{"id":6509,"date":"2026-05-15T14:20:47","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T18:20:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/reporter\/?page_id=6509"},"modified":"2026-05-15T14:20:47","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T18:20:47","slug":"trinity-treasure","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/reporter\/fall-2022\/along-the-walk\/trinity-treasure\/","title":{"rendered":"Trinity Treasure"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Photo by Nick Caito<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWhen I arrived at Trinity as a teacher, I was 25; I was not that much older than the students,\u201d says Samuel D. Kassow \u201966, Charles H. Northam Professor of History, who just completed his 50th year on Trinity\u2019s faculty and is the college\u2019s longest-serving current faculty member. \u201cI\u2019ve taught literally thousands of students. It\u2019s been very gratifying. Occasionally I\u2019ll hear from someone that they\u2019ve never forgotten something I said, or that one of my classes was a catalyst that made them choose a career in academia. And now I\u2019ll sometimes hear, \u2018You taught my mom or my dad.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

Kassow is an internationally recognized scholar of Russian and Soviet history, modern European history, and the history of Ashkenazi Jewry. He recently saw one of his books adapted into the critically acclaimed documentary Who Will Write Our History<\/em>. His Trinity courses include \u201cWorld War II,\u201d \u201cThe Third Reich,\u201d and \u201cThe Holocaust.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Kassow, these subjects are personal. \u201cI was born in Europe in a displaced persons camp. My parents were Holocaust survivors in Poland,\u201d he says. \u201cI knew that history mattered. You might say that in my house there was too much history.\u201d When he came to Trinity on a full scholarship, an initial interest in premed gave way to a growing passion for Russian history, which Kassow pursued in graduate school.<\/p>\n

A chance meeting with the head of Trinity\u2019s History Department in London led him to join the faculty back at his alma mater, where he has stayed for his entire teaching career. \u201cI love to tell stories,\u201d Kassow says. \u201cI try to make history come alive. I get up in the morning still looking forward to teaching. At the same time, Trinity has given me freedom to do my own work, like writing or being a visiting professor elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

On campus, Kassow is involved with services and celebrations at Trinity Hillel, where his wife, Lisa Pleskow Kassow, was director from 2001 until she retired this year. He has mentored students in the History Department and in the multidisciplinary Jewish Studies Program and has led student travel experiences to Russia and Poland. \u201cI think I\u2019ll teach for a couple more years,\u201d Kassow says. \u201cI hope I encourage students to be empathetic and to take history seriously. History doesn\u2019t give you answers, but the study of history encourages you to ask questions, which is always very good.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more on Kassow and his time at Trinity, please visit:<\/p>\n