I’m Susan Grunewald. I’m an Assistant Professor of History at Louisiana State University. From 2019 to 2022, I was the Digital History Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Pittsburgh World History Center. I received my Ph.D. in History from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA USA in May 2019. My research examines German prisoners of war (POWs) in the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1956. It explores the economic, political, and legal considerations for their long-lasting detainment after the end of the Second World War. I heavily use Digital Humanities, specifically Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping through the program ArcGIS, to support my research arguments. Namely, I map the locations of the POW camps across the entire Soviet Union to support my claim that the POWs were initially held for economic considerations. Broadly, I specialize in Soviet and German history as well as the history of memory.
I have lived long term and traveled extensively throughout Russia and the former Soviet Union. I lived with a host family in St. Petersburg, taught English in Lenin’s provincial hometown of Ulyanovsk for year, conducted a year of dissertation research in Moscow, plunged my feet in the icy waters of the Barents Sea in late February near Murmansk, and trekked across Russia on the Trans-Siberian Railroad. So far, I have been to seven of the fifteen former republics of the Soviet Union including some from the Baltics, the Caucasus, and Central Asia.
Outside of the academic setting, I’m passionate about martial arts and transportation. I have a third dan black belt in Tang Soo Do and a first dan black belt through the World Taekwondo Federation. My love of cars is unapologetic, and I can recognize the sound of a 1980s Mercedes diesel engine from a few blocks away.
If you have any questions, please contact me.
Я говорю по-русски. Если у Вас есть вопросы, напишите мне.
Ich spreche Deutsch. Wenn Sie Fragen haben, schreiben Sie mir bitte.
