Yair Mintzker, Ph.D.

History Department  Princeton University  Dickinson Hall, G-22  Princeton, NJ 08544
Phone: (609) 258-8828  E-Mail:

Employment

•Associate Professor of History, Princeton University / 2015-present
•Assistant Professor of History, Princeton University / 2009-2015

Education

•Ph.D., History, Stanford University / 2009
•M.A., History, Tel-Aviv University / 2003

Selected Honors and Fellowships

•Fellow, Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin / 2013-14
•Class of 1942 University Preceptor, Princeton University / 2012-2015
•Andrew Mellon Fellowship for Assistant Professors, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton / 2011-12
•Berlin Prize of the American Academy in Berlin (declined) / 2011-12
•The Fritz Stern Prize for the best dissertation in German History, German Historical Institute, Washington, DC / 2010
•The Elizabeth Spilman Rosenfield Prize for Outstanding Dissertation Writing, Stanford University / 2009
•Geballe Dissertation Fellowship, Stanford Humanities Center / 2008-09
•Ms. Giles Whiting Dissertation Fellowship / 2007-08
•Centennial Teaching Award, Stanford University / 2007-08
•Distinguished Departmental Scholar, Stanford History Department / 2006, 2007, 2008
•DAAD Graduate Fellowship / 2006-07
•IIE Fulbright: Germany (declined) / 2006-07
•Ludwig-Maximilian University, Munich: one-year research fellowship / 2000-01
•Adi Lautman Program for Outstanding Students, Tel-Aviv University, Israel: Undergraduate Fellowship / 1997-2003

Publications

Book manuscript

  • The Many Deaths of “Jew Süss.” A new account of the trial and execution of Joseph Süss Oppenheimer, aka “Jew Süss.” Under contract with Princeton University Press.

Book

  • The Defortification of the German City, 1689-1866. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012.

Winner of the 2011/12 American Urban History book prize.

Reviews: American Historical Review, German History, Central European History, Journal of Modern History, German Studies Review, H-Net.

Peer-reviewed articles and book chapters

  • “The Paradox of Visual and Material Culture in Mack Walker’s German Home Towns.” Central European History 47 (September 2014): 505-512.
  • “Defortification and the Dialectics of Urban Form in Absolutist France, 1629-1697.” In Walls, Borders, Boundaries: Spatial and Cultural Practices in Europe. Edited by Marc Silberman, Karen E. Till, and Janet Ward. New York: Berghahn Books, 2012.
  • “Wall, Body, Space: On the Defortification of the European City in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries.” Zmanim: An Historical Quarterly 119(Summer 2012): 6-17. (In Hebrew).
  • “What is Defortification? Military Functions, Police Roles, and Symbolism in the Demolition of German City Walls in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries.” WeimarPolis: Multi-disciplinary Journal of Urban Theory and Practice 1, no. 1 (2009): 31-48. Reprinted in Bulletin of the German Historical Institute 48 (Spring 2011): 33-58.
  • “Between the Linguistic and the Spatial Turns: A Reconsideration of the Concept of Space and its Role in the Early Modern Period.”Historical Reflections 35, no. 3 (Winter 2009): 37-51.
  • “A Word Newly Introduced into Language: The Appearance and Spread of ‘Social’ in French Enlightened Thought, 1745-1765.” History of European Ideas 34, no. 4 (2008): 500-513.

Other publications

  • “Ve-lagardom hayu chamishim u-shtayim madregot” [Hebrew: “And 52 steps led to the gallows”], Haaretz Tarbut ve-Sifrut, 8.3.13.
  • Enzyklopädie jüdischer Geschichte und Kultur (Darmstadt: WBG, 2012), “Jud Süss."
  • “Salomon Schächter: Augenzeugenbericht von dem Verscheiden des Joseph Süß secher tsadik livracha.” In Totengedenkbuch für Joseph Süß Oppenheimer, edited by Hellmut G. Haasis. Worms: Wormser Verlag, 2012 (Hebrew transcription and German translation of a sensational pamphlet about the execution of Joseph Suss Oppenheimer in 1738).

Reviews

  • Abwesende und Anwesende: Ein Grundriss für eine Gesellschaftsgeschichte der Frühen Neuzeit, by Rudolf Schlögl. Forthcoming in Historische Anthropologie.
  • A Tale of Ritual Murder in the Age of Louis XIV: The Trial of Raphaël Lévy, 1669, by Pierre Birnbaum.Journal of Modern History (September 2014): 683-684.
  • Enlightenment & Language: The Berlin Debates, by Avi Lifschitz. Central European History 47 (June 2014): 430-432.
  • Remaking the Rhythms of Life: German Communities in the Age of the Nation-State, by Oliver Zimmer. American Historical Review (April 2014): 620-621.
  • Michael Wolfe, Walled Towns and the Shaping of France: From the Medieval to the Early Modern Era (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009). H-France Review, Vol. 10 (October 2010), Nr. 146, 642-46.

Presentations

Invited talks and lectures:

  • "Joseph and His Brothers." Yale University, Jewish History Colloquium, November 16, 2015.
  • “The Criminal Case Against 'Jew Suss': An Exercise in Second-Order Observation.” University of Delaware, History Workshop, September 15, 2015.
  • “A Convert’s Tale: Christoph David Bernard and the case of ‘Jew Süss.’” Princeton University, Eighteenth Century Seminar, October 1, 2014.
  • “A Convert’s Tale: Christoph David Bernard and the case of ‘Jew Süss.’” Humboldt Universität, Berlin, July 9, 2014.
  • “Die vielfachen Tode von ‘Jud Süß’: 4 Februar 1738.” TU Berlin, February 10, 2014.
  • “Outsiders in the Inner Circle: Jews, Christiants, and Courtly Politics.” (With Josh Teplitsky.) Oxford University, January 22, 2014.
  • “Jew Suss: History as a Rashomon.” Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel, December 25, 2013.
  • The Multiple Deaths of ‘Jew Suss.’” Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Münster, Germany, November 27, 2013.
  • “The Death of ‘Jew Süss’: A Morality Play in Three (Brief) Acts.” Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, Germany, November 5, 2013.
  • “Hateful Empathy: The Curious Case of “Jew Suss.” Max Planck Institute for Human Values, Berlin, Germany, October 15, 2013.
  • “The Multiple Deaths of Joseph Oppenheimer, February 4, 1738.” Department of Germanic Languages, UCLA, November 27, 2012.
  • “The Multiple Deaths of Joseph Oppenheimer, February 4, 1738.” Europe Center, Stanford University, October 29, 2012.
  • “The Multiple Deaths of Joseph Oppenheimer, February 4, 1738.” Davis Center for Historical Studies, Princeton University, October 2, 2012.
  • “The Trial and Execution of Joseph Oppenheimer, a.k.a. ‘Jew Suss.’” Miller Center for Judaic Studies, University of Miami, September 24, 2012.
  • “The Trial and Execution of Joseph Oppenheimer, a.k.a. ‘Jew Suss.’” Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, March 21, 2012.
  • “The Multiple Deaths of Joseph Oppenheimer, 1737-38.” Harvard University, November 10, 2011.
  • “The Defortification of the German City, 1689-1866.” Vanderbilt University, November 4, 2010.
  • “The Defortification of the German City” (upon receiving the Fritz Stern Dissertation Prize). German Historical Institute, Washington, D.C., November 12, 2010.
  • “As the Walls Came Down: Defortification and the Enlightenment.” UC Berkeley, April 2010.
  • "Life, Death, and Melancholy in the City”: The Story of the Defortification of Frankfurt am Main, 1792-1801.” J. W. Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, November 2006.
  • “Towards a General History of the Defortification of the German City, 1750-1850.” Institute for Comparative Urban History, University of Münster, Germany, July 2006.

Conferences and workshops

  • Co-convenor of the Princeton-Oxford-Münster annual workshop in early modern history, 2010-present.
  • Co-organizer and panelist, "The Conversations in the Realm of the Dead: An Eightheenth-Century Genre." German Studies Association (GSA), October, 2015.
  • Panel chair, “Protestant Religion, Missions, and Global Networks in the Eighteenth Century.” Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, May 2014.
  • Participant, Seminar on Eighteenth Century Conversions. GSA, October 2014.
  • Respondent, “Towards New Cultural History of Politics in Eighteenth Century Prussia.” GSA panel, October 2014.
  • Participant, Early Modern Workshop. University of Maryland, August 2013.
  • Organizer and chair, AHA Presidential Panel “New Directions in Spatial History.” AHA annual conference, January, 2012.
  • Co-organizer of a series of panels, “German Home Towns: 40 Years Later.” German Studies Association, Louisville, September 2011.
  • Panelist, “The Paradox of Visual and Material Culture in German Home Towns.” German Studies Association, Louisville, September 2011.
  • Co-organizer of a series of panels, “Space as a Keyword in German Studies.” German Studies Association, Oakland, CA, October 2010.
  • Panelist, “German History between the Linguistic and Spatial Turns.” German Studies Association, Oakland, CA, October 2010.
  • Panelist, “What is Defortification?” German Studies Association annual meeting, Washington, D.C., October 2009.
  • Panelist, “What is Defortification?” Workshop: German History in the Nineteenth Century, German Historical Institute, Washington, D.C., April 2009.
  • Panelist, “The Defortification of the German Metropolis, 1815-1860.” Bundeswehrmuseum, Berlin, June 2008.
  • “How do Concepts Disappear?” Project Absentia: an interdisciplinary workshop on questions of absence and disappearance in the sciences and the humanities, Stanford University, April 2008.
  • Panelist, “Rousseau, Diderot, and ‘Social’s’ Conceptual History in the mid-Eighteenth Century.” Encyclopédie Conference, University of Chicago, March 2008.
  • “A Word Newly Introduced into Language: The Appearance and Spread of “Social” in French Enlightened Thought, 1745-65.” Seminar on Enlightenment and Revolution, Stanford Humanities Center, November 2007.

Commentaries at the Davis Seminar, Princeton University

  • Emmanuel Kreike, "Between the Dogs of War and the Water Wolf: The Socio-Environmental Impact of the Dutch Revolt in late 16th Century Holland." March, 2015.
  • Adam Teller, “From Amsterdam to Istanbul: The Polish-Jewish Refugee Crisis, 1648-1683.” Davis Center for Historical Studies, Princeton University, November 2014.
  • Paul Friedland, “Rationalizing Slaughter: The Killing of Animals (and People Who Behave Like Animals) in Early Modern Thought and Modern Practice.” Davis Center for Historical Studies, Princeton University, March 2012.
  • Julia Adams (Yale University) “Sovereignty and Historical Sociology: From State Theory to Theories of Empire.” Davis Center for Historical Studies, Princeton University, October 2010.

Teaching

Graduate seminars

•Communities in Early Modern Europe / Spring 2016
•The Early Modern State / Fall 2014
•The Holy Roman Empire, 1495-1806 / Spring 2013

Undergraduate courses

•The Napoleonic Wars / Fall 2015
•Early Modern Germany, 1495-1806 / 2010, 2011, 2013
•The Early Modern City / 2009, 2011
•The Napoleonic Experience (at Stanford University) / 2007

Academic Service and Affiliations

Princeton University

•Committee on Examinations and Standings / 2012-13, 2015-16
•Fulbright IIE advisor / 2011-present
•Departmental Representative (DUS), History Department / 2014-present
•Member of the executive committee, Center for Digital Humanities / 2013-present
•Executive Secretary, Davis Center for Historical Studies / 2010-11
•At various times, member of the finance committee, planning committee, undergraduate program committee, The Center for Collaborative History, all in the History Department / 2009-present

Outside Princeton

•Member of the American Historical Association, German Studies Association, Society for French Historical Studies, Sixteenth Century Society, Renaissance Society of America. /
•Editorial board member, Studies in German History, Oxford University Press. /