The Centre would like to thank Professor Anna Shternshis on her commitment to the Centre for almost 20 years, and wish her well in her new position as the J. Richard and Dorothy Shiff Chair of Jewish Studies in the Department for the Study of Religion.
Professor Shternshis not only brought scholarly teaching to the Centre, she brought music, humour, and the lived experience of refugees into the core of our learning. Through her presence and pedagogy, she reminds us that stories, especially those shaped by displacement, exile, and resilience must be at the forefront of education.
Shternshis is the author of Soviet and Kosher: Jewish Popular Culture in the Soviet Union, 1923 – 1939 (Indiana UP, 2006) and When Sonia Met Boris: An Oral History of Jewish Life under Stalin (Oxford UP, 2017, paperback, 2021). Together with artist Psoy Korolenko, Shternshis created and directed the Grammy-nominated Yiddish Glory project, an initiative that brought back to life forgotten Yiddish music written during the Holocaust in the Soviet Union. A recipient of 2020 Guggenheim Fellowship, and UofT’s President Impact Award (2020), she is currently working on a book tentatively entitled Last Yiddish Heroes: A Lost and Found Archive of the Holocaust in the Soviet Union about Yiddish music created in Nazi-occupied Ukraine.
Professor Shternshis will be very missed at the Centre, but we are excited that she will continue making an impact at the University. We wish you all the best in your new role!