Julia Sirkin (she/her) is a public historian and film editor. She recently completed her Masters in Applied History at Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands. She previously earned her BFA in Film Production Editing at Chapman University in Southern California. She has written one thesis about the German public commemoration of queer women victims of the Holocaust, and is currently working on another about constructions of femininity in '90s feminist zines in the United Kingdom. Before going to school in the Netherlands, Julia worked at the Italian American Museum of Los Angeles. There, she helped to create an exhibition about the needlework of Italian American women, much of which was made up of local donations. She is passionate about creating accessible public history and looks forward to combining her degrees in film and history to pursue a career as a museum curator. In her free time, Julia enjoys watching films with her friends, romanticizing European trains, and reading Tom Robbins books

 

During Julia's internship (January - August 2024), she was responsible for launching the PTL Project's social media presence as well as researching and producing a profile resource kit on Felice Schragenheim and Lilly Wust for our LGBTQ+ Stories from Nazi Germany initiative. 

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Reflecting on her internship, Julia said, "I am so thrilled to contribute to this project, which I feel is an important and inspiring example of accessible public history. I first came across Dr. Newsome’s book in my research for my thesis about the commemoration of queer women victims of the Holocaust. In contrast with some of the other literature I’d read, his work took an intersectional approach to understanding the myriad of ways in which queer people were persecuted during and after the Holocaust. To me, this kind of research is so important to recognizing the full picture of LGBTQ+ persecution, activism, and liberation. In seeking out the varied experiences of queer people throughout history, we not only carve out new spaces in the literature, but also have the opportunity to communicate these unheard stories to the public. It is such an honor to be a part of this team and I look forward to helping build a strong foundation for this initiative."