Dr Sonat Hart,
Takoma Park, Maryland

Dr. Sonat Hart is an Assistant Professor of Jewish History and Culture at Baltimore Hebrew University and serves as a Visiting Professor of Jewish Studies at University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Dr. Hart lectures on German and Austrian Jewish cultural history, Jewish popular culture, cabaret, fashion, coffeehouse society, sports, literature, and women's history.

About Sonat Hart

Dr. Sonat Birnecker Hart is an Assistant Professor of Jewish History and Culture at Baltimore Hebrew University and a Visiting Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies at University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Her main fields of interest are German and Austrian Jewish cultural history, Jewish women's history, and Jewish Peoplehood. Aside from co-editing The Rutledge Encyclopedia of Modern Jewish Culture (Rutledge/Taylor and Francis, 2004), Dr. Hart has also co-written an educational volume regarding contemporary German and Austrian Jewish literature entitled Literary Heimat: German and Austrian Jewish Writings after the Shoah. Other writings include editing a translation of the works of the Viennese Jewish writer, Friedrich Torberg, Aunt Jolesch or the Decline of the West in Anecdotes (Ariadne Press, forthcoming) and Cafes, Cabaret, and Fashion: German and Austrian Jewish Culture from 1890-1938 (University Press of New England, Brandeis Jewish Studies Series, expected 2009). Dr. Hart has given papers in both German and English on Jewish Sports History, Viennese Coffeehouse Society, Jewish Women's Contributions to Cabaret and Fashion, to name a few. Dr. Hart recently returned to her post at Baltimore Hebrew University after holding the two-year Walter Benjamin Chair of German Jewish Cultural History at Humboldt University in Berlin.

In addition to her academic work, Dr. Hart is engaged in Jewish activism and has been involved in Jewish Cultural initiatives in Vienna, Berlin, and Baltimore. Dr. Hart is also a member of the World Jewish Congress Young Professional Corps (YPDC) and Koldor. As a member of the YPDC, Hart has lobbied at the United Nations, presented a paper on Best Practices to Combat Anti-Semitism in Europe at the OSCE Expert Meeting on Combating Anti-Semitism and Racism in Berlin, and has met with European heads of state concerning Jewish issues.

Dr. Hart earned her BA in English Literature from Earlham College and an MPhil. and Ph.D. in German Cultural History (with a Jewish Literary focus) from the University of London. Hart also holds a MSt. (equiv) in Jewish Studies from Oxford University and a Certificate in German Literature from the University of Vienna.