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An international conference sponsored by the Goethe-Institute of Sarajevo in cooperation with the Sarajevo/La Benevolencija Jewish Community
Sarajevo, 27–29 October 2006
While Holocaust scholarship has progressed markedly in previous decades, research and teaching on the Holocaust in the post-communist countries of southeastern Europe has fallen well behind this international development. The purpose of this congress is to assess the state of Holocaust scholarship in southeastern Europe; to define areas in need of further investigation; and to foster contacts between scholars from a wide range of disciplines (including sociology, political science, history, anti Semitism studies, etc.), as well as journalists, museum workers, representatives from victim associations, and survivors living and/or working in the region. Some of the issues that the conference hopes to explore include:
How different post-communist societies have confronted the persecution of Jews during World War II, including questions of trivialization, denial, and repression
The ways in which old and new ideologies, in particular communism and nationalism, have influenced the development of a Holocaust historiography in the region
Possible links between a responsible and critical confrontation with the murder of Europe’s Jews (what the Germans call Vergangenheitspolitik, or “working through the past”) and current issues of reconciliation and democratization in the countries of the former Yugoslavia.
Can and should Holocaust studies contribute to these discussions?
The state of Holocaust education in the region. What obstacles lie in the way of Holocaust instruction in local schools or universities, and how might they be overcome through political and/or educational reform?
What sorts of memorials, museums, institutions of Holocaust research, etc. currently exist in the region, and how might we assess them?
Please email a one-page Abstract, along with your address and a short CV, to:
prog@sarajevo.goethe.org (deadline: 15 May 2006)
The selection of contributions and assignment of topical panels will be completed by 30 June 2006.
The conference language is English, with simultaneous translation into Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian.
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