It has been almost three years since the opening of the Holocaust Memorial Center in Budapest. At that time an international conference was held at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (“The Holocaust in Hungary: A European Perspective”) to mark the 60th anniversary of the Hungarian Holocaust. Since then, new young experts in the field of Holocaust and Genocide Studies have emerged. Therefore, it is worthwhile to evaluate what the upcoming generation can add to the studies of Hungarian Jewry in general and of the Holocaust in particular.

The symposium invites papers that seek to explore new approaches toward research on Hungarian Jewry. We are seeking research based on the problems of the Holocaust through a sociological or individual-psychological point of view, and presentations about the philosophical problems concerning the memory of the Holocaust. The organizers also welcome studies that examine the events of the Holocaust or the history of Hungarian Jewry from a gender-related perspective.

The symposium will be a workshop that gives doctoral candidates the opportunity to present their (Ph.D.) projects and the ideas that are connected to these projects. These can be of methodical, methodological, or textual nature. Inviting international students and established experts (to lead the panel discussions) in the field of Jewish studies aims to strengthen the academic exchange between East and West, North and South, and, last but not least, between students and scholars. This is also seen as a contribution to raise historical awareness beyond borders and regions and an attempt to connect Hungarian history to the overall history of the European continent.

Besides the gender-related approach, possible topics for panel discussions could include questions of Jewish identity, research on Jewish political and economical involvement in Hungarian society, aspects of Zionism and emigration, Anti-Semitism and the Shoah and how it shaped the lives of those who survived as well as questions of responsibility for the annihilation of the Hungarian Jews. One panel should also focus on how Hungarian society came to terms with its past (if so…), and how remembrance and education about the Shoah is or should be realized in Hungarian society today. A panel that deals with representations of the Holocaust could include the following subordinate points:

representation and understanding;
the problems faced by Holocaust representation;
research on a range of post-war texts across different media – literature, film, museums, memorials, and monuments;
theories of Holocaust representation.

Especially at this point, the conference seeks to draw a line from Hungarian to European history and curiously ask for intertwinement.

Proposals (1-page abstracts) as well as a short bibliographical note should be sent by email to workshop@hdke.hu

Queries can be sent to doreen_eschinger@yahoo.de

Only contributions in English will be accepted.

Completed articles should be 10 pages in length and are to be submitted by March 1, 2007 at the latest.

The conference will take place from 3/28/-3/31/2007 at the Budapest Holocaust Memorial Center.