Emily Wallack '23 I Sociology

It is with great pleasure that the Jewish Studies Program extends its congratulations to Emily Wallack with the award for the Best Jewish Studies Paper for the Fall 2023 semester.

Emily Wallack started at LMU as a freshman in the Fall of 2020 and graduated in December of 2023 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and a double minor in Peace and Justice Studies and Jewish Studies. She is now completing an internship as a Research Assistant in the field of Sociology and plans on attending law school in the future.

Emily's paper titled “The Sociology of Auschwitz: How Bureaucracy and Rationalization Presented a Paradox of Ordinary Versus Evil,” crafted under the guidance of Professor Feinstein for Capstone 4900, has left an impression on the Jewish Studies committee.

Professor Feinstein, in her nomination, expressed the exceptional quality and depth of Emily's work, noting, ​"in this original and insightful research paper, Emily examines the operation of Auschwitz through the lenses of sociology and social psychology, blending theory with research. Her argument is that Auschwitz operated as a functioning social system, albeit an institution organized for the purpose of mass murder. Bureaucracy and rationalization facilitated the cooperation of ordinary people in an evil endeavor, contradicting the popular misconception that Auschwitz was run by sadistic individuals. The sobering conclusion is that “it is imperative to remember that a social institution like Auschwitz can easily be replicated anywhere, and normal can easily be utilized for evil. We must never forget.”