Beth Griech-Polelle
Director, Holocaust and Genocide Studies
she/her/hers
Phone: 253-535-7591
Email: griechba@plu.edu
Office Location: Xavier Hall - 115
Curriculum Vitae: View my CV
- Professional
- Biography
- Personal
Additional Titles/Roles
- Kurt Mayer Chair in Holocaust Studies
- Associate Professor of History
Education
- Ph.D., Modern European History, Rutgers, 1999
- M.A., Modern European History, Rutgers
- B.A., Summa Cum Laude, Chestnut Hill College, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1987
Areas of Emphasis or Expertise
- Holocaust Studies
- Nazi Germany
- European Women's History
Responsibilities
Oversees the Powell-Heller Family Conference each year; organizes the Lemkin Lecturer; oversees the Mayer Summer Scholars program for undergraduates doing research; mentors students engaged in Lemkin essay contests; works to build the Holocaust and Genocide Studies minor at PLU, currently as director of the program as well as faculty member; brings scholars and survivors together for presentations on campus.
Books
- Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust: Language, Rhetoric and the Traditions of Hatred (Bloomsbury Academic 2017) : View Book
- Trajectories of Memory: Intergenerational Representations of the Holocaust in History and the Arts, co-edited with Christina Guenther (Cambridge Scholars Press 2008) : View Book
- The Nuremberg War Crimes Trial and its Policy Consequences Today, editor (NOMOS Verlag 2008) : View Book
- Bishop von Galen: German Catholicism and National Socialism (Yale University Press 2002) : View Book
Accolades
- Dr. Griech-Polelle's most recent award was being selected to participate in the Alan S. Cornell Seminar for U.S. Campus Faculty at Yad Vashem: The World Holocaust Remembrance Center, Jerusalem, Israel, June 2023.
Professional Memberships/Organizations
- INoGS (International Network of Genocide Scholars) , (2012 - Present)
- German Studies Association , (1999 - Present)
- American Catholic Historical Association
- American Historical Association
- The Ohio Academy of History
- American Society of Church History
Biography
Beth A. Griech-Polelle serves as the Mayer Chair of Holocaust Studies at Pacific Lutheran University. Prior to coming to PLU, Professor Griech-Polelle taught at Bowling Green State University in the History Department, 2000-2015.
Professor Griech-Polelle earned her BA from Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, graduating Summa Cum Laude. She then attended Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey for both her MA and her Ph.D. She studied Modern German history and minored in Modern American history in graduate school. After graduating with her Ph.D., Professor Griech-Polelle taught at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio for several years before coming to Pacific Lutheran University as Mayer Chair in Holocaust Studies. She specializes in Nazi Germany, the Holocaust, Genocide Studies, the Role of Roman Catholic Church leadership in Nazi Germany, and European Women’s history.
Dr. Griech-Polelle has published several books, including her most recent one: Antisemitism and the Holocaust: Language, Rhetoric and the Traditions of Hatred, Second edition, revised and expanded, 2023 (Bloomsbury Academic Press, 2023); Editor, The Nuremberg War Crimes Trial and its Policy Consequences Today, second revised and expanded edition, (NOMOS Verlag, 2020); co-edited with Christina Guenter, Trajectories of Memory: Intergenerational Representations of the Holocaust in History and the Arts (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2008); and Bishop von Galen: German Catholicism and National Socialism (Yale University Press, 2002). She has also recorded “”Europe’s Dark Journey: the Rise of Hitler and Nazi Germany”” for The Modern Scholar Great Professors series of lectures. She has published numerous chapters in books, served as guest editor of The Journal of Jesuit Studies, and has spoken at various Holocaust Centers and other venues.
She serves on many organization’s committees, including the Executive Committee of the Consortium of Higher Education Centers for Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights Studies; the Seattle Holocaust Center for Humanity’s Educators for Change, and member of the Pacific Northwest Regional Committee for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Interests
- All areas of Holocaust and Genocide studies
Fun Facts
- Students know Dr. Griech-Polelle's interests revolve around caring for stray cats, feeding the crows and raccoons, thus driving her poor neighbors crazy.
Service
Cleaned Jewish cemeteries and execution sites in Poland