Dr. Amit Varshizky is a Research fellow at Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and its representative at the Stern Cooperation Project.  Varshizky received his Ph.D. from Tel Aviv University. His dissertation focused on the emergence of nuanced conceptions of race in interwar Germany and the pursuit of völkisch and Nazi racial scientists and theoreticians of a new ethical, spiritual and existential fulcrum in biology. Drawing on a variety of anthropological, psychological, and political-theoretical works, his study illustrated how German racial ideas were build on nuanced conceptualizations of race, that were formulated not only in accordance to the latest discoveries in the field of human heredity, but also coincided with contemporary debates over secularization, value-free science, and biological determinism. The main contribution of his work lies in its new interpretation of fundamental concepts that formed interwar racial discourse, pointing out the manifold meanings subsumed under the rubric of biology.

Varshizky’s major fields of interest are intellectual and cultural history of Nazi Germany, racial science and racial philosophy at the early 20th Century Germany, and political theology and secularization theory with focus on modern German philosophy. His articles and reviews on these topics have appeared in the journal of Central European History; German Studies Review; Intellectual History Review; Politics, Religion and Ideology, and more. He is also the co-editor of the forthcoming volume Secularism and Sacralism: Studies in the History of Religion.