Renowned historian Deborah Lipstadt, who currently serves as the U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, will return to Emory later this academic year as University Distinguished Professor.
Lipstadt served on the Emory faculty for nearly 30 years before her confirmation as special envoy, a position in the State Department that holds the rank of ambassador. One of the world’s foremost experts on the Holocaust and modern antisemitism, she made international headlines as an Emory professor when she was sued in British court by a Holocaust denier and won.
“I am excited to bring what I have learned during my time with the State Department back to Emory to help teach the next generation of scholars and leaders,” Lipstadt says. “When my nomination was announced, I said that the one thing I would miss was being in the classroom with my Emory students. Now, I look forward to returning to campus to resume the crucial task of supporting students as they learn to evaluate evidence and think critically.”
Lipstadt will be only the fourth person to hold the rank of Emory University Distinguished Professor, an honor “designated for select members of the Emory campus community and societal leaders whose groundbreaking careers and societal contributions are defined by excellence and a staunch commitment to serving humanity.” U.S. President Jimmy Carter was appointed as University Distinguished Professor in 1982, the same year he founded The Carter Center in conjunction with Emory. In addition, University Distinguished Professorships were held by author Salman Rushdie from 2011 to 2015 and poet Kevin Young from 2017 to 2020.
When she returns to Emory, Lipstadt will also retain her appointment as Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies in the Department of Religion, the position in Emory College of Arts and Sciences she held prior to taking a leave of absence to join the State Department.
“Across generations, Deborah Lipstadt has served our nation and society at the very highest level,” says Emory President Gregory L. Fenves. “Whatever her title has been — professor, teacher, author, ambassador — Dr. Lipstadt has combatted hate through scholarship and education. She is courageous, brilliant and an Emory legend through and through. I am proud that she will return to Emory holding the title of University Distinguished Professor.”
Fighting antisemitism around the world
The U.S. Senate confirmed Lipstadt as special envoy in March 2022 and she was sworn in that May. During her confirmation hearing, she pledged to “fight antisemitism worldwide, without fear or favor, and with … one goal emblazoned before me: to make a difference.”
As special envoy, she has traveled to more than 30 countries in service to that goal. In July, in a speech in Buenos Aires, Argentina, she introduced the Global Guidelines for Countering Antisemitism, an international framework endorsed by dozens of countries and multilateral organizations.
Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt speaks in Buenos Aires for the launch of the Global Guidelines for Countering Antisemitism. Photo courtesy of the State Department.
In May, she hosted the first-ever Symposium to Combat Online Antisemitism, which included government representatives, non-governmental organizations and technology executives from companies including Google, Meta, Microsoft, TikTok and X.
Last year, she was named to Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2023, where each listing included a short essay about the honoree written by an expert in their field.
“Deborah has aptly noted that antisemitism might start with the Jews, but it never ends with the Jews,” Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO and national director of the Anti-Defamation League, wrote about Lipstadt. “And so her work — fearlessly calling on the international community to ensure that Jews everywhere can live safely and practice their faith freely — is critical not only for Jewish people, but also for ensuring a society free of bigotry and intolerance for all people.”
Teaching and defending history
As University Distinguished Professor, Lipstadt will give an annual public lecture and will engage directly with undergraduates in a classroom setting or in a lecture format at least once per semester. She will also serve as an adviser to Emory’s president and the dean of Emory College.
“I am thrilled to welcome Professor Lipstadt back to Emory, where she has enjoyed a highly productive and successful career as a scholar and teacher. Her recent service as U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism is a singular achievement,” says Emory College Dean Barbara Krauthamer.
“Emory undergraduates will have the unique opportunity to learn from a leading scholar whose research and public service have illuminated both the enduring legacies of the Holocaust and current manifestations of antisemitism in the United States and the world.”
In 1993, Lipstadt came to Emory to teach in the Department of Religion, where she would eventually serve as the founding director of the Tam Institute for Jewish Studies, devoting countless hours to creating undergraduate and graduate curricula focused on the interdisciplinary study of Jewish civilization and culture.
The same year, she published her award-winning book, “Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory,” the first full-length study of those who attempt to deny the Holocaust. She made history in her own right when she was sued for libel by David Irving, a Holocaust denier from Britain. The case, which was filed in England and lasted six years, resulted in a 10-week trial, which Lipstadt and her legal team won, proving her accusations against Irving were true.
When Lipstadt had to take up temporary residence in England during the trial, it was with Emory’s support and reassurance that “the courtroom will be your classroom.” She documented the trial in her book “History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier” (2006), and her landmark stand inspired the 2016 motion picture “Denial,” which starred Academy Award-winning actor Rachel Weisz as Lipstadt.
Actor Rachel Weisz with Deborah Lipstadt on the set of “Denial.” Photo by Liam Daniel, Bleecker Street.
Her latest book — “Antisemitism: Here and Now” (2019) — is an examination of the resurgence of antisemitism across Europe and the U.S. An analysis of what she calls “the longest hatred,” the book unfolds as a series of conversational letters written by Lipstadt to two fictional acquaintances: an inquisitive college student and a campus colleague, composites of people she’s known across her decades of teaching.
For her work with students, Lipstadt received Emory’s 2020 Exemplary Teacher Award, the most recent of her teaching awards from the university, which also include the 2019 George P. Cuttino Award for Excellence in Mentoring and the 1997 Emory Williams Award for Distinguished Teaching.
A widely respected public scholar, Lipstadt has served as an adviser on a myriad of national and international projects. She was a historical consultant to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and helped design the section of the museum dedicated to the American Response to the Holocaust. She was appointed by President Bill Clinton to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, on which she served two terms.
From 1996 through 1999, she served as a member of the United States State Department Advisory Committee on Religious Freedom Abroad. In 2005 she was tapped by President George W. Bush to be part of a small delegation that represented the White House at the 60th anniversary commemoration of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
On April 11, 2011, the 50th anniversary of the start of the trial in Israel of Nazi Adolph Eichmann, she gave a public address at the State Department on the impact of the trial. Her book on the topic, “The Eichmann Trial,” was released just prior to the anniversary. “The Holocaust didn’t happen to numbers or just a large group,” Lipstadt said at the time. “It happened to people.”