Dr. Francoise Ouzan

Dr. Françoise (Simcha) Ouzan

Role: Senior Research Associate

Email: fouzan@tauex.tau.ac.il

 

Scope of Research:

World War II, Holocaust and Post-Holocaust Studies, Jewish American History, and Women’s History.

Dr. Françoise (Simcha) Ouzan's current research delves into the complex interplay between World War II, antisemitism, and the remarkable wartime contributions and experiences of over half a million Jewish American women and men who served in the American military during this global conflict. This research seeks to uncover the unique stories, challenges, and historical significance of their service, shedding light on the often-overlooked aspects of their participation in the war effort.

 

Academic Background:

Dr. Ouzan earned a PhD in History from Sorbonne (Paris I) and holds an Agrégation in English and American Literature. In the 1990s, she secured a grant to conduct research at the Harry S. Truman Library in Independence, Missouri. Formerly an Associate Professor at the University of Reims Champagne-Ardennes, she now serves as a Senior Research Associate at the Goldstein-Goren Diaspora Research Center at Tel Aviv University. She has delivered lectures at the International School for Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem and has been a guest speaker in Europe, the United States, and China.

Dr. Ouzan has authored 7 books and co-edited 4 volumes in French and in English. Her areas of expertise revolve around World War II and its aftermath, the Jewish American experience, and antisemitism.

Her new book: True to My God and Country: How Jewish Americans Fought in World War II, was published by Indiana University Press on February 2024.

https://iupress.org/9780253068262/true-to-my-god-and-country/

Her previous volume published by Indiana University Press (2018), How Young Holocaust Survivors Rebuilt their Lives is a “valuable contribution to Holocaust Studies and the study of trauma” ( J. Sarna).

https://iupress.org/9780253033956/how-young-holocaust-survivors-rebuilt-...
 

A French edition of this book was published by Atlande Editions in Paris in 2022. It has been expanded from the original English version and includes a new preface. The book challenges the common perception of Shoah survivors as mere victims by demonstrating the social and cultural impact that many of them had on the different societies in which they lived. It invites the reader to reflect on the notion of social success.

https://www.calameo.com/books/007159098042ddc5dea0b

New book: In Leaving Tomorrow: A Woman’s Search for Meaning (2023), Dr. Ouzan delves into the untold story of World War II and the plight of unwanted Jewish displaced persons, a slice of history that profoundly impacted the birth of the State of Israel. This historical novel is a powerful educational tool that unravels a lesser-known chapter of history.

Reviews:

https://m.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-761512

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/leaving-tomorrow-francoise-s-ouzan/1143...

https://www.amazon.com/Leaving-Tomorrow-Womans-Search-Meaning/dp/B0C4MP2LSC
 

Selected Publications

 

Selected Academic Articles:

  • Françoise S. Ouzan, « L'admission aux Etats-Unis des personnes déplacées : geste humanitaire ou arme idéologique? » in Revue Française d'Etudes Nord américaine, la politique étrangère aux Etats-Unis, Nancy, Presses Universitaires de Nancy, n° 61, 1994, (pp. 235-245). (The admission of Displaced Persons in America: a humanitarian gesture or an ideological weapon?)
    https://www.persee.fr/doc/rfea_0397-7870_1994_num_61_1_154
     
  • Françoise S. Ouzan, « The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum de Washington: une spécificité américaine ?” (The USHMM: How American is it?) in Les Nouveaux Cahiers, Summer 1997, Mémoires d'Amérique, (pp. 55-61).
     
  • Françoise S. Ouzan, « La reconstruction des identités juives dans les camps de personnes déplacées d'Allemagne (1945-1957) », in Bulletin du Centre de Recherche Français de Jérusalem, (CRFJ), n°14, 2004, pp. 35-49
    Article translated into English (pp. 98-111). Françoise Ouzan, Rebuilding Jewish Identities in Displaced Persons Camps in Germany, (1945-1957), in Bulletin du Centre de Recherche Français de Jérusalem, (CRFJ), n°14, 2004, pp. 98-111. 
    https://journals.openedition.org/bcrfj/121
     
  •  Françoise S. Ouzan, « Foehrenwald, dernier camp de personnes déplacées, îlot de vie juive sur le sol allemand ou « salle d'attente de l'immigration », Revue d'Histoire de la Shoah, numéro 182, 2005, (pp. 211-232). 
    https://www.cairn.info/revue-d-histoire-de-la-shoah-2005-1-page-211.htm
     
  • Françoise S. Ouzan, “Antisemitism in the US at the End of the War and in its Aftermath”, Antisemitism Worldwide, 2003/2004, Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and Racism, Tel-Aviv University, 2005., (pp. 51-74). 
    https://www.academia.edu/6290987/Antisemitism_in_the_US_at_the_End_of_th...
     
  •  Françoise S. Ouzan, “The Eichmann trial and American Jewry : A Reassessment”, Jewish Political Studies Review; Jerusalem, Baltimore, Spring 5767/ 2007, (pp. 25-38). 
    https://jcpa.org/article/the-eichmann-trial-and-american-jewry-a-reasses...
     
  • Françoise Ouzan, « De la mémoire de la Shoah et du vivre ensemble », in Hors série des Etudes du CRIF, 70 ans, 1944-2014.
    https://www.crif.org/fr/tribune/de-la-m%C3%A9moire-de-la-shoah-et-du-%C2...

 

Selected Chapters In Books:

  • Françoise S. Ouzan, « Un enjeu pour les Etats-Unis: les réfugiés d'après-guerre, 1945-1953 », (Post-war Refugees: a Political Weapon for the United States ), in L'anticommunisme et la "Chasse aux sorcières" aux Etats-Unis, 1946-1954, Paris, Ellipses, 1995 ( pp. 81-90).
     
  • Françoise S. Ouzan, « Une nouvelle superpuissance face à un dilemme : Truman et la création de l'Etat d'Israël » (A Dilemma for a New Superpower : Truman and the Creation of the State of Israel, 1945-1948) in La montée en puissance des Etats-Unis, Paris, l'Harmattan, 2004, (pp. 115-130).|
     
  • Françoise S. Ouzan, Introduction : Un état des lieux mémoriels, in Françoise Ouzan and Dan Michman, De La mémoire de la Shoah dans le monde Juif, Paris, CNRS éditions, 2008 (pp. 9-17).
     
  • Françoise S. Ouzan, « La mémoire de la Shoah dans le vécu des Juifs aux Etats-Unis (1945-1961) », in F. Ouzan and Dan Michman, De La mémoire de la Shoah dans le monde Juif, Paris, CNRS éditions, 2008 (pp.283-312).
     
  • Françoise S. Ouzan, “New Roots for the Uprooted, Holocaust Survivors as Farmers in America”, in Holocaust Survivors in their countries of Resettlement: Space, Memories and Identities, New York, Berghahn Books, edited by D. Ofer, F. Ouzan, J. Baumel-Schwartz, 2012, (p. 233-257).
     
  • Françoise S. Ouzan, “American Jewish Chaplains and the Survivors’ Return to Jewish Communal Life”, 1945-1952, pp.112-136, in Ouzan, Gerstenfeld (eds), Postwar Jewish Displacement and Rebirth, 1945-1967 , Boston, Brill, 2014.

 

Booklet:

 

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