S A M . K A S S O W

The following feature story appeared in the campus publication MOSAIC in January, 1996.

Sam Kassow

Breaking the bonds of present-mindedness

Professor James West tells the story of a trip he took to Russia in 1979 with friend and Trinity colleague Sam Kassow. The two history professors were at the American Embassy in Moscow when Kassow, an expert in Russian, European, and Jewish history, began talking about the prospects for Middle East peace. "Sam started laying out a plan for the West Bank. He said, 'This is what's going to happen. This is the only way.'" West was skeptical. It seemed so unlikely that Israel would give up any land.

But almost 20 years later, the Israeli-Palestinian peace plan that is now forging ahead is exactly what Kassow described. The story illustrates Kassow's ability to "use his historical understanding and throw it to the future," West said. "He is one of the most powerful minds I have ever come across."

For Sam Kassow, history is more than a collection of dates and events. Jessica Davidson '96, who credits Kassow with "inspiring" her interest in European history, says, "He lives and breathes what he teaches." The comment is more literal than one might imagine.

Born in a displaced persons camp in Germany after World War II, the son of two Holocaust survivors, Kassow's view of the world has been shaped by major historical events of the 20th century. On personal trips, he has visited a remote village in the former Soviet Union to meet the man who sheltered his mother and aunt from the Nazis. "It was very intense," says Kassow of the experience.

A professor whose intellect and knowledge inspire awe in undergraduates, Kassow has earned numerous academic honors, grants, and fellowships, including a Fulbright Scholarship, and is a widely respected writer and lecturer. He received his undergraduate degree from Trinity in 1965 and graduate degrees from the London School of Economics and Princeton University. Kassow has been teaching at Trinity since 1972, and in 1976 he helped develop the interdisciplinary Guided Studies in Western Civilization program. His main goal as a teacher, he says, is to "get people to see the complexity of historical problems and to understand the moral choices."

Kassow admits he has to work hard to understand today's students, who have not been so directly affected by the events that formed his own background, and to overcome generational differences and what he perceives as the "present-mindedness" of many young people. In addition, there is the challenge of having so much material to cover. Kassow believes that students need to learn a lot before they can have an informed discussion.

He has developed courses that teach history through literature and culture as a strategy both to get students interested in history and to introduce serious historical questions. "It's a convenient pedagogical tool," says Kassow. Tammy Alfred '96, who took a course with Kassow on literature and social change in the modern Jewish era, found that the reading provided insightful perspectives on such events as the Holocaust. "History and literature went hand in hand," she says.

Bringing history to life.
Kassow also helps history come to life for many in the Trinity community by participating in alumni colleges and reunion weekends, getting involved with Jewish student groups, and leading student trips to Russia, the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., and Ellis Island.

Beyond Trinity, Kassow teaches in a University of Connecticut master's degree program in Judaic studies and at Beit Midrash, a Greater Hartford community adult education institution that offers a two-year curriculum in Jewish history. "He's a wonderful role model in the Jewish community," says Linda Stanger, Beit Midrash's administrative director. "He's respected for his intellectual abilities and his ethical standards."

Preserving Yiddish.
One of the contributions Kassow makes to the Jewish community is his commitment to keeping the Yiddish language alive. It is Kassow's first language. (English, of course, came second, and in the course of his travels and studies, he learned to read and/or speak Russian, Polish, Hebrew, French, and German.) Kassow often lectures both in this country and internationally in Yiddish and has taught courses in Yiddish and English as a visiting professor in Israel and Russia.

The author of numerous articles, Kassow has written and co-edited two books on Tsarist Russia. His goals for the future include publishing a book of his essays on Eastern European history as well as books on Jewish historiography and urban life in Eastern Europe.

He would also like to develop new courses that will continue to engage and inspire students. Despite being in the same field as Kassow, West says, "I have learned from Sam the way a student learns from a professor for the 25 years that I've known him." Jessica Davidson, who couldn't wait for her parents to meet her brilliant teacher on Parents' Weekend, says simply, "It is an absolute honor to study with him."

- Leslie Virostek

">