Call for Papers: The Holocaust between Global and Local Perspectives

Due to the uncertainty caused by the coronavirus epidemic, we have

decided to introduce a new conference format. In November 2020, we

will organise eight online sessions instead of a traditional conference.

The aim of the conference is to assess the current state of Holocaust memory

research. The context for this is, on the one hand, the globalisation and

universalisation of the meaning of the Holocaust and, on the other, the

recently postulated empirical turn in Holocaust memory studies towards

primary texts and sources as well as local spaces and materialities (e.g.

forensic studies and environmental Holocaust studies), or the use of a

grounded research perspective with regard to Holocaust memory and

education.

We want to discuss the interplay between the universal (global, transnational)

scale of Holocaust memory and that anchored in the endemic space and

culture of historical experience (local, ethnic, national). We are interested in

the influences between the diverse mnemonic scales, including both mutual

inspiration and conceptual misuses, thus the question of the ontological and

ethical limits of mnemonic universalisation, on the one hand, and of micro

contextualisation of memories on the other.

We are inviting scholars of various disciplines to reflect on these issues based

on their research of social and cultural memories in various dimensions: from

linguistic and textual, through institutional, political, psychological, up to

material, spatial and technological. We propose the following thematic blocks

for discussion yet other proposals are welcome as well:

– Theoretical concepts and approaches – interconnections between

national, transnational and global frameworks of Holocaust memory

studies; a critical history focusing on the globalisation process of

Holocaust memory studies, e.g. reconciliation and conflict in memory

politics, global values and local sites of genocide;

– Local historiographies and global challenges – national and local

traditions of history writing, their narrative and thematic structures, and

methodologies applied; the impact of international knowledge transfer;

the phenomenon of Holocaust denial in contemporary societies;

– Languages – significance of endemic languages of Holocaust victims

(also in the context of contemporary Holocaust studies methodology),

language stratification according to various social backgrounds of

language practitioners; different genres of sources, including

testimony, and the challenge of, or misuse by, globalisation;

– Memory landscapes – national and local (non-)sites of traumatic

memory and their discursive environments; socio-spatial forms and

practices of remembering and oblivion; troubled histories and

competitive victimhoods in local memory landscapes;

– Materialities of memory – localisation of the Holocaust, including

ghettos, by studying material remains, the (im)possibility of

globalisation of local material legacies; local collections – practices of

archiving and musealisation aiming at preserving and presenting

artefacts of the Holocaust;

– New media and technologies – their role in documenting, archiving

and commemorating local histories related to the Holocaust;

transmission of knowledge about local legacies to global communities;

– Memory institutions and agents – the global meets the local:

transnational institutions in conjunction with local initiatives; local

communities’ reception of, and involvement in, transnational actions;

the impact of international institutional memory policies at national

level;

– Tourism – the ethics and aesthetics of dark tourism and heritage

routes;

Invited speakers

• Daniel Blatman (Warsaw Ghetto Museum, Hebrew University of

Jerusalem)

• Piotr Cywiński (Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum)

• Dorota Głowacka (University of Kings’ College, Halifax, Canada)

• Éva Kovács (Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies)

• Ewa Domańska (Adam Mickiewicz University Poznań, Stanford

University)

• Mindaugas Kvietkausas (Vilnius University)

• Daniel Levy (Stony Brook University)

Organisational information

The conference will be organised as a series of online sessions broadcast on

YouTube and Facebook, with the following schedule:

4 November 2020, 14:00–17:00 hrs. EET (Wednesday) – Session One

5 November 2020, 14:00–17:00 hrs. EET (Thursday) – Session Two

10 November 2020, 14:00–17:00 hrs. EET (Tuesday) – Session Three

12 November 2020, 14:00–17:00 hrs. EET (Thursday) – Session Four

18 November 2020, 14:00–17:00 hrs. EET (Wednesday) – Session Five

19 November 2020, 14:00–17:00 hrs. EET (Thursday) – Session Six

25 November 2020, 14:00–17:00 hrs. EET (Wednesday) – Session Seven

26 November 2020, 14:00–17:00 hrs. EET (Thursday) – Session Eight:

networking + roundtable discussion

A post-conference publication is planned in the form of a collected volume by

a prestigious international academic publisher.

The conference also aims at strengthening academic exchange, in particular

by creating opportunities for young scholars to network with more established

researchers and academics.

We encourage applicants to send abstracts of maximum 350 words,

together with a brief biographical statement and a scan of the signed

‘Consent Clause of the conference abstract provider’

to genealogies@enrs.eu by 21 June 2020.

The results will be announced by 31 July 2020.

Draft papers (2,000–2,500 words) should be submitted by 15 October 2020.

The conference sessions will be recorded and published online.

It will be possible to include presentations in Prezi, PowerPoint and other

formats in the online sessions.

The conference language is English.

Organiser:

European Network Remembrance and Solidarity (ENRS)

The European Network Remembrance and Solidarity (ENRS) is an

international undertaking aimed at study, documentation and dissemination of

knowledge about the history of 20th century Europe and forms of its

commemoration, with particular consideration given to periods of dictatorship,

war and social upheaval in the face of oppression. The Network’s members

are Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania while Albania, Austria,

the Czech Republic, and Georgia have observer status. More: www.enrs.eu.

Partner institutions:

▪ Jewish Historical Institute, Warsaw

▪ Institute of Sociology, University of Warsaw

▪ Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, Berlin

Institutions invited to academic discussion:

▪ Faculty of Polish Studies, Jagiellonian University, Cracow

▪ Warsaw Ghetto Museum

▪ Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies

▪ German Historical Institute, Warsaw

▪ The Ghetto Fighters’ House Museum, Israel

▪ Holocaust Memorial Center, Budapest

▪ Mémorial de la Shoah, Paris

Conference Committee:

▪ Małgorzata Pakier, ENRS (Convenor); Małgorzata Wosińska, JHI

(Convenor)

▪ Małgorzata Głowacka-Grajper (Warsaw University), Lior Inbar (The

Ghetto Fighters’ House Museum), Adam Kerpel-Fronius (Memorial to

the Murdered Jews of Europe), Audrey Kichelewski (Mémorial de la

Shoah), Tamás Kovács (Holocaust Memorial Center), Béla Rásky

(Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies), Roma Sendyka

(Jagiellonian University), Paweł Śpiewak (Jewish Historical Institute),

Hanna Węgrzynek (Warsaw Ghetto Museum), Zofia Wóycicka

(German Historical Institute)

▪ Gábor Danyi, ENRS (Project Coordinator)