On Wednesday, Holocaust historian Deborah Lipstadt—a familiar face to the Stephen Wise Temple community—was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as President Joe Biden’s Special Envoy to Combat and Monitor Antisemitism, ending an eight-month confirmation process.
Professor Lipstadt has engaged in four public dialogues with Rabbi David Woznica, most recently in July of 2020.
“Dr. Lipstadt is a highly respected historian and extremely knowledgeable and thoughtful on matters of antisemitism,” Rabbi Woznica said. “I believe her input will be of great value to this administration and our country.”
As the special envoy, Prof. Lipstadt is charged with developing and implementing policies and projects that support efforts to combat antisemitism abroad.
The author of “History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier,” Lipstadt is perhaps best known for her role in a landmark British libel suit brought by Holocaust denier David Irving. The case was dramatized in the 2016 feature film “Denial,” where she was played by Rachel Weisz.
Lipstadt, 75, took her BA from City College of New York, then earned her masters and Ph.D. from Brandeis. She spent her junior year of college in Israel during the Six-Day War, taught at the University of Washington in Seattle, and then served as an assistant professor at UCLA. In 1993, she became an assistant professor of religion at Emory University in Atlanta, and was the founding director of the university’s Institute for Jewish Studies.
She has served twice as a presidential appointee to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s council, and is a prolific author, having published “The Eichman Trial,” “Holocaust: An American Understanding,” “Antisemitism: Here and Now,” and “Beyond Belief: The American Press and the Coming of the Holocaust 1933-1945.” Her 1993 book, “Denying the Holocaust,” earned her the 1994 National Jewish Book Award, an honor she earned again with “History on Trial” in 2005.