David S. Frey
Ph.D., Director, Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies; Co-Chair, Diversity & Inclusion Minor, United States Military Academy
2022
Dr. David Frey is Professor of History and Founding Director of the Stewart and Lynda Resnick Center for Holocaust & Genocide Studies (CHGS) and founding Co-chair of the Diversity and Inclusion Studies Minor at the US Military Academy at West Point. As CHGS Director, Dr. Frey oversees a comprehensive atrocity studies program and has spearheaded efforts to increase Defense Department understanding of, research into, and efforts to prevent mass atrocity. He was the 2021-22 William J. Lowenberg Memorial Fellow on America, the Holocaust, and the Jews at the Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, US Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) researching World War II era “marginal soldiers.” These include Jewish refugees who joined the US Army military intelligence and contributed to reshaping concepts of American citizenship and belonging. Author of Jews, Nazis, and the Cinema of Hungary: The Tragedy of Success, 1929-44 (IB Tauris, 2017; winner, 2019 biennial Hungarian Studies Association Book Award), co-author of Ordinary Soldiers: A Study in Law, Ethics and Leadership (USHMM, 2014), and co-author of Least-Worst Decisions: The Leadership of LTG Roméo Dallaire during the Rwandan Genocide (forthcoming), he taught at Columbia University after earning his Ph.D. in Central European History there. He is currently also working on a large multi-university project on extremist narratives and mis/disinformation. He serves on the USHMM’s Education Committee, the Advisory Board of the Holocaust Education Program at the National World War II Museum, and the executive committee of the Consortium of Higher Education Centers of Holocaust, Genocide, & Human Rights Studies.
The effort to eradicate hate requires the active participation of every component of our society, to include governments, the private sector, communities of faith and indeed every aspect of civil society. There is no more urgent task in front of us. The organizers of the Eradicate Hate Global Summit are doing the United States and the world an enormous service by tackling hatred and extremism with a focus on honest dialogue and conversation, genuine learning and practical solutions. This will not happen overnight, but the Pittsburgh community’s leadership in this effort is genuinely inspiring and motivating.
