Ionela Ana Dăsculțu received her MA in Jewish Culture and Civilization from the University of Bucharest and her BA in History from the “Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu (Romania). Ionela is currently a PhD Candidate in History at the University of Haifa, Israel. She is completing a dissertation entitled “Jewish Children in Orphanages in Transnistria (1942-1944). History and Memory”, under the supervision of Dr. Joanna Beata Michlic and Prof. Stefan Ihrig. Ionela`s research focuses on the daily life in the Jewish orphanages in Transnistria during the Second World War. Her research deals with issues such as the number of Jewish orphanages and the conditions in which they were established in Transnistria, as well as the attitudes of the Romanian officials and the local Jewish Committees towards the orphanages. She will also examine life in the orphanages from the perspective of both children and adults. Furthermore, Ionela will discuss the memory of children survivors of Transnistria who were sheltered in these orphanages.
Ionela`s study incorporates both wartime and post-war documentation, ranging from official Romanian and Jewish records to survivors` accounts, found in archives in Romania, Israel, and the United States.
Ionela was a fellow at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and has held a Research Fellowship from the European Holocaust Research Infrastructure and a Research Scholarship from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Ionela will use the Saul Kagan Fellowship to complete her dissertation.