Jean Ancel (1940 – 30 April 2008) was a Romanian-born Israeli author and historian; with specialty in the history of the

Jews in Romania The history of the Jews in Romania concerns the Jews both of Romania and of Romanian origins, from their first mention on what is present-day Romanian territory. Minimal until the 18th century, the size of the Jewish population increased after ...

between the two

World war A world war is an international conflict which involves all or most of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World WarI (1914 ...

s, and

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

of the

Jews of Romania The history of the Jews in Romania concerns the Jews both of Romania and of Romanian origins, from their first mention on what is present-day Romanian territory. Minimal until the 18th century, the size of the Jewish population increased after ...

Biography

Jean Ancel was born to Jewish parents in Iași, Romania. He was a year old during the

Iași pogrom The Iași pogrom (, sometimes anglicized as Jassy) was a series of pogroms launched by governmental forces under Marshal Ion Antonescu in the Romanian city of Iași against its Jewish community, which lasted from 29 June to 6 July 1941. Accordin ...

, and was hidden in the basement during that time. His father was taken to one of the

Holocaust train Holocaust trains were Rail transport, railway transports run by the ''Deutsche Reichsbahn#1939-1945: The Reichsbahn in the Second World War and the Holocaust, Deutsche Reichsbahn'' national railway system under the control of Nazi Germany and Co ...

s, but eventually survived. Later, he studied history at the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, but was expelled before graduating because he had registered for aliyah to Israel. He continued his studies after moving to the relatively new state of Israel, in 1959, at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he graduated BA in History and

Romance languages The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language ...

in 1967. In 1970 he earned another BA degree, this time on

Jewish history Jewish history is the history of the Jews, and their nation, religion, and culture, as it developed and interacted with other peoples, religions, and cultures. Although Judaism as a religion first appears in Greek records during the Hellenisti ...

. He then got two MA degrees, one in History in 1972 and the second in

archiving An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or ...

in 1974. In 1977, he was ordained at the Hebrew University, receiving a doctorate in Jewish history in modern times. He worked extensively with archival materials from Israel, Romania, Russia,

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognised state of Transnistr ...

, the United States, and Germany. Ancel was principal investigator at

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...

and the author of several history books, some of which have been translated into

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...

. He edited 12 volumes of original documents, mostly about

the Holocaust in Romania The history of the Jews in Romania concerns the Jews both of Romania and of Romanian origins, from their first mention on what is present-day Romanian territory. Minimal until the 18th century, the size of the Jewish population increased after ...

. He was a leading member of the special Committee of Historians headed by the

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiolog ...

laureate Elie Wiesel, which was convened in 2004 by the

President of Romania The president of Romania ( ro, Președintele României) is the head of state of Romania. Following a modification to the Romanian Constitution in 2003, the president is directly elected by a two-round system and serves for five years. An indi ...

to the Wiesel Commission. Thanks to his studies on the subject, Ancel changed the perception of Romania's role in the Holocaust. According to his research, which he conducted using Romania's own archives (made available after the

fall of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

), Romania was not "dragged" after

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

, it initiated and preceded the German crimes against the Jews. Ancel worked for the

Israeli radio The Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA; ) was Israel's public broadcaster from 1948 to 2017. History The Israel Broadcasting Authority was an outgrowth of the radio station ''Kol Yisrael'', which made its first broadcast as an independent st ...

as an

anchor An anchor is a device, normally made of metal , used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ''ancora'', which itself comes from the Greek ἄ� ...

. He died in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

in 2008.

Bibliography

* ''The History of the Holocaust in Romania'' (U of Nebraska Press, 2011)

Awards

* 2012: National Jewish Book Award in the Writing Based on Archive Material category for ''The History of the Holocaust in Romania''

References list

External links

The German-Romanian Relationship and the Final Solution
an article by Jean Ancel, 2005 on

Project MUSE Project MUSE, a non-profit collaboration between libraries and publishers, is an online database of peer-reviewed academic journals and electronic books. Project MUSE contains digital humanities and social science content from over 250 univers ...

his books
on

Shelfari Shelfari was a social cataloging website. Shelfari users built virtual bookshelves of the titles they owned or had read, and could rate, review, tag, and discuss their books. Users could also create groups that other members could join, creat ...

The Joint’s Activity Among the Jews of Romania
written by Jean Ancel,

articles written by him
on

USHMM The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) is the United States' official memorial to the Holocaust. Adjacent to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the USHMM provides for the documentation, study, and interpretation of Holocaust his ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ancel, Jean Writers from Iași Historians of the Holocaust 20th-century Israeli historians Jewish historians 1940 births 2008 deaths Romanian emigrants to Israel Romanian Jews Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni Yad Vashem people