Charlotte Canizo
Research Topic
International Jewish Humanitarianism and Unaccompanied Child Migration (1867-1948)
Supervisor: Abigail Green
My DPhil thesis examines how and why international Jewish organisations arranged and supported the migration of unaccompanied Jewish children from the Lithuanian Famine (1867-68) to the Holocaust. Adopting a longue durée, connected, and transnational perspective, it explores how Jewish humanitarian actors mobilised across borders in response to crises such as famines, wars, pogroms, and genocide to facilitate the relocation, placement, and care of unaccompanied Jewish children.
The project investigates how humanitarian approaches to unaccompanied child migration evolved over time and how competing visions of the Jewish future shaped decisions about children's migration and upbringing. It also examines how factors such as age and gender influenced humanitarian perceptions of vulnerability, as well as the extent to which children themselves could shape their migration and life trajectories. By tracing the development of organised unaccompanied child migration over more than seven decades, the thesis challenges the idea that Jewish humanitarian responses emerged primarily in the 1930s and during the Holocaust. Instead, it situates these initiatives within a longer history of international Jewish humanitarianism and contributes to broader debates on childhood, migration, displacement, and humanitarian action.
My DPhil is part of the “Jewish Country Houses” project led by Professor Abigail Green, and more specifically of its “politics and philanthropy” strand. As a Collaborative Doctoral Award student, my work is conducted in partnership with the Holocaust Educational Trust (HET) in London. My research is co-funded by the Open-Oxford-Cambridge AHRC DTP and the Clarendon Scholarship.
Prior to studying at Oxford, I completed a double BA in History and Politics at Sorbonne Université and Sciences Po Paris (2020) and an MA in Contemporary History at Sciences Po Paris (2022). I also did an exchange year at the University of Washington (Seattle) during my undergraduate studies.
Publications:
Journal articles
- Canizo, Charlotte. « Les enfants juifs à la Maison de Sèvres : des enfants « comme les autres » pendant la guerre et en sortie de guerre ? (1941-1949) », Revue d’Histoire de la Shoah, N° 220, 2024, pp. 91-110. https://shs.cairn.info/revue-d-histoire-de-la-shoah-2024-2-page-91?lang=fr
Book reviews
- Canizo, Charlotte. « Laura Hobson-Faure, Manon Pignot, Antoine Rivière (dir.), Enfants en guerre. « Sans famille » dans les conflits du XXe siècle », Cahiers d’histoire. Revue d’histoire critique [En ligne], 160 | 2024. https://journals.openedition.org/chrhc/24335
- Canizo, Charlotte. « Annette Becker, Des Juifs trahis par leur France, 1939-1944. Paris, Gallimard, 2024, 304 pages, 22 € ». Revue d’Histoire de la Shoah, N° 220, 2024, pp. 243-245. https://shs.cairn.info/revue-d-histoire-de-la-shoah-2024-2-page-243?lang=fr
- Canizo, Charlotte. « Grandir entre les ruines », La Vie des idées, 24 février 2025. ISSN : 2105-3030. URL : https://laviedesidees.fr/Camille-Mahe-Seconde-Guerre-Mondiale-Enfants
- Canizo, Charlotte. "Pius XII, the Holy See, and the Jews," Books and Ideas, 6 March 2025. ISSN: 2105-3030. URL: https://booksandideas.net/Pius-XII-the-Holy-See-and-the-Jews
Conference reviews
- Canizo, Charlotte. « Jewish Country Houses and the Holocaust in History and Memory. Colloque tenu du 10 au 12 mai 2023 à Brno (République tchèque), Centre méthodologique d’architecture moderne, en partenariat avec l’université de Cardiff, le CNRS, l’université d’Oxford et l’Institut du patrimoine national de la République tchèque », Revue d’Histoire de la Shoah, N° 218, 2023, pp. 359-361. https://www.cairn.info/revue-d-histoire-de-la-shoah-2023-2-page-359.htm
