Alison B. Curry
@abcurry.bsky.social
Historian | Public History Postdoctoral Fellow at USHMM | Jewish cemeteries; Holocaust Studies; Polish Jewish History | alisonbcurry.net All views are my own.
After last night’s “we live in hell” moment in which Trump claimed Senators Warnock and Ossoff were illegitimately elected, I thought I’d reshare a piece I wrote in January 2021, just after their initial election.
On Warnock and Ossoff: Civil Rights History and Black-Jewish Relations – Alison B. Curry
alisonbcurry.net
Every suggested post I see on my Instagram feed nowadays contains some form of Christian ideology. I typically have to get to the end before the “thanks to Jesus” or w/e it is, but these algorithms are thrusting Christianity upon us - even when you’re a Jew who devotes her life to Jewishness 🤦♀️
People seem more upset about daylight savings than our demented, oligarchical administration. Yet another symptom of the problem…
Proud to be a lifelong Bruce fan. “There were bloody footprints where mercy should have stood…”
Bruce Springsteen@brucespringsteen.net · 6mo agoI wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Stay free
🧵“How do seemingly ordinary people become agents of state murder?” This is one of the guiding questions I ask students in my graduate class on genocide/state violence. With recent events, it is a question many Americans are asking. I do not have a definitive answer, but here is a reading list: 1/
I bought a snow shovel today so now we won’t even get a snowstorm this weekend. Y’all are welcome.
My article for Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry Vol. 38 has officially been published. I wrote this a while ago, so I can’t bring myself to read it just yet. But maybe you will! Thanks so much to the editors for their support along the way and especially to @guesnet.bsky.social for the invitation.
After Death: Identity, Tradition, Ethics, and the Dead Jewish Body in Poland | Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry
This chapter explores the deceased Jewish body and the ways in which the dead contributed to the relationship of the living to their own Jewish identity in Poland. During the interwar period the dead Jewish body was a significant part of identity ...
liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk
Can’t wait for our Congress to do nothing about this.
The New York Times@nytimes.com · 7mo agoIn Opinion President Trump “is pushing our country toward an international crisis without valid reasons,” the editorial board writes after the U.S. attack on Venezuela was announced on Saturday. “If Mr. Trump wants to argue otherwise, the Constitution spells out what he must do: Go to Congress.”
UNC should maintain these centers because it is the right thing to do, but historians will also note that these centers across the US were founded for national security reasons in order to produce scholars, officers, and policymakers knowledgeable about the world. They weakened a country today.
Pasuth Thothaveesansuk@pasuth.info · 8mo agoThis is absolutely catastrophic for research in the humanities and social sciences. Not only are these centers crucial sources of the limited research funding we have as grad students, but they have been interdisciplinary intellectual homes for so many of us at UNC. dailytarheel.com/article/a4ee...
Husband went to the Giant near us because we realized we are out of Hanukkah candles. He asked some employees to point him to where he could find Hanukkah candles - this where they brought him 🤦♀️😭😂
So let me get this straight…this Stand up to Jewish Hate commercial claims that an appropriate response to antisemitism is posting a hashtag blue square?? Because “saying something” is too difficult? Doing anything else in response to antisemitism is too hard?? Yeah that sounds about right 🤦♀️
Two people at my husband’s family’s thanksgiving had very clearly never heard about the Holocaust when I told them about where I was working now. One is older, maybe 70yr old male. One is around my age. Western Maryland, Pennsylvania born and raised.
My most recent book review has just been published with the Journal of Modern Jewish Studies.
The destruction of Jewish cemeteries in Poland
Published in Journal of Modern Jewish Studies (Ahead of Print, 2025)
tandfonline.com
I’m convinced the Deliver Me from Nowhere hate is 97% originating from MAGA trolls.
I watched a group of early high schoolers visit the Holocaust museum’s permanent exhibition today. What did I learn? That digital cameras are cool again. Who knew?
Incredible find, this cemetery dates to 1070CE. A reminder that space matters — “Though Jews were given licence to operate within the old Roman walls of the city, they were obliged to be buried outside it.”
Britain’s oldest Jewish cemetery discovered at the Barbican
A team of amateur historians found the site, which dates from Norman times, just outside London’s ancient Roman wall
thetimes.com
*watching a nature documentary* Narrator: “the female waits by her deceased relatives’ side for 3 days.” Me: “Three days?!?” My non-Jewish husband: “She’s sitting shiva, chill.”
Yesterday, I successfully defended my dissertation. It’s been a wild six years here at UNC, and while pursuing a PhD can be incredibly stressful and frustrating, I do not take for granted the ability to pursue my passion in this way.
My mother used to always say, “You only have to watch the last five minutes of a basketball game” and I never understood that, bc certainly that’s also true for all other sports?? But after catching a few of this season’s playoff games, I fear she’s right about that one too.
Today, more than six months after voters elected me to keep my seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court, my opponent conceded the election. Read my statement here.
Thank you, Senator. Proud to have been able to vote for you in the past.
Senator Chris Van Hollen@vanhollen.senate.gov · last yr.I said my main goal of this trip was to meet with Kilmar. Tonight I had that chance. I have called his wife, Jennifer, to pass along his message of love. I look forward to providing a full update upon my return.
The UNC-CH chapter of the AAUP strongly and unequivocally condemns the targeting of international students and scholars. In light of the April 8 revocation of six UNC student visas, we call on UNC-CH to take concrete steps to support students and scholars at risk: unc-ch-aaup.org/news#2025-04...
A quick and easy to use tool to email your representatives to save the NEH.
National Humanities Center@natlhumanities.bsky.social · last yr.URGENT ACTION NEEDED: Save the NEH. Please join us in expressing support for the NEH and its critical role in preserving American history, culture, and the intellectual life of all Americans. #Humanities
It’s fascinating to watch the reaction to @booker.senate.gov ‘s over 16hr speech on the Senate floor. On the one hand, there’s a lot of applause - others claim he’s not actually doing anything worthwhile. As someone studying historical resistance, resistance takes many forms.
Very grateful for the support of fellow grad students throughout the PhD process. I recently started a Zoom working group with grad friends I met at various conferences over the years. It’s turned into a super consistent and supportive part of my week. It’s lovely. And grad students are the best.
Just read about Jesse Eisenberg being granted Polish citizenship earlier this week. I looked into this a few years ago - we have so much documentation of my family’s Polish roots but Polish law is quite specific and we wouldn’t qualify. Back then, people questioned why I would want Polish
