Florence Largillière studied for her BA at Sciences Po Paris, and graduated in 2011. She went on to complete a first Research Master in History at the same institution, under the supervision of Prof. Marc Lazar. She then completed an MPhil in Modern European History at the University of Cambridge. Her dissertation, supervised by Dr. John Pollard, focused on the discourses of Italian Fascist Jews who had asked to be exempted from the Racial Laws in 1938.
Her research interests include modern European Jewish history, nationalism, the construction of identities, and, more generally, the social and cultural history of interwar Europe.
Nationalist Jews in France, Germany, and Italy Faced with Anti-Semitism: 1914-1940
I will be studying the minority of the French, German, and Italian Jewish communities who overtly supported right-wing nationalist movements and ideas during the interwar period. I will analyse the private and public discourses of these nationalist Jews to see how they tried to adapt and negotiate their – conflicting – national and Jewish identities.
My PhD will focus on individuals, rather than political groups, parties, or associations. The main facets I aim to cover are the following: the extent to which nationalist Jews were integrated into their respective national communities; their family’s stories; how they explained their involvement in nationalist, often violent, movements; and how they described themselves regarding their religion, their culture, and their nationalism.
(Completed: 2019)
