Dr. Wallach will argue that there was, in fact, a pronounced desire for visibility among Jews in Weimar Germany and that gender played a central role in decisions about displaying Jewishness. Instead of “passing” as non-Jews or overtly displaying Jewishness at all times, many Jews inhabited a state of ambiguity in public, but adopted signifiers of Jewishness such as badges or hairstyles that became perceptibly recognized as Jewish to certain observers.

The holder of a Ph.D. in Germanic Literatures from the University of Pennsylavnia, her doctoral dissertation was awarded the Women in German Dissertation Prize. She is also a co-editor of the new book series “German Jewish Cultures,” a joint endeavor of Indiana University Press and the Leo Baeck Institute London.