After delays due to COVID, the project director Dr. Charlotte Schallié, with project partners Dr. Tim Cole, Dr. Dienke Hondius, Dr. Alex Korb, and Dr. Andrea Löw were finally able to attend the conference ‘Lessons and Legacies XVI: The Holocaust: Rethinking Paradigms in Research and Representation’. The ‘Lessons and Legacies of the Holocaust Conference’ has taken place since 1989 and is known as the premier intellectual gathering in Holocaust Studies, granting scholars the opportunity to present their latest work and interact with colleagues in the field.
The 2022 conference took place in Ottawa from November 11-15, which included Canada’s Remembrance Day on November 11.
Project partners Dr. Tim Cole and Dr. Alex Korb presented “Visual Storytelling in Holocaust: Graphic Novels as Medium in Holocaust research and Education” during the Seminar Two: “The Visual Turn in Holocaust Representation and Studies” Seminar organized by Dr. Phyllis Lassner (Northwestern University) and Dr. Victoria Aarons (Trinity University). This seminar examined how this imperative calls attention to the significance of visual representations of Holocaust experiences, memory, and responses by survivors and their descendants.
Project partner Dr. Andrea Löw moderated Panel Twenty-Seven: “Rethinking Holocaust Paradigms: History, Memory, Testimony”, and attended Seminar Four: “Six Decades after Hilberg and Five Decades after Trunk: A New Analytical Comparative Framework for the Study of Jewish Councils”.
Project Director Dr. Charlotte Schallié moderated Panel Seven: “Scaling Up, Scaling Down: Exploring New Venues into the History of Hiding” with project partner Dr. Dienke Hondius presenting on within the session on: “In Hiding from the Nazis Across Europe: Connecting History, Memory and Space”.
Panel Seven’s outline:
“All across the map of Nazi-occupied Europe, Jews and other civilians went into hiding to avoid persecution, capture or deportation. Yet despite the European wide dimension, the scholarship mostly concerns the micro-level, focusing on strategies of survival in which Jews engaged, their experiences during their time in hiding, and their often complicated relations with their ‘rescuers’.”
Dr. Schallié also attended Seminar Three: “Challenging Prevailing Paradigms in Holocaust Studies through the Creative Arts” organized and in discussion with Dr. Henry Greenspan (University of Michigan).
Seminar Three’s outline:
“There is plenty of discussion of artistic work at Holocaust conferences. But scholarly meetings rarely engage artists themselves. This seminar is made up of working artists who invite interested others to join our conversations. After very brief initial presentations of current work, we will discuss together the ways making art (and not only interpreting it) deliberately challenge existing paradigms while yielding new knowledge, unique collaborations, and innovative teaching in Holocaust studies.”