Dr. Katharina Friedla has joined the Hoover Institution Library & Archives as the Taube Family Curator for European Collections. She will oversee one of the largest and most comprehensive parts of Hoover’s international holdings and succeeds Maciej Siekierski, Curator for the European Collections, Emeritus. 
 
Friedla holds a Ph.D. from the Department of History, Institute of Eastern European and Jewish History, University of Basel, Switzerland. She has studied History and East European and Jewish Studies at the Free University in Berlin and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Part of her research first brought her to Hoover in 2017, when she worked mainly with the Polish World War II Collection, exploring the Polish-Soviet relations, particularly in the context of Jewish refugees. 
 
“My visit to the Hoover Institution Library & Archives was very productive, and I benefited greatly from its rich archival holdings. I received kind support here, which helped me make real progress in my research,” Friedla states. Her research at the Library & Archives resulted in the publication of several scientific articles and just recently two co-edited anthologies, one of which is titled, Polish Jews in the Soviet Union (1939–1959): History and Memory of Deportation, Exile, and Survival (Academic Studies Press, 2021).
 
Some of her initial collecting/research projects will include materials on the Polish People’s Republic and German Democratic Republic (GDR), anti-communist opposition in Eastern Europe with special emphasis on women activists, and last but not least documentation related to World War II. “I am truly excited and thrilled to join this team and to continue Maciej Siekierski’s work,” Friedla states.

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