Dr. Pavel Brunssen
Dr. Pavel Brunssen is a Research Associate and Alfred Landecker Lecturer at the Research Center on Antigypsyism at Heidelberg University. Brunssen’s research interests include antisemitism, antigypsyism, memory cultures, European soccer, and fan cultures. He holds a PhD in German Studies from the University of Michigan, where he received the Marshall Weinberg Prize for his dissertation on “The Making of ‘Jew Clubs’: Performing Jewishness and Antisemitism in European Soccer and Fan Cultures.” Brunssen also earned a graduate certificate in Judaic Studies and a Graduate Teacher Certificate from the University of Michigan.
In addition to his academic work, Brunssen co-founded and was the editor-in-chief of ‘Transparent,’ a magazine that examines the political aspects of soccer fan cultures in Germany. Brunssen presented his research at numerous international conferences in Europe, North America, and New Zealand, and has published book chapters as well as articles in newspapers such as Das Parlament and Weser Kurier. His work has been featured by various media outlets, including The Jerusalem Post, Zeit Online, ZDF, SKY, Sportschau, WDR, and Taz.
Brunssen also studies the portrayal of Roma in film, and in 2017, the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma published his expertise on the Children and Youth Film ‘Nellys Abenteuer’ (Nelly’s Adventure) as part of a public debate in Germany about antigypsyism and film. In 2018, he co-organized a conference on antigypsyism and film, which led to the publication of an edited volume titled Antigypsyism and Film / Antiziganismus und Film (2020, Heidelberg University Publishing), which he co-edited. This book brings together international scholars and experts on the issue of antigypsyism in film for the first time.
Brunssen is also the author of Antisemitismus in Fußball-Fankulturen: Der Fall RB Leipzig (2021, Beltz Juventa) and the co-editor of Football and Discrimination: Antisemitism and Beyond (2021, Routledge). (You can learn more about his books here). Prior to his PhD, he earned an M.A. from the Center for Research on Antisemitism at the Technische Universität Berlin and a B.A. in social work and social pedagogy from the Hochschule Düsseldorf.