Alin Constantin

Advisor: Steven J. Zipperstein. 

Taking the form of a collective biography, this dissertation looks at the lives of a Bucharest based group of Jewish poets, literary critics, translators, and academics in Romania between 1918 and 1960. Examining the way in which socio-political events determined their ideological allegiance to communism, the dissertation uses a variety of sources ranging from secret police reports to diaries in order to capture the period from the perspective of those who lived through it. Though it promised an emancipation from antisemitism and xenophobia, the regime quickly reneged on that promise. While the story of hope and disenchantment has been previously explored in the Soviet and Polish cases, this is the first such study to focus on Romanian Jewry.

Alin will continue his career in academia starting with lecturing for History and Jewish Studies at Stanford in the fall of 2025.