A Historian Dedicated to An Ethic of Giving Without Display
The history department bids farewell to a cherished colleague and celebrated historian, Daniel Schroeter, who retired at the end of last semester. Daniel first joined the history department in 2008 as the Amos S. Deinard Chair in Jewish History after serving as chair in Jewish history at the University of California, Irvine. His tenure at the University of Minnesota has been defined by his generosity toward colleagues and students and his pathbreaking approach to researching Moroccan Jewish history. Though the quantity of his accomplishments cannot fully encapsulate the importance and impact of his work, it does indicate a dedication to his discipline. To date, Daniel has published four books and sixty-one articles—and that’s not counting the numerous encyclopedic entries and reviews he’s written that are so vital to the ecosystem of historical scholarship. This array of critical research on Jewish history and culture in the Arab world has garnered numerous awards, the most recent of which was an in-residence fellowship at the Frankel Institute for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan.
Even with all those accomplishments, Daniel never sought the spotlight. Rather, he modeled “an ethic of giving without display” in the words of Aomar Boum (Maurice Amado Endowed Chair in Sephardic Studies at UCLA), who is co-authoring a book with Daniel. Moreover, as his colleague Sheer Ganor noted, “Writing the history of Arab Jews and Jews in the Arab world, and doing so ethically, demands courage.”
In addition to his many contributions to the Department of History, Daniel’s leadership was also pivotal in the Center for Jewish Studies. Colleagues Michelle Hamilton and Riv-Ellen Prell praised him for his skill at navigating “tense, delicate political and social times” and “tackling the many issues that any Jewish studies program faces from external forces laying claim to what it must or must not do.” And Leslie Morris highlighted that in his service to the University community, he “exemplifies the values of Amos S. Deinard himself, a Minneapolis lawyer and civil rights leader.”
With a research output and award list that would draw the envy of any scholar in the humanities, it is all the more impressive that Daniel Schroeter has been a beloved advisor to a cohort of graduate students. Dr. Noam Sienna, who graduated with his PhD in history in 2020, recalled how he came to identify Daniel as a suitable advisor. As a prospective graduate student, Noam attended a conference hosted by the Association for Jewish Studies, where he asked scholars of Sephardic Studies about their opinions on who would make a good fit for a PhD advisor. “Every single person I spoke to, without exception, immediately responded, ‘Daniel Schroeter is the scholar for whom I have the highest respect,’” he remembered, “And given that half the people I talked to had no kind words for the other half of the people I talked to, but they all agreed on Daniel, I knew that I had found my mentor.” Aside from a reputation that preceded him, his students remarked upon the useful feedback he gave on drafts, the innumerable letters of reference written for each advisee (thirty-nine letters through the course of the program, by one student’s count), and the insightful conversations they had with him during office hours.
His dedication to fostering a curiosity for history applied to graduate students and undergraduates alike. Sheer had the opportunity to teach alongside Daniel in their Global World War II class. She witnessed students engage with Daniel through the captivating stories he brought to class from his lived experiences. As Sheer described it, “Daniel brought them into his own world.” Moments shared of his family’s experiences during the war and his father’s service in the military offered a new dimension of history for students who would see the past as more than words on a page. This philosophy of teaching, humbly delivered in lectures or one-on-one discussions, made Daniel a moral and intellectual model for how to lead a classroom.
Given Daniel’s famous modesty, these undergraduate students may not have realized his international impact. Emily Gottreich (Adjunct Professor and Senior Research Scholar at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at UC-Berkeley), affirmed that he “helped forge the path to an entirely new field—Moroccan Jewish history.” Committed to broadening that knowledge to the public, moreover, he was a consultant and contributor to many exhibits on Moroccan Jews at Museums across the Middle East, Europe, and the United States. While lecturing at conferences in these countries, he also promoted dialogue across the political divide. With Emily, he organized the first-ever conference on Jews held in Morocco, and she credits him with smoothing over “all the bumps in the road with typical grace and good humor.” The subsequent book they published featured contributions from scholars in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Israel, and the United States.
If these stories from students and colleagues offer any indication of the emotional state of the department, it is that Daniel will be greatly missed. Again in the words of Aomar Boum, he “exemplifies a moral economy that places service first, where one quietly elevates others, offers time and guidance, and never seeks applause, even as his generosity has transformed fields and sustained generations of students and scholars.” His bravery, grace, intelligence, and care that he has shared with us all have left an indelible mark on the intellectual culture of the history department. In the words of historian Theofanis Stavrou, “there is nothing we can do in life that will surpass what others have done for us.” Daniel, we will strive to achieve what you have given to us and to the discipline of history. Mazal tov! Congratulations on your retirement.
