The CERS community is deeply saddened by the passing of Distinguished Professor Emeritus Iván Berend, a longtime pillar of the Department of History and of our Center. An internationally renowned scholar, Professor Berend transformed the study of modern European history through an exceptional body of scholarship examining the economic, political, and social forces that shaped Europe. He was also a dedicated teacher, mentor, and academic leader whose influence extended across generations of students and scholars at UCLA and beyond.
Professor Gail Kligman, who succeeded Professor Berend as Director of CERS, has written a heartfelt reflection on the experiences, relationships, and intellectual contributions that defined his remarkable journey. Her remembrance offers a meaningful portrait of a scholar whose life intersected with some of the defining transformations of twentieth-century Europe and whose contributions continue to shape the field today. We invite you to read Professor Kligman’s tribute as we honor Professor Berend’s memory and the enduring legacy he leaves within CERS, UCLA, and the international scholarly community.
Daniel Treisman, CERS Director
IN MEMORIAM IVAN BEREND
It is with profound sadness that we mourn the passing of Ivan Berend (1930-2026), Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History and former Director of the Center for European and Russian Studies, then the Center for European and Eurasian Studies (CEES). His commitment to the center was steadfast and exemplary; indeed, he directed CEES for twelve years (1993-2005). During those years, he convinced me to serve as Chair of the Faculty Advisory Committee and then to succeed him as Director. As active as Ivan was on behalf of CEES, he continued to teach both undergraduate and graduate students and advise doctoral students in History and other departments, including my own, Sociology. I also had the memorable experience of team-teaching with him an undergraduate studies course on “Eastern Europe through Film: Communism and Post-Communism.” Upon stepping down as Director of CEES, Ivan informed me that he was unwilling to serve on the Faculty Advisory Committee for the first two years so that there would be no ambiguity about the leadership transition, after which he kindly agreed to again participate—a bit of administrative wisdom from which I benefited. But during those two years, he was hardly absent from CEES, having been the inaugural speaker to a packed audience of the Faculty Lecture Series (2006). CEES also featured several of his books, including An Economic History of Twentieth-Century Europe (November 2006). Over the years, Ivan generously served as a discussant for book talks and topical panels. He also more than generously agreed to continue teaching until his 85th birthday, only retiring from active service in 2015.
Ivan’s prodigious and impactful contributions to the discipline of history and to our knowledge, especially of the dramatic events of the twentieth century, are well known and recognized across the globe. The author of more than twenty-five books focused on the economic and socio-political history of Europe, many of which have been translated into multiple languages, as well as countless scholarly articles, Ivan was also the recipient of many honorary doctorates and memberships in Academies of Science here and abroad, including the American Academy of Arts and Science (2015).
These achievements are memory markers, material reflections of the substance of the man, Ivan Berend. In 2009, the Central European University Press published History in My Life: A Memoir of Three Eras, which provides insight into Ivan’s extraordinary life. His liberation from Dachau by the Americans at the age of fourteen was a portent of how Ivan would experience and critically reflect upon the history of the twentieth century through Nazism, communism, and what became known as the postsocialist transition. As an adolescent who attributed his survival to having acquired typhus at an early stage during his incarceration in a concentration camp, to becoming the head of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (1985-1990) and then beginning a new career at UCLA (1991-2015) at an age when most people would have retired, Ivan was an inspiration to all who knew him. His formidable intellectual curiosity, indomitable spirit, good cheer, and enthusiasm for all that life had to offer were infectious, if increasingly challenged by the developments of the twenty-first century. Ivan Berend was an exceptional individual. I had the great privilege of knowing him closely as colleague, mentor, scholar, and very dear, dear friend. All of us benefitted enormously from his presence here at CERS in particular and at UCLA in general. His loss is immeasurable.
CERS extends its heartfelt condolences to Ivan’s wife, Katalin Radics and to his daughter, Zsuzsa Berend. They request that in lieu of flowers, anyone who wishes to remember him may support the UCLA Center for European and Russian Studies.
With deep sympathy,
Gail Kligman,
Director of CERS, 2005-2015