Mohr’s current book project traces the impact of film and other visual media on over 2.1 million Austro-Hungarian prisoners of war held in Siberia between 1915 and 1925. As revolutions and civil war in Russia delayed their repatriation, these prisoners became a geopolitical concern, poised to return to a politically unstable and fractured Central Europe. Examining propaganda efforts by both the Bolsheviks and the American YMCA in the camps, Mohr explores how media like film and magic lanterns were deployed to shape prisoner psyches and political allegiances. At the same time, he argues that the camps fostered radical aesthetic and social experimentation, transforming the camps into a massive testing ground for the use of film in social control and resistance.

Education

• Ph.D., University of Minnesota
• M.F.A., University of Montana
• M.L.I.S., University of Wisconsin