The Taube Department of Jewish Studies at the University of Wrocław is delighted to welcome Dr. Julia Pohlmann as the 2025 Szymon Landau Postdoctoral Research Fellow. Dr. Pohlmann completed her PhD in History at the University of Aberdeen. Her doctoral research examined the concept of the “imagined Jew” as a political trope in early modern British and American thought, reflecting her broader expertise in Jewish intellectual history, nationalism, and identity formation across Europe.
As the new Szymon Landau Fellow, Dr. Pohlmann will pursue the project “The Life and Work of Szymon Landau in Light of the Shifting Social and Cultural Realities of Polish Jews.” This study seeks to recontextualize Landau—Poland’s only Jewish notary of his time—within the complex intersections of Polish, German, and Jewish identities in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Through archival research in Wrocław and beyond, she aims to illuminate how Landau’s life reveals the hybrid and evolving nature of Jewish identity in Central Europe.
In addition to her research, Dr. Pohlmann will organize interdisciplinary workshops and public outreach initiatives fostering dialogue between Polish, British, and German scholars. Her appointment reflects our commitment to advancing innovative research in Polish-Jewish history and to honoring Szymon Landau’s enduring intellectual legacy.