James Madison College Faculty

Ken Waltzer was a special guest in July at a ceremony marking entrance of the late Fyodor Michalitschenko into the list of Righteous among the Nations at Yad Vashem. He has been featured on CBS and in many other media outlets for this story. In his research at the Red Cross International Tracing Service archive in June 2008 in Bad Arolsen, Germany he discovered that Fyodor was Rabbi Israel Lau's protector in block 8, the children's block, at Buchenwald. Lau had been looking for Fyodor from Rostow for sixty years but could not find him. With the opening of the records, Waltzer was able to discover his protector and informed Lau. Israel Lau is now chair of the Yad Vashem Council, which is honoring the late Fyodor.

Ken Waltzer's article, "Opening the Red Cross International Tracing Service Archives," appeared in the John Marshall Journal of Computer and Information Law 21:6 (Winter, 2009), the first scholarly article on the recently opened Holocaust archive. Waltzer also had the opportunity to deliver a paper, "No Angel at the Fence," with a translator, at the First International Forum on "Schlieben: A Forgotten Concentration Camp," in Schlieben, Germany in April 2009.

Waltzer will chair two panels at the Association of Jewish Studies meeting in Los Angeles, California in December 2009, one panel on "Writing Holocaust History with Holocaust Testimonies and Memoirs," in which he will present a paper on "Schlieben: A Forgotten Buchenwald Aussenlager," the other panel on "Contemporary Anti-Semitism: Inversions in the Radical Critique of Israel," in which he will serve as respondent.

Ken Waltzer, Madison Professor and director of MSU's Jewish Studies program, was a key member of a team of that disproved a Holocaust memoir set for publication in February. Waltzer began raising questions to the agent and publisher in November, suggesting that the story was fabricated. [ CNN Video Clip MSU News Article Lansing State Journal Article ]

Professor Kenneth Waltzer, director of Jewish Studies at MSU, was selected by the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum to participate in an international research workshop of scholars that was the first to work in the newly opened Red Cross-International Tracing Service (ITS) Archives in Bad Arolsen, Germany in June 2008. Waltzer discussed his expectations for workshop and his research into child survivors of the Nazi concentration camps on a Spartan Podcast.

Ken Waltzer delivered the Mona and Otto Weinman lecture at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in May 2008 on "The Rescue of Children and Youth at Buchenwald," and was one of 15 international scholars supported by the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the Museum to explore the newly opened Red Cross International Tracing Service archive in Bad Arolsen during June. This fall, he will give the Dean Fred Herzog Lecture at John Marshall College of Law in Chicago on "Opening the Red Cross Archive" in September, and he will present aspects of his work on child-saving at Buchenwald at the World Federation of Child Survivors in Alexandria, VA, in November 2008, and the Association of Jewish Studies in Washington DC in December 2008.

Professor Ken Waltzer will participate in a panel of Jewish Studies directors at the Association for Jewish Studies meeting in Toronto, Canada, December 2007. The Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has invited Professor Waltzer to deliver the Monna and Otto Weinmann Lecture in Washington DC, May 15, 2008. He will speak on his work on The Rescue of Children and Youth at Buchenwald.

Ken Waltzer will present a paper on “The Kovno Boys: Survival at Auschwitz, Buchenwald, and Mauthaussen,” at the 37th Annual Holocaust Scholars Conference in Cleveland, Ohio, March 11-13, 2007. A train from Dachau to Auschwitz carried 131 Kovno boys marked for death but, on arrival at Birkenau, the children were not gassed. Based on testimonies, interviews, and archival work in the U.S. and Israel, Professor Waltzer follows them inside Auschwitz-Birkenau, and then follows the remnant, about 40 boys, to Buchenwald and Mauthaussen.

Ken Waltzer will present on his book-in-progress, The Rescue of Children and Youth in Buchenwald, at James Madison College on April 11, 2007. In this book, Waltzer explores why, when the U.S. Third Army liberated Buchenwald, April 11, 1945, there were 904 children and youth still alive to be liberated? Among these were Elie Wiesel, a 16-year-old youth from Transylvania, (later Nobel Peace Prize winner) and also Israel Meir Lau, an 8-year-old child from Poland (later Israel Prize winner).

Ken Waltzer led the MSU Jewish Studies program at Hebrew University’s Rothberg International School during summer 2006 until forced by the conflict involving Israel and Hezbollah to return home early. While in Israel, he also had the opportunity to interview many former Buchenwald boys for a book on The Rescue of Children and Youth at Buchenwald. Waltzer also presented his research on rescue at Buchenwald at the World Federation of Jewish Child Survivors of the Holocaust in Dearborn in late August, and will be a featured speaker at the 9th Annual Holocaust Education Series in Montreal in late October. He recently submitted a paper for publication on "The Three Youngest Children at Buchenwald" and is submitting another on "Kovno Boys at Auschwitz-Birkenau and Buchenwald." His review,"Spielberg’s Munich, Ethics, and Israel," appeared in Israel Studies 11:2 (2006).

Professor Waltzer presented a paper, "The Rescue of Children at Buchenwald: Behavior in a Grey Area," at the Midwest Jewish Studies Scholars Colloquium, Cohn-Haddow Judaic Studies Program, Wayne State University (Detroit, May 22, 2005).

Professor Waltzer presented a paper, "American Reactions to the Holocaust 1945-1948," at the Wayne State University and University of Michigan-Dearborn Commemoration of the Holocaust (Dearborn, April 8, 2005).

Professor Waltzer presented a paper, "Jewish Rescue in Poland: The Jewish Underground in Warsaw," at the 35 th Annual Holocaust and the Churches Conference (Philadelphia, March 8, 2005).



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	Waltzer, Kenneth 301 Linton Hall East Lansing, MI 48825-1210 Email:waltzer Phone: 517-432-3493 Major: Social Relations and Policy Office Hours: Web: Ph.D., Harvard University; History Professor Professor Waltzer's interests cover American social and political history, including urban, labor, and minority history, immigration and pluralism in the United States, and modern Jewish history, including the study of anti-Semitism and the comparative study of American Jewry and Israeli Jewry. His major current project is a book on The Rescue of Children and Youth at Buchenwald. In summer 2005, he was a member of the Brandeis Israel Studies faculty, and in summer 2006 he taught in Israel. His interests include study of American immigration, especially second generation immigrants in 20th century urban America, issues of multiculturalism and inter-group relations, issues of rescue and survival during the Holocaust, and history and memory about the Holocaust. He is preparing a book prospectus on the development of two new post-Holocaust centers of Jewish life in Israel and America and how divergent societies and cultures can be created by people who came from common origins. In 1990, Professor Waltzer won a State of Michigan Teaching Excellence Award. In 1998, he was awarded the Mid-Michigan Alumni Club Quality in Undergraduate Teaching Award. In 2001, he was recognized as Outstanding Study Abroad Director by the College of Arts and Letters. He was Acting Dean of James Madison College 1990-92, and served as Associate Dean 1989-90, 1994-96. He served as Director of the Center for Integrative Studies in the Arts and Humanities in the College of Arts and Letters 1997-2005. He currently serves as Director of Jewish Studies at Michigan State University.	Recent Faculty News Ken Waltzer was a special guest in July at a ceremony marking entrance of the late Fyodor Michalitschenko into the list of Righteous among the Nations at Yad Vashem. He has been featured on CBS and in many other media outlets for this story. In his research at the Red Cross International Tracing Service archive in June 2008 in Bad Arolsen, Germany he discovered that Fyodor was Rabbi Israel Lau's protector in block 8, the children's block, at Buchenwald. Lau had been looking for Fyodor from Rostow for sixty years but could not find him. With the opening of the records, Waltzer was able to discover his protector and informed Lau. Israel Lau is now chair of the Yad Vashem Council, which is honoring the late Fyodor. Ken Waltzer's article, "Opening the Red Cross International Tracing Service Archives," appeared in the John Marshall Journal of Computer and Information Law 21:6 (Winter, 2009), the first scholarly article on the recently opened Holocaust archive. Waltzer also had the opportunity to deliver a paper, "No Angel at the Fence," with a translator, at the First International Forum on "Schlieben: A Forgotten Concentration Camp," in Schlieben, Germany in April 2009. Waltzer will chair two panels at the Association of Jewish Studies meeting in Los Angeles, California in December 2009, one panel on "Writing Holocaust History with Holocaust Testimonies and Memoirs," in which he will present a paper on "Schlieben: A Forgotten Buchenwald Aussenlager," the other panel on "Contemporary Anti-Semitism: Inversions in the Radical Critique of Israel," in which he will serve as respondent. Ken Waltzer, Madison Professor and director of MSU's Jewish Studies program, was a key member of a team of that disproved a Holocaust memoir set for publication in February. Waltzer began raising questions to the agent and publisher in November, suggesting that the story was fabricated. [ CNN Video Clip MSU News Article Lansing State Journal Article ] Professor Kenneth Waltzer, director of Jewish Studies at MSU, was selected by the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum to participate in an international research workshop of scholars that was the first to work in the newly opened Red Cross-International Tracing Service (ITS) Archives in Bad Arolsen, Germany in June 2008. Waltzer discussed his expectations for workshop and his research into child survivors of the Nazi concentration camps on a Spartan Podcast. Ken Waltzer delivered the Mona and Otto Weinman lecture at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in May 2008 on "The Rescue of Children and Youth at Buchenwald," and was one of 15 international scholars supported by the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the Museum to explore the newly opened Red Cross International Tracing Service archive in Bad Arolsen during June. This fall, he will give the Dean Fred Herzog Lecture at John Marshall College of Law in Chicago on "Opening the Red Cross Archive" in September, and he will present aspects of his work on child-saving at Buchenwald at the World Federation of Child Survivors in Alexandria, VA, in November 2008, and the Association of Jewish Studies in Washington DC in December 2008. Professor Ken Waltzer will participate in a panel of Jewish Studies directors at the Association for Jewish Studies meeting in Toronto, Canada, December 2007. The Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has invited Professor Waltzer to deliver the Monna and Otto Weinmann Lecture in Washington DC, May 15, 2008. He will speak on his work on The Rescue of Children and Youth at Buchenwald. Ken Waltzer will present a paper on “The Kovno Boys: Survival at Auschwitz, Buchenwald, and Mauthaussen,” at the 37th Annual Holocaust Scholars Conference in Cleveland, Ohio, March 11-13, 2007. A train from Dachau to Auschwitz carried 131 Kovno boys marked for death but, on arrival at Birkenau, the children were not gassed. Based on testimonies, interviews, and archival work in the U.S. and Israel, Professor Waltzer follows them inside Auschwitz-Birkenau, and then follows the remnant, about 40 boys, to Buchenwald and Mauthaussen. Ken Waltzer will present on his book-in-progress, The Rescue of Children and Youth in Buchenwald, at James Madison College on April 11, 2007. In this book, Waltzer explores why, when the U.S. Third Army liberated Buchenwald, April 11, 1945, there were 904 children and youth still alive to be liberated? Among these were Elie Wiesel, a 16-year-old youth from Transylvania, (later Nobel Peace Prize winner) and also Israel Meir Lau, an 8-year-old child from Poland (later Israel Prize winner). Ken Waltzer led the MSU Jewish Studies program at Hebrew University’s Rothberg International School during summer 2006 until forced by the conflict involving Israel and Hezbollah to return home early. While in Israel, he also had the opportunity to interview many former Buchenwald boys for a book on The Rescue of Children and Youth at Buchenwald. Waltzer also presented his research on rescue at Buchenwald at the World Federation of Jewish Child Survivors of the Holocaust in Dearborn in late August, and will be a featured speaker at the 9th Annual Holocaust Education Series in Montreal in late October. He recently submitted a paper for publication on "The Three Youngest Children at Buchenwald" and is submitting another on "Kovno Boys at Auschwitz-Birkenau and Buchenwald." His review,"Spielberg’s Munich, Ethics, and Israel," appeared in Israel Studies 11:2 (2006). Professor Waltzer presented a paper, "The Rescue of Children at Buchenwald: Behavior in a Grey Area," at the Midwest Jewish Studies Scholars Colloquium, Cohn-Haddow Judaic Studies Program, Wayne State University (Detroit, May 22, 2005). Professor Waltzer presented a paper, "American Reactions to the Holocaust 1945-1948," at the Wayne State University and University of Michigan-Dearborn Commemoration of the Holocaust (Dearborn, April 8, 2005). Professor Waltzer presented a paper, "Jewish Rescue in Poland: The Jewish Underground in Warsaw," at the 35 th Annual Holocaust and the Churches Conference (Philadelphia, March 8, 2005).
South Case Hall, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48825