Statement of Purpose
The Holocaust Studies Program of the Western Galilee College located in Acco (Acre) Israel is planning an international interdisciplinary conference and workshop to be held on 26-28th January 2010 in conjunction with International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Rationale

Holocaust survivors and their testimonies have been, for many years, key factors in Holocaust memorial culture. As survivors are passing away the focus moves to the legacy they leave us: especially in the forms of written, audio and video testimonies. Work on survivor testimonies is done by historians, literary analysts, linguists, cultural critics and psychologists. The rich and varied and corpus of testimonies requires a joint effort of researchers across disciplines to enable us to hear new voices of survivors articulated through their testimonies.
This conference aims at bringing together scholars who will present their work on testimonies and discuss new ways of studying testimonies and using them in new Holocaust research and education.

The Conference
In order for the conference to make an impact on Holocaust research and benefit the public discourse as well, a double-tiered conference is planned. There will be workshops for researchers where in-depth presentations and discussions will take place and then one day of presentations and lectures open to the general public. The conference will be conducted in English. The open public day will be conducted in English and Hebrew with simultaneous translation.

We welcome proposals for papers that address the conference theme, including, but not limited to, the following topics:

• Methodological issues
• Oral testimonies, Memoirs, Life stories, diaries
• Early and late testimonies
• Different approaches to testimony analysis
• Place of testimonies in Holocaust research
• Historical value of testimonies
• Testimonies reflecting culture and identity issues
• Age and gender issues.
• Authenticity, verification and faked memories