Dr. Lauren Granite directs our US educational programs. Before joining the Centropa staff, she spent more than a dozen years teaching Jewish history in colleges, Jewish day schools and congregational schools.  As a teacher, Lauren created our first cross-cultural projects with Berlin and Budapest.  And since 2010 she has been building our network of Jewish day and congregational schools; expanding into public, parochial and charter schools; running workshops and seminars; mentoring teachers; writing lessons and projects; and establishing teacher advisory teams to advise us about Centropa curricula. 

Jonathan was born in Germany and received his Bachelors degree in Political Science and Sociology in 2018 at the University Trier. Jonathan began as an intern at Centropa in 2018 and we asked him to stay on. He has been carrying out research in our archive as well as helping with our teachers’ seminars. Jonathan is continuing his education and is now working on a Master’s degree in Political Science at the University Vienna with an emphasis on International Relations, EU and Europeanization.

Maximilian studied Social Science at Humboldt University of Berlin and received his master’s degree in Holocaust Communication and Tolerance at Touro College Berlin. From 2009 until 2015 he worked at Center for Digital Systems (CeDiS) at Free University of Berlin for the online oral history archives „Forced Labor 1939-1945“ and „Witnesses to the Shoah“, and assisted organising and conducting the annual CeDiS Summer School from 2013 until 2016. As historical consultant and scientific editor Maximilian worked with an interdisciplinary team of journalists, film makers, web designers and historians on the award-winning web documentary „The Sand Mine“ about the shooting of 127 Italian forced labourers in Treuenbrietzen, Germany at the end of WWII which went online in April 2016 (imidoc.net). Maximilian joined Centropa in August 2017. He is coordinating the Centropa’s projects in Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Georgia and Germany and assists Fabian Rühle in fundraising and content development.

Magda Farnesi studied English and Polish philology and Jewish Studies in Olomouc, Czech Republic and Central European History at the CEU in Budapest. She loves languages, dogs, and if she´s not in the Hamburg office, she is translating young adult literature, singing, writing poetry or out on the boat. She is the motor of all logistics issues in the German team: she organizes seminars and summer academies.

Sára studied Minority and Ethnic Studies at ELTE University in Budapest. She has been working in NGOs and education projects about social issues for many years. She really enjoys facilitating trainings with non-formal education methods and supporting young people in creating their own initiatives. She was part of different Jewish youth and educational organizations in Hungary and also the Roma Genocide Remembrance Initiative. At Centropa she is the coordinator of the programs in Hungary.

Daniela Šterjova studied philology at the Saints Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje, at the department for English language and literature. She works as an English teacher at the Petar Pop Arsov Public Primary School. Daniela has attended many seminars and workshops on Jewish history and the Holocaust, including few Centropa Summer Academies. Being part of the Centropa network of teachers, she has conducted several Centropa-based projects in her school creating student exhibitions on Jewish history, culture, and the Holocaust of the Macedonian Jews. Since 2013 Daniela has coordinated Centropa educational programs for Macedonia.  

Tanja, our chief interviewer grew up in East Germany and moved to Vienna in 1984.  Tanja joined Centropa as an interviewer in 2002 , and since then she has conducted more than 70 interviews in Austria and another three in Israel. In 2006, she started our Vienna Cafe Centropa social club, which brings together our elderly interviewees once a month to enjoy a lecture, social program or a festive Jewish holiday meal. 

Rosie Whitehouse is a journalist specialising in the Jewish life after the Holocaust and survivors stories. Born in Liverpool, Rosie is a graduate of the School of Slavonic and East European Studies and the London School of Economics. She was a BBC News Trainee and a Senior Producer and Presenter at the BBC World Service. Rosie has just completed a book on the Jewish exodus from Europe and illegal immigration to Palestine after the Second World War. She has written widely on the displaced person’s camps in Germany and the Jewish underground movement in Italy 1945-8. She has contributed to BBC Online, The Observer, The Independent, Tablet Magazine, The Jewish Chronicle, Haaretz and other outlets. Rosie is currently researching into the story of the child-Holocaust survivors brought to the UK after war for the survivors organisation, The 45 Aid Society. She is also the founder of the Ascot Holocaust Education Project, a new initiative in Holocaust education in the UK, that uses the story of the boys and the hostel they were cared for to teach the story of Jewish pre-war life and the Holocaust in a local history context.

Anna Kožemjakin was born in 1986 in Ukraine. She obtained her MA in History and Jewish studies at the International Solomon University in Kiev, Ukraine. Anna studied at "Paideia - European Institute for Jewish Studies in Sweden“. before moving to Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2009, where she volunteered in the Jewish community ( Sunday school, art projects; preparing prayer books for the community etc.) and with youth throughout Bosnia as a part of youth organization of Inter religious council in B&H too. In 2017, Anna joined Centropa as their coordinator in Bosnia.

Tomislav comes from Zagreb, Croatia. He graduated in History and Czech language and literature BA programme at the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb. Currently Tomisalv is working as a history teacher in a Jewish elementary school Hugo Kon in Zagreb. Since his first visit to Centropa Summer Academy in 2011 he became a Centropa teacher. He is also coordinator for Centropa in Croatia.