Donna F. Ryan

Donna F. Ryan (1948 – 16 July 2012) was an American historian of Vichy France. Her notable works include a study of Jewish people in Marseille during the Holocaust, and a co-edited volume on deaf people living in Europe between 1933 and 1945. Through her work she demonstrated a strong commitment to deaf and disability history.

Early life Ryan was born in Boston, Massachusetts. She studied at Wheaton College, in Norton, Massachusetts, and completed her PhD at Georgetown University in 1984, specialising in Modern European history and the history of France.

Career

In 1984, she joined the History Department at Gallaudet University, where she worked for twenty-eight years, becoming a professor in 1993. A collection of papers from this conference, co-edited by Ryan and Schuchman, was published as Deaf People in Hitler’s Europe by Gallaudet University Press and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2002.

During her time at Gallaudet University, she helped to develop the Certificate in Deaf History program and to create the Women’s Studies Minor.

Selected works Donna F. Ryan. The Holocaust and the Jews of Marseille: The Enforcement of Anti-Semitic Policies in Vichy France. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1996 Donna F. Ryan and John S. Schuchman eds. Deaf People in Hitler's Europe. Washington D.C.: Gallaudet University Press, 2002.