Matthew Putz

Matthew Putz is a history graduate student at the School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies. He is also a graduate affiliate at The Melikian Center: Russian, Eurasian & East European Studies. His research focuses on the history of the Holocaust, genocide, antisemitism, and of populism; especially in Poland and the Balkans.

Putz is also a 2024 U.S. Department of State Title VIII Fellowship recipient for the study of Polish at ASU’s Critical Languages Institute. Title VIII funding is provided by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Intelligence and Research for the purpose of supporting and sustaining American expertise critical to the national security of the United States and bringing that expertise to the service of the U.S. government.

He currently is authoring his thesis on the Katyn massacre, which occurred west of the Russian city of Smolensk in the Katyn Forest, as well as at additional locations throughout Russia, during April and May of 1940. The Katyn massacre saw 22,000 Polish military officers and members of the Polish intelligentsia murdered, en masse, by the Soviet Union’s NKVD. Specifically, Putz’s research focuses on the U.S. government's role in covering up the Katyn massacre and the motivations behind, and effects of, the U.S. government doing so.

Professionally, Putz is a teacher. Prior to this he worked in law enforcement.

Putz’s personal interests include training and competing in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and kettlebell training. In his free time, Putz enjoys being with his family.