Doris Bergen

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| name = Doris Bergen

| honorific_suffix = FRSC

| image = Doris Leanna Bergen.jpg

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| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1960|10|19}}

| birth_place = Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

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| education = B.A., 1982, University of Saskatchewan
M.A., Modern European History, 1984, University of Alberta
PhD., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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| thesis_title = One Reich, one people, one church: the German Christian movement and the People's Church, 1932–1945

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| thesis_year = 1995

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| academic_advisors = Gerhard Weinberg

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| discipline = History

| sub_discipline = The Holocaust

| workplaces = University of Vermont
University of Notre Dame
University of Toronto

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| main_interests = Religion, gender and ethnicity in the Holocaust

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Doris Leanna Bergen (born October 19, 1960){{cite web |title=Bergen, Doris L. |url=https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n95038225.html |website=id.loc.gov |access-date=August 6, 2020}} {{post-nominals|list=FRSC}} is a Canadian academic and Holocaust historian. She is the Chancellor Rose and Ray Wolfe Professor of Holocaust Studies at the University of Toronto, the only endowed chair in Canada in Holocaust history. Bergen is also a member of the Academic Advisory Committee of the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2018.

Early life and education

Bergen is of German and Ukrainian descent and was raised a Mennonite in Saskatchewan.{{cite news |last1=Lewis |first1=Charles |title=German military chaplains caught between word of God and horror of man |url=https://nationalpost.com/holy-post/military-chaplains-caught-between-word-of-god-and-horror-of-man |access-date=August 8, 2019 |publisher=National Post |date=November 6, 2011}}{{citation |last=Bergen|first=Doris L.|chapter=Protestants, Catholics, Mennonites and Jews: Identities and institutions in Holocaust studies|editor-first=Michael R.|editor-last=Marrus |editor2-first=Milton |editor2-last=Shain |editor3-first=Christopher R.|editor3-last=Browning |editor4-first=Susannah |editor4-last=Heschel |title=Holocaust Scholarship: Personal Trajectories and Professional Interpretations |year=2015 |publisher=Springer |isbn=9781137514196 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J19OCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA142|pages=142–3}} While her parents fled Ukraine in the early 1920s, Bergen had family in Europe who witnessed the Holocaust.{{cite book |editor1-last=Marrus |editor1-first=Michael R. |editor2-last=Shain |editor2-first=Milton |editor3-last=Browning |editor3-first=Christopher R. |editor4-last=Heschel |editor4-first=Susannah |title=Holocaust Scholarship: Personal Trajectories and Professional Interpretations |date=2015 |publisher=Springer |isbn=9781137514196 |page=149 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J19OCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA142|access-date=August 8, 2019}} After earning her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Saskatchewan, Bergen was educated at the University of Alberta and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.{{cite web |last1=Chapla |first1=Shannon |title=Historian Bergen edits new book on military chaplains |url=https://news.nd.edu/news/historian-bergen-edits-new-book-on-military-chaplains/ |website=news.nd.edu |access-date=August 8, 2019 |date=April 14, 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190810060648/https://news.nd.edu/news/historian-bergen-edits-new-book-on-military-chaplains/ |archive-date=August 10, 2019 |url-status=live }} While writing her PhD dissertation in North Carolina, Bergen studied under the direction of Gerhard Weinberg, a professor with a focus on World War II.{{cite web |title=Kalamazoo College Lecture Will Focus on the Holocaust |url=http://www.kzoo.edu/news/kalamazoo-college-lecture-will-focus-on-the-holocaust/ |website=kzoo.edu |access-date=August 10, 2019 |date=March 26, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190810060645/http://www.kzoo.edu/news/kalamazoo-college-lecture-will-focus-on-the-holocaust/ |archive-date=August 10, 2019 |url-status=live }}

Career

Bergen began her academic career at the University of Vermont{{cite book |editor1-last=Marrus |editor1-first=Michael R. |editor2-last=Shain |editor2-first=Milton |editor3-last=Browning |editor3-first=Christopher R. |editor4-last=Heschel |editor4-first=Susannah |title=Holocaust Scholarship: Personal Trajectories and Professional Interpretations |date=2015 |publisher=Springer |isbn=9781137514196 |page=154 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J19OCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA142|access-date=August 8, 2019}} in 1991. While teaching there,{{cite web |title=Out of the Limelight or In': Raul Hilberg and the Future of Holocaust Studies |url=https://list.uvm.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=CHS;ff42bc81.1611 |website=list.uvm.edu |access-date=August 9, 2019 |date=November 14, 2016 |quote=she held positions at the University of Notre Dame and the University of Vermont (1991–1996)}} Bergen was also a visiting instructor at the Universities of Warsaw, Tuzla, and Pristina.{{cite web |title=Overexposed and Underexposed: The Many Faces of the Lodz Ghetto |url=http://www.lodzghetto.ago.net/dorisbergen?t:state:flow=4091459d-a6df-4d07-8640-dd4607deb57d |website=lodzghetto.ago.net |access-date=August 9, 2019}} In 1996, Bergen was hired by the University of Notre Dame in their history department. She specialized in 20th century German history, with an emphasis on the Nazi era and the Holocaust, and European women's history. During this time, Bergen published Twisted cross: the German Christian movement in the Third Reich which focused on the Protestant Church's response to Nazism.{{cite journal |last1=Besier |first1=Gerhard |title=Reviewed Work: Twisted Cross. The German Christian Movement in the Third Reich by Doris L. Bergen |journal=Historische Zeitschrift |date=1999 |volume=268 |issue=1 |pages=249–251 |jstor=27632542 }}

A year later, in 1997, Bergen held a Fellowship for Archival Research at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.{{cite web |title=Doris Bergen |url=https://www.ushmm.org/research/about-the-mandel-center/all-fellows-and-scholars/doris-bergen-1997 |website=ushmm.org |access-date=August 9, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190810060644/https://www.ushmm.org/research/about-the-mandel-center/all-fellows-and-scholars/doris-bergen-1997 |archive-date=August 10, 2019 |url-status=live }} In 1999, Bergen was a fellow at the Institute on the Holocaust and Jewish Civilization at Northwestern University.{{cite web |title=Fellows of the Institute on the Holocaust and Jewish Civilization – Northwestern University, 1999 |url=https://www.hef.northwestern.edu/summer-institutes/northwestern/summer-institute-fellows/1999-2/ |website=hef.northwestern.edu |access-date=August 9, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190810060655/https://www.hef.northwestern.edu/summer-institutes/northwestern/summer-institute-fellows/1999-2/ |archive-date=August 10, 2019 |url-status=live }} Bergen would later note that her interest in Holocaust studies grew from her personal connection to Mennonite communities. While keeping a strong focus on the stories of Jews during the Holocaust, Bergen was also interested in the oft-forgotten Holocaust victim groups such as the disabled, the Roma, Soviet prisoners of war, and Polish civilians.{{cite web |title=Scholars uncover hidden stories of the Holocaust |url=https://canadianmennonite.org/stories/scholars-uncover-hidden-stories-holocaust |website=canadianmennonite.org |access-date=August 9, 2019 |date=March 20, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190810060657/https://canadianmennonite.org/stories/scholars-uncover-hidden-stories-holocaust |archive-date=August 10, 2019 |url-status=live }} After returning to Notre Dame, Bergen published War and Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust in 2003. This book analyzed the varying experiences of violence of different groups of perpetrators, victims, and other participants during the Holocaust.{{cite journal |last1=Jackson |first1=Francesina R. |title=A Review of "War and Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust" |journal=Multicultural Perspectives |date=2010 |volume=12 |issue=4 |pages=235–236 |doi=10.1080/15210960.2010.527595 }} She later edited a book on military chaplains, published by University of Notre Dame Press. In 2006, before taking a leave of absence, Bergen was elected Chair of the University Committee on Women Faculty and Students.{{cite web |title=Notre Dame Report |url=http://archives.nd.edu/ndr/NDR-35/NDR-2006-02-03.pdf |website=archives.nd.edu |access-date=August 8, 2019 |page=292 |date=February 3, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190810060645/http://archives.nd.edu/ndr/NDR-35/NDR-2006-02-03.pdf |archive-date=August 10, 2019 |url-status=live }} In 2007, Bergen was named a full professor at the University of Toronto.{{cite web |title=VANCOUVER HOLOCAUST EDUCATION CENTRE |url=https://vhec.org/images/pdfs/VHEC%20ZACHOR%20FALL%2009.pdf |website=vhec.org |access-date=August 9, 2019 |page=11 |date=2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100827052757/http://www.vhec.org/images/pdfs/VHEC%20ZACHOR%20FALL%2009.pdf |archive-date=August 27, 2010 |url-status=live }} She also replaced Michael Marrus as the Chancellor Rose and Ray Wolfe Professor of Holocaust Studies at the University of Toronto. This is the only endowed chair in Canada in Holocaust history.{{cite news |last1=King |first1=Nancy |title=Holocaust education as relevant as ever, says speaker |url=https://www.capebretonpost.com/news/local/holocaust-education-as-relevant-as-ever-says-speaker-162596/ |access-date=August 9, 2019 |publisher=Cape Breton Post |date=November 16, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190810060648/https://www.capebretonpost.com/news/local/holocaust-education-as-relevant-as-ever-says-speaker-162596/ |archive-date=August 10, 2019 |url-status=live }} The following year, she was awarded the Graduate History Society Distinguished Service Award.{{cite web |title=Graduate History Society |url=https://history.utoronto.ca/graduate/info/graduate-history-society |website=history.utoronto.ca |date=14 July 2016 |access-date=August 9, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190810060657/https://history.utoronto.ca/graduate/info/graduate-history-society |archive-date=August 10, 2019 |url-status=live }} After the 2009–10 academic year, Bergen was elected a senior fellow at Massey College, Toronto.{{cite web |title=Massey News |url=http://creativeism.com/upload/MasseyNews_2009-2010_web.pdf |website=creativeism.com |access-date=August 8, 2019 |page=15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190810060646/http://creativeism.com/upload/MasseyNews_2009-2010_web.pdf |archive-date=August 10, 2019 |url-status=live }}

In 2012, Bergen was awarded U of T's Ludwik and Estelle Jus Memorial Human Rights Prize{{cite web |title=Awards OF EXCELLENCE |url=http://my.alumni.utoronto.ca/s/731/form-blank/index.aspx?sid=731&gid=1&pgid=4317#Bergen |website=my.alumni.utoronto.ca |access-date=August 9, 2019 |date=2012}} and named a member of the Academic Advisory Committee of the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.{{cite web |title=CENTER FOR ADVANCED HOLOCAUST STUDIES |url=http://migs.concordia.ca/documents/USHMMFellowshipops.pdf |website=migs.concordia.ca |access-date=August 9, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190810060645/http://migs.concordia.ca/documents/USHMMFellowshipops.pdf |archive-date=August 10, 2019 |url-status=live }} While assuming this role, she was also selected by Jason Kenney as an Advisory Council Members for the International Task Force on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research.{{cite web |title=Minister Kenney Announces Advisory Council Members for International Task Force on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research |url=https://cija.ca/minister-kenney-announces-advisory-council-members-for-international-task-force-on-holocaust-education-remembrance-and-research/ |website=cija.ca |access-date=August 8, 2019 |date=May 23, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190810060650/https://cija.ca/minister-kenney-announces-advisory-council-members-for-international-task-force-on-holocaust-education-remembrance-and-research/ |archive-date=August 10, 2019 |url-status=live }} Two years later, in 2014, Bergen was named to the National Holocaust Monument design team.{{cite web |title=National Holocaust Monument design team announced |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/national-holocaust-monument-design-team-announced-1.2639860 |website=cbc.ca |access-date=August 8, 2019 |date=May 12, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180419210933/http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/national-holocaust-monument-design-team-announced-1.2639860 |archive-date=April 19, 2018 |url-status=live }} This monument in Ottawa was recognized with the 2018 American Institute of Architects New York Design Award.{{cite web |title=Holocaust memorial, Daniels projects win NY Design awards |url=https://canada.constructconnect.com/dcn/news/projects/2018/02/holocaust-memorial-daniels-projects-win-ny-design-awards |website=canada.constructconnect.com |access-date=August 9, 2019 |date=February 16, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190810060649/https://canada.constructconnect.com/dcn/news/projects/2018/02/holocaust-memorial-daniels-projects-win-ny-design-awards |archive-date=August 10, 2019 |url-status=live }}

In 2015, Bergen was selected as a final juror for the Laura Shannon Prize.{{cite web |last1=Caro |first1=Monica |title=Nanovic Institute awards $10,000 Laura Shannon Prize to 'The Sleepwalkers' |url=https://news.nd.edu/news/nanovic-institute-awards-10-000-laura-shannon-prize-to-the-sleepwalkers/ |website=news.nd.edu |access-date=August 8, 2019 |date=February 26, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190810060648/https://news.nd.edu/news/nanovic-institute-awards-10-000-laura-shannon-prize-to-the-sleepwalkers/ |archive-date=August 10, 2019 |url-status=live }} Two years later, Bergen collaborated with photographer Edward Burtynsky to produce Chai, a book featuring images from various Holocaust sites in Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Lithuania, and Hungary.{{cite web |author1=Christopher Guly |title=Master photographer Edward Burtynsky: Son of survivors |url=http://www.ukrweekly.com/uwwp/master-photographer-edward-burtynsky-son-of-survivors/ |website=ukrweekly.com |publisher=The Ukraine Weekly |access-date=August 10, 2019 |date=February 23, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190810062147/http://www.ukrweekly.com/uwwp/master-photographer-edward-burtynsky-son-of-survivors/ |archive-date=August 10, 2019 |url-status=live }} Following this, Bergen was one of eleven U of T professors elected to the Royal Society of Canada{{cite web |author1=Mary Gooderham |title=Eleven U of T scholars named fellows of prestigious national academy |url=https://www.utoronto.ca/news/u-t-scholars-named-fellows-prestigious-national-academy |website=utoronto.ca |access-date=August 9, 2019 |date=September 11, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190810060654/https://www.utoronto.ca/news/u-t-scholars-named-fellows-prestigious-national-academy |archive-date=August 10, 2019 |url-status=live }} and sat on U of T's 2018–19 Policy Committee.{{cite web |title=Faculty Committees 2018–2019 |url=https://history.utoronto.ca/about/learn-more/committees |website=history.utoronto.ca |date=14 July 2016 |access-date=August 10, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190810060658/https://history.utoronto.ca/about/learn-more/committees |archive-date=August 10, 2019 |url-status=live }} She also serves on the Editorial Advisory Board for the University of Toronto Press' Genocide Studies International.{{cite web |title=Editorial Advisory Board |url=https://www.utpjournals.press/journals/gsi/editorial-board |website=utpjournals.press |access-date=August 9, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190422190503/https://www.utpjournals.press/journals/gsi/editorial-board |archive-date=April 22, 2019 |url-status=live }}

Selected publications

Women, Gender, and the Church Struggle: The German Christian Movement's Quest for a Manly Church (1992).{{cite web |title=Bergen, Doris L |url=https://www.worldcat.org/search?qt=worldcat_org_all&q=bergen%2C+Doris+L |website=worldcat.org |access-date=August 9, 2019}}
Twisted Cross: The German Christian Movement in the Third Reich (University of North Carolina Press, 1996).
The Sword of the Lord: Military Chaplains from the First to the Twenty-First Centuries (University of Notre Dame Press, 2004).
(ed.), From Generation to Generation (Lessons and Legacies v. 8) (Northwestern University Press, 2008).
The Holocaust: A New History (History Press Ltd, 2009).
Alltag im Holocaust: Jüdisches Leben im Großdeutschen Reich 1941–1945 (Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag: 2013).
War and Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2016).
Between God and Hitler: Military Chaplains in Nazi Germany (Cambridge University Press, 2023).