Who We Are
CEU Jewish Studies was established in Budapest in 1996, during the euphoric years after the fall of Communism. Its teaching, research, and public events have played an important role in revitalizing Jewish Studies in a region where this field of study had long been neglected or considered taboo. After moving its teaching activities to Austria in 2020, yet keeping a foothold in Budapest, CEU Jewish Studies has maintained its Central and Eastern European expertise while integrating into the academic landscape of its new home, exploring the rich heritage of Jewish Vienna, and opening global perspectives in Jewish research. The program continues to attract students, faculty and visiting lecturers from across the globe, who enjoy the open, international atmosphere of the university and benefit from the unique research opportunities in the region.
Learn about our current faculty here.
MA Specialization in Jewish Studies
The Jewish Studies Program offers an MA specialization that covers the wide expanse of Jewish culture, society and history, with a special emphasis on the ramified Jewish experience in Central and Eastern Europe from early modern times to the present.
In keeping with the interdisciplinary character of CEU, the Jewish Studies specialization is integrated into the broader degree programs of the Department of Historical Studies and the Nationalism Studies Program. The Jewish Studies Specialization is available both in the one-year and the two-year MA programs of these academic units. Jewish Studies is a research-intensive program, allowing you to find your personal field of interest and to develop your skills. We offer courses on the Jewish experience in early modern and modern Europe, Jewish culture and heritage, Jewish social and political movements, Jews and gender, Jewish women’s experiences, antisemitism, Zionism and other Jewish nationalisms, Israel and Palestine, culture and society in fin-de-siècle Europe, the Shoah, Jewish cultures of memory, and so much more. Students can learn Hebrew, Yiddish, and other languages, and work in small study groups with fellow students from across the globe.
We offer generous fellowships for Jewish Studies students, covering tuition and living expenses in Vienna.
Vienna is our Classroom, Central Europe is Our Campus
We teach and learn about the fascinating Jewish history, culture, and society in Central and Eastern Europe. Together with our colleagues in Budapest, we are the very heart of Central Europe, in the capital of the former Habsburg Empire, once home to the third-largest Jewish community in the world. We cherish and honor this heritage, learning together about the rich past and present of the Jewish community of Vienna, while always looking to the future. In field trips and excursions, we explore our own surroundings and the wider region – from former East Galicia to Hungary, from Prague to Kraków and everything between.
Our Research
CEU Jewish Studies faculty are conducting cutting-edge research on European Jewish history, culture, and society from early modern times to the present. They focus on religious disputes, Jewish women’s experiences, family histories, violence and resistance, antisemitism, Jewish–Christian relations, crypto-Judaism, Zionism, the Shoah and its aftermath and legacy, migration and refugees, the politics of memory, modern Jewish education, contemporary Jewish identities, and much more.
Students in the MA Specialization in Jewish Studies will have a chance to work closely with faculty, conducting joint research projects and gaining experience, for example in presenting at conferences or co-authoring a scholarly article.
Since 2020 we are home to the Vienna and Budapest Jewish Studies Colloquia, bringing together researchers and scholars of Central European Jewry to present the newest research in the field.
CEU publishes a bi-annual Jewish Studies Yearbook, in which texts from our public lecture series are published along with other original research by students and faculty.
Past – Present – Future
While often looking into the past, we are always oriented towards the future. We connect our knowledge and research to current societal questions and debates and never shy away from taking on complicated and controversial topics in a serious and scholarly way. We build connections with museums, educational institutes, cultural institutions, and civil society initiatives, bringing together the study of the Jewish experience with the building of the future. We share our research and expertise with the wider public – in adult education, with film makers, cultural creators, educators, and the Jewish community.
Alumni of the Jewish Studies Specialization at CEU have found their ways into prestigious PhD programs around the world. Our alumni are now working at universities, in museums and embassies, as film makers, in publishing, philanthropy, cultural heritage, and in many other exciting fields. We aim to educate the leading voices of the future.