Simon Grest

Simon Gerst graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Texas at Austin with a triple major in Russian, East European, and Eurasian studies; Jewish studies; and German.  He was an undergraduate fellow at the Clements Center for National Security and a Frank Denius Normandy Scholar of World War II.  Simon also interned at the U.S. Department of State in the Office of the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism.  His interests include Central Asia, holocaust and genocide studies, collective memory, the Eastern Front of WWII, and the Soviet Union. 

Simon’s Fulbright project is researching the little-known story of thousands of Jewish émigrés – including four of his relatives – who fled to the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic during World War II.  His research centers on materials in Kyrgyzstan’s archives which shed light on his ancestors and the so-called “evacuees” in the republic from 1941–1945.  Simon’s project is assembling a composite image of the refugees and their daily lives through primary sources, while also connecting migration patterns and policies with the war’s structural dynamics.  His family’s story bridges the two levels, exemplifying the émigrés’ individual experiences alongside their connection to overarching historical trends.