“It’s kind of like a history dream come true,” Isabelle R. ’19 said about her research paper’s publication in The Concord Review.

The Concord Review, the only quarterly journal that publishes high school students’ research papers, printed Isabelle’s paper titled: “How the Allies’ Abandonment of General Draza Mihailovic During World War II Led to the Rise of Communism and Marshal Josip Tito in Post-War Yugoslavia.”

 

Isabelle first started working on her paper in Sarah Lederman’s Global History class in Grade 9. The inspiration for her topic stemmed from Isabelle’s father, who told her about a book called The Forgotten 500; the book details the story of how more than 500 Americans, stranded in Yugoslavia during World War II, were rescued with the help of a Serbian man named General Draza Mihailovic.

 

“They were in a territory that Germany was occupying, so it was really risky,” Isabelle said.

 

Isabelle explained that after this rescue mission, General Draza Mihailovic was pushed aside by the Allies, and they ended up supporting another man named Marshal Josip Tito, who they thought would be more effective at fighting against Hitler. (Both Tito’s and Mihailovic’s followers sought to fight the Axis powers, but the two men were political rivals.)

 

“Through faulty intelligence and misguidance, the Allies abandoned General Mihailovic and supported Josip Tito, which ultimately led to a communist country for many years,” Isabelle said.

 

Isabelle started her research on this topic with the footnotes of The Forgotten 500, then went to Upper School Librarian Meagan Kane for more resources.

 

“I spent a ton of time with Ms. Kane,” Isabelle said. “She helped me find all these books. She was so helpful in the process.”

 

Kane said Isabelle worked hard on her paper last year and that she can “only sing her praises.”

 

“She focused on finding and reading more scholarly secondary and primary sources to solidify her research and claims,” Kane said. “She spent an enormous amount of time locating and reading difficult research sources. One of the most impressive aspects of her work was how excited she was and enthusiastic about the topic. It was amazing to see her transform her very good ninth-grade paper to an even more impressive piece of historical writing.”

 

Isabelle originally submitted a shorter version of the paper for Global History, and that was when Lederman mentioned that she might want to consider submitting it to The Concord Review. After working on the paper for another six or seven months, Isabelle submitted her paper in February of her sophomore year.

 

“I met with Dr. Lederman during the year, which was really nice of her because she gave me feedback that was really helpful,” Isabelle said.

 

This past summer, through emails and a letter from the head of The Concord Review, Isabelle learned that her paper had been accepted, and the founder mentioned that her paper reminded him of his mother, who had always thought that Mihailovic had been mistreated.

 

Isabelle said one of the most intriguing parts of her research was learning about the Russian moles who worked in the British government at the time and how they influenced the decision to abandon Mihailovic. She said she saw parallels to the widely suspected influence of the Russian government on the 2016 presidential election results.

 

Government and science are two areas that are of interest to Isabelle, who is also in Independent Science Research (ISR), and her goal is to combine these two interests in her research project. Over the summer, Isabelle also worked in the office of U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, where she learned more about political strategy and wrote a policy paper on cybersecurity and automatic voter registration.