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

of the Jews of Romania.

Biography

Jean Ancel was born to Jewish parents in

Iași Iași ( , , ; also known by other alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the second largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical region of Moldavia, it has traditionally ...

, Romania. He was a year old during the Iași pogrom, and was hidden in the basement during that time. His father was taken to one of the

Holocaust train Holocaust trains were railway transports run by the ''Deutsche Reichsbahn'' national railway system under the control of Nazi Germany and its allies, for the purpose of forcible deportation of the Jews, as well as other victims of the Holoc ...

s, but eventually survived. Later, he studied history at the

Alexandru Ioan Cuza University The Alexandru Ioan Cuza University ( Romanian: ''Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza"''; acronym: UAIC) is a public university located in Iași, Romania. Founded by an 1860 decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza, under whom the former Academia Mi ...

, but was expelled before graduating because he had registered for

aliyah Aliyah (, ; he, עֲלִיָּה ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel, which is in the modern era chiefly represented by the State of Israel. Traditionally descri ...

to Israel. He continued his studies after moving to the relatively new state of Israel, in 1959, at the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...

, 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 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 Transnistri ...

, 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, traditiona ...

. He edited 12 volumes of original documents, mostly about the Holocaust in Romania. 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, Physiolo ...

laureate

Elie Wiesel Elie Wiesel (, born Eliezer Wiesel ''Eliezer Vizel''; September 30, 1928 – July 2, 2016) was a Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He authored 57 books, written mostly in F ...

, which was convened in 2004 by the President of Romania 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 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 � ...

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

articles written by him
on USHMM {{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