Meyer Weinshel
267 19th Ave S
Minneapolis,
MN
55455
I am a scholar of German and Austrian Jewish literature, history & culture, and also of modern Yiddish language, literature & culture. My research has also intersected with genocide studies, memory studies, translation and multilingualism, language revitalization, LGBT+ histories in Central Europe and the United States, and histories of migration. Since 2023, I have been the associate director at the Center for Austrian Studies (CAS), and an affiliate of the University's Center for Jewish Studies as well as the Department of German, Nordic, Slavic & Dutch. With the CAS director, I oversee all Center business—including public events (e.g., annual speaker series, colloquia, and conferences), publications (serving as lead editor for the Central Europe Yearbook and working with the Center's affiliated academic presses), awards and fellowship competitions, research initiatives and strategic planning, budgets & fundraising, and Center staffing.
Before completing my Ph.D. in 2022, I taught all levels of undergraduate German studies coursework. I was also a visiting lecturer of Yiddish studies in the Ohio State University's Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures in 2021, where I taught Yiddish language and Yiddish cultural history. From 2018 to 2020, I was also involved with various Yiddish pedagogy initiatives at the Yiddish Book Center (Amherst, MA)—piloting In eynem (the Book Center's Yiddish textbook) prior to its publication. I also worked for the Book Center's Steiner Yiddish Summer Program, and have designed and taught Yiddish community-education courses with Jewish Community Action (Minneapolis, MN). I continue to promote the study of Yiddish language & culture through community outreach in the Twin Cities and beyond.
Prior to joining Austrian Studies, from 2021 to 2023 I was the Special Collections and Outreach Lead at the UMN Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies (CHGS), and was also a Co-PI (and later postdoctoral researcher) for the Minnesota Human Rights Archive project. While in these roles, I created online exhibitions for CHGS, and co-led a team of undergraduate and graduate student staff to design a 2024 panel exhibition for the Minnesota Human Rights Archive: The Global Reach of Local Activism: Minnesota's Human Rights Stories.
Educational Background
- PhD: Germanic Studies, History, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, 2022
- MA: Germanic Studies, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, 2016
- BA (with Honors): German Studies; History; Classics, Macalester College, 2012
Specialties
- Modern Yiddish Literature and Culture
- German & Austrian Jewish Culture, 18th Century-Present
- Translation, Migration, and Multilingualism
- Endangered Languages & Language Revitalization
- Queer Studies
- Archival Studies and Practice