Paul Kurek

Paul Kurek is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Germanic Languages at UCLA. He is primarily interested in the intersection of material and intellectual history during the fascist period. Within this framework, he analyzes the so called “heavy load-bearing cylinder,” a structure of over 20,000 tons of concrete that the Nazis left behind in Berlin. As graduate of the Mellon-funded Urban Humanities Initiative at UCLA he also works on matters of spatial justice, which he tries to apply in his involvement in the new North Westwood Neighborhood Council as Graduate Student Representative by participating in imagining and creating a future for Westwood with affordable housing, public transport, and a vibrant cultural identity.