Daniel Heller

Dr. Daniel Kupfert Heller is the Kronhill Senior Lecturer in East European Jewish History at Monash University’s Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation. His areas of research specialization are East European Jewish history, the history of humanitarian aid and international development, and the history of Zionism and modern Israel. 

Daniel received his PhD in 2012 from Stanford University, where he was awarded the annual prize for best written dissertation in the History Department. Before arriving at Monash, he was an assistant professor at McGill University, where he received the 2016 H. Noel Fieldhouse Award for Distinguished Teaching, awarded annually to one professor in McGill University’s Faculty of Arts. In 2017, he was the recipient of the Principal’s Prize for Excellence in Teaching, awarded annually to one assistant professor across all faculties in McGill University.

Daniel’s first book, Jabotinsky’s Children: Polish Jews and the Rise of Right-Wing Zionism, appeared in August 2017 with Princeton University Press. Drawing upon original research in Polish, Israeli and American archives, the book explores the decisive influence of Polish Jews and Polish politics on right-wing Zionist attitudes towards democracy and approaches to the use of force. Recovering the voices of ordinary Polish Jewish youth through their letters, diaries and autobiographies, the study also paints a vivid portrait of their turbulent lives on the eve of the Holocaust. Jabotinsky’s Children was the recipient of Association for Jewish Studies' Jordan Schnitzer Award in the category of Modern Jewish History and Culture: Europe and Israel. 

Following Jabotinsky’s Children, Daniel worked on a research project exploring the politics of Israeli aid programs for women in sub-Saharan Africa during the Cold War era. His findings were published in Jewish Social Studies and History Australia.  

Daniel is currently the lead investigator for an interdisciplinary study exploring the impact of gender on the resilience and adaptation strategies of Holocaust survivors in the aftermath of the Second World War. He is also working on his second book project, which examines Holocaust survivor psychologists, psychiatrists and other health care professionals who made it their life mission to help fellow survivors heal from trauma and move forward with their lives.