Auschwitz-Birkenau', The Journal of Holocaust Research 35.1 (2021), 20-40, https://doi.org/10.1080/25785648.2020.1863637.
'International Jewish Organizations During the Holocaust: Towards a Transnational History of the Women’s International Zionist Organisation', The Journal of the Oxford University History Society XII (2020).
'Beyond Antisemitism: Hungarian Ideological and Pragmatic Motivations for the Holocaust', Midlands Historical Review 2 (2018), https://portal.issn.org/resource/ISSN/2516-8568
Blog Posts
'Hidden in the Archive: An Unknown Leaflet from a Jewish Aid Organization in 1948', USC Dornsife Center for Advanced Genocide Research (May 2022).
'From Jewish Refugee to Senior Dean: The Life of Karl Leyser', Illuminating Magdalen: The Blog of Magdalen College Library (2022).
'Digital Tools for Understanding the Holocaust: Visualisations in the EHRI Document Blog', Digital Holocaust Memory (2021).
'“They became my children too”: The Multi-layered meanings of family letters from the Jewish Maquis in France', European Holocaust Research Infrastructure Document Blog (2021).
'Concentration Camp Documents and Hungarian Jewish Lives: Prisoner Registration Cards from the Arolsen Archives', The Institute of Historical Research History Lab Blog (2021).
'Relief Workers in the Aftermath of the Second World War: Two British Heroes of the Holocaust', British Association of Holocaust Studies Blog (2019).
'Recognising the "Anonymous" Resistors: Everyday Heroes in Occupied Hungary', European Holocaust Research Infrastructure Document Blog (2018).
'Learning from the Past to Build a Better Future', Seeking Protection: the Blog of the IHRA (2018).
'Words of Resistance: HMDT Youth Champion Board', HMDT Blog (2018).
Book Reviews
'Women's Experiences of the Second World War: Exile, Occupation, and Everyday Life. Edited by Mark J. Corwley and Sandra Trudgen Dawson. The Boydell Press, 2021. xx + 224 pp. £75.00.', History - The Journal of the Historical Association 107/376, (June 2022), pp. 606-607.
'The Last Ghetto: An Everyday History of Theresienstadt: by Anna Hájková, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2020, 364 pp., £14.95 (hardback)', Cultural and Social History (2022).
Other
Public Lecture - 'Growing Up Jewish During the Holocaust in Hungary', University of Southern California Dornsife Center for Advanced Genocide Research, (April 2022).
Teaching
Final Honours School Paper - EWF13: Europe Divided, 1914-1989 (tutorials, revision sessions, and collections marking)
Preliminary Examination Paper - Living With the Enemy: The Experience of the Second World War in Europe (tutorials)
