International Holocaust Studies Workshop

"ASSESSING THE STATE OF HOLOCAUST STUDIES IN THE MID-2020s" - International Workshop (Berlin, Germany, June 9-10, 2026)

Co-Organized by Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æÏÂÔØBoulder / the Center for Research on Antisemitism/TU Berlin / and the Barenboim-Said Academy

In less than fifty years, Holocaust Studies has developed from a marginal field into a vibrant international discipline. With the passing of the last eyewitnesses in the coming years, a decisive transformation is now underway: contemporary history is becoming history. At the same time, the field faces new challenges — from politicized debates and attacks on scholarship to the reverberations of wars and conflict, which are prompting scholars worldwide to partially reassess the Holocaust in both its historical and contemporary dimensions. The workshop brings together leading international researchers at various career stages to assess the current state of Holocaust studies critically: What has been achieved? What remains unresolved? What new directions are emerging?

Contact

Dr. Thomas Pegelow Kaplan

Email: Thomas.Pegelow-Kaplan@colorado.edu

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PROGRAM

9am – 9.30 am
Arrival
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9.30 am – 11 am
Welcome and Opening Lecture
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Welcome
Jacob Eder (Berlin) and Stefanie Fischer (Berlin)
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Opening Lecture
Practicing Holocaust Studies in Times of Uncertainty
Thomas Pegelow Kaplan (Boulder/Berlin)
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Break
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11.30 am – 1 pm
Perpetrator Studies: New Approaches
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Chair: Grzegorz Rossoliński-Liebe (Berlin)
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Bureaucratic Practicalities, Legal Truths, and Racial Imperatives—Determining Paternity at the Civil Registry Office [Standesamt] in Nazi Berlin
Émilie Duranceau-Lapointe (Frankfurt am Main/Berlin)
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Conceptualizing Everyday Holocaust Perpetrators: The Cultural Ideas and Social Practices of Eduard Geist
Suzanne Brown-Fleming (Washington, D.C.)
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Holocaust Perpetrator Studies: A Moribund Field?
Emil Kjerte (Rijeka)
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Break
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2.00 pm – 3.30 pm
Mourning the Dead after World War II: Politics, Cultures, Aesthetics
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Chair: Stefanie Fischer (Berlin)
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Before the Memory Boom: How Eastern European Jews Mourned the Dead or The Forgotten Origins of Holocaust Memory Culture
Anne-Christin Klotz (Jerusalem)
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Holocaust Memorials Built by Jews: Invisible Commemoration
Anna Berezin (Jerusalem)
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Fundraising for the Dead: The Mourning Aesthetics of the German Youth in Postwar West Germany, 1945–1960
Jackie Olson (Stanford/Vienna)
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Break
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4 pm – 5.30 pm
A Return of Theory? The Challenges of Postcolonial, Genocide, and Human Rights Studies
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Chair: Stefanie Middendorf (Berlin)
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(Post)colonial Entanglements in Holocaust Literature
Natalie Eppelsheimer (Middlebury)
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Departures and Decisions During and After the Holocaust: Looking for Palestine
Atina Grossmann (New York)
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Lost Languages of Human Rights. Early Postwar Legal Thought and the Holocaust
Anne Rethmann (Jerusalem)
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Break
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6.30 pm – 8 pm
Foyer
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Welcome: Jacob Eder (Berlin)
Moderator: Stefanie Fischer (Berlin)
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Featuring a musical performance by students of the Barenboim-Said Akademie
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8 pm – 9 pm
Foyer
Reception
9 am – 10.30 am
Rethinking Gender, Trauma, and Memory in Holocaust Studies
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Chair: Thomas Pegelow Kaplan (Boulder/Berlin)
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The Methodology of Masculinity: Gender, Testimony, and Memory of Male Holocaust Survivors
William Ross Jones (Los Angeles)
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Holocaust Memory Sites: Re-locating and Re-thinking Places of Violence and Remembrance in Holocaust Studies
Svetlana Burmistr (Berlin)
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Sound Art, Ensounding Trauma: Hearing Holocaust Representation in Musical Testimonies
Abby Anderton (New York)
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Break
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11 am – 12.30 pm
Aftermath Studies Re-envisioned: Holocaust Memory in Museums
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Chair: Sharon Kangisser Cohen (Jerusalem)
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Nazi Material Culture and Holocaust Museums in the 20th and 21st Centuries
AJ Solovy (Poughkeepsie)
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Preservation and Documentation: Untangling the Multidimensional Roles of Museums
Cristina Teodora Stoica (Washington, D.C.)
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Do We Need to Decolonize Holocaust Museums?
Erica Lehrer (Montréal)
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Break
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1.30 pm – 3 pm
The Future of Holocaust Remembrance
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Chair: Elizabeth Anthony (Washington, D.C.)
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Marking Memory: Ruth Klüger, the Internment Tattoo, and Writing as Witness
Cynthia D. Porter (Columbus)
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From Survivor to Post-Survivor Era: Intergenerational Testimony, Private Archives, and the Future of Holocaust Studies
Hannah Wilson (Manchester)
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The Global Turn and Prospective Holocaust Studies: Transcending Current Interpretative Limits
Doron Avraham (Ramat Gan)
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3 pm
Taking Stock: Where Are We Now? Where Do We Go from Here?
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Chair: Stefanie Schüler-Springorum (Berlin)
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Discussants: Stefanie Fischer (Berlin), Thomas Pegelow Kaplan (Boulder), Sharon Kangisser Cohen (Jerusalem), and Betsy Anthony (Washington, D.C.)
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