Simon Wiesenthal Conference. Survivors’ Toil. The First Decade of Documenting and Studying the Holocaust
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In December 1945, in the introduction to the first edition of his monograph The Destruction of the Jews of Lwow, Philip Friedman expressed his sense of urgency for Holocaust scholarship – an urgency due in part to the growing number of trials of war criminals. As a trained historian and Holocaust survivor, Friedman hoped that every new publication addressing the crimes against Jews would fight fascism ‘putting a nail in the coffin of this religion of hatred and ideology of genocide.’ During his time as director of the Central Jewish Historical Commission in Poland, his understanding of the importance of Holocaust scholarship was shared by other survivor scholars all throughout Europe. Working in diverse political frameworks and relying on communal support, these men and women helped build the foundations of documentation and research centres, developed methodologies, examined primary sources, and reflected on some of the challenges of the emerging field.
This conference seeks to open a discussion about the crucial first decade of institution building, methodological experimentation, and political negotiations around the study of the Hurban as a European Jewish catastrophe. It will follow up on recent research that surveys pioneering scholars, collective projects, institutions, and publications. The conference will focus on the historical contexts of survivors’ initiatives, their entanglements, their modes of communication within the Jewish community and beyond, their search for an appropriate language and methodology, and their efforts to preserve and create historical sources and their exploring of different disciplinary approaches. It is the aim of the conference to reformulate these questions in an extended and comparative perspective of the European aftermath of the Second World War.
In particular, this conference builds on the 2012 Simon Wiesenthal International Conference Before the Holocaust Had Its Name: Early Confrontations of the Nazi Mass Murder of the Jews, which brought together scholars working to uncover networks and practices in early Holocaust scholarship. Also in 2012, Laura Jockusch’s compelling study Collect and Record! Jewish Holocaust Documentation in Early Postwar Europe was published, which examined the efforts of a diverse community of Holocaust scholars working in the Jewish historical commissions. Now, ten years later, this conference will provide an opportunity to revisit, sharpen and broaden those findings.
Due to the limited number of participants the event will be held live and online. Livestream: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88023098602
For on-site participation, please register by 28 October 2022, 12:00 pm, at anmeldung@vwi.ac.at.