The following announcement was sent to the Louis D. Brandeis Center by our colleagues at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM). USHMM works to being international engagement on topics concerning the Holocaust, genocide, and ethnic cleansing to different countries and communities around the world. This event, “The Police and The Holocaust: The Role of Police Forces in the Genocide of Jews and Roma,” will take place on May 30th and May 31st in Guatemala City, Guatemala. More details can be found below. The Police and the Holocaust: The Role of Police Forces in the Genocide of Jews and Roma May 30-31, 2018 | Guatemala City, Guatemala Co-organizers: U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Yahad – In Unum, and the Museo del Holocausto Guatemala This conference brings together scholars to address the role of the police in the Holocaust, particularly in the organized murder of Jews and Roma. The Nazi state and their allies involved police at every stage of the genocidal process, from the arrest and looting of the victims to their deportation and killing. During Nazi occupation, non-German police units—some already in existence, some newly created—performed a range of key functions in pursuit of German goals, but also based on their own interests. Participants will address how and why the police—as an executive agency of the state as well as an organized group of decision-making individuals—took part in the genocidal process across Europe, and examine the extent of their participation in different countries and contexts. The conference agenda is available at ushmm.org/police-holocaust-conference The conference is free and open to the public. Simultaneous translation between Spanish and English will be provided. Please register here.
The Louis D. Brandeis Center would like to bring attention to an interesting opportunity being offered by our colleagues at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. This summer, the USHMM will be hosting an instructional seminar for faculty from all disciplines who teach Holocaust-related courses. Information regarding the course description, applications, and deadlines can be found below. USHMM CfA: 2018 Curt C. and Else Silberman Seminar for Faculty June 4-15, 2018 Applications due March 30, 2018 The first half of the twentieth century witnessed the rise of a new “science” of eugenics, which became an international movement that legitimized and ultimately unleashed extremely violent, and indeed genocidal, racism. Racism, including racial antisemitism, was a core element of Nazi ideology and a driving force behind the Holocaust. Racism also legitimized the continued subjugation and persecution of African Americans long after the end of slavery. Although different in many ways, the history of racism in Nazi Germany and the Jim Crow South during the 1930s and early 1940s sheds light on universal phenomena as well as historically specific events and experiences. The Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies announces the 2018 Curt C. and Else Silberman Seminar for Faculty on racism in Nazi Germany and the Jim Crow South. This year’s Seminar will analyze the similarities, differences, and gray zones of racial theory and practice in Germany and the United States in the first half of the 20th century, paying special attention to how these practices sharply diverged as Nazi antisemitic policies turned into widespread, state sanctioned murder and genocide in the 1940s. Looking at canonical scholarship on antisemitism and racism in both locales, as well as more recent works on how Jews and African Americans understood the others’ persecution, participants will learn how to respectfully, rigorously, and accurately represent these victims in Holocaust-related courses across disciplines. Through lectures, readings, and primary source examination, participants will be introduced to ways of situating racial antisemitism in Nazi Germany and racism in the United States into larger historical contexts of the period. The 2018 Curt C. and Else Silberman Seminar for college and university faculty is designed to help faculty who are teaching, or preparing to teach, Holocaust or Holocaust-related courses in all academic disciplines. While the focus will be on the specific cases of targeted oppression and racial violence in Nazi Germany and the Jim Crow South, the themes, approaches, and methods covered in the Seminar are also applicable for the broad range of educators who engage the perspectives of victims and survivors in other geographic regions and/or time periods. Seminar participants will be introduced to Holocaust-related sources in the Museum’s unique film, oral history, testimony, recorded sound, archival, and photography collections, and the International Tracing Service Digital Archive. They will also meet staff scholars with expertise in various Holocaust-related topics with whom they can discuss their work. In addition to lecture and discussion, the Seminar will devote time to specific pedagogical strategies used by the three Seminar leaders and participants to examine these victim groups in the classroom. The Seminar will be held at the United States Holocaust Museum from June 4-15, 2018. It will be led by Wolf Gruner, Shapell-Guerin Chair in Jewish Studies and Professor of History at USC, Evelynn Hammonds, Barbara Gutmann Rosenkrantz Professor of the History of Science, Professor of African and African American Studies Chair, and Department of the History of Science at Harvard University, and Clarence Walker, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of African American History at UC Davis. Seminar applicants must be teaching at accredited, baccalaureate-awarding institutions in North America. Applications must include: (1) a curriculum vitae; (2) a statement of the candidate’s specific interest and needs in strengthening his/her background in Holocaust studies for the purpose of improving teaching; and (3) a supporting letter from a departmental chair or dean addressing the candidate’s qualifications and the institution’s commitment to Holocaust-related education. Syllabi of any Holocaust-related courses that the candidate has taught or is planning to teach should also be included. Syllabi will be distributed at the Seminar to facilitate discussion of successful teaching strategies. Admission will be decided without regard to the age, gender, race, creed, or national origin of the candidate. For non-local participants, the Mandel Center will defray the cost of (1) direct travel to and from the participant’s home institution and Washington, DC, and (2) lodging for the duration of the Seminar. Incidentals, meals, and book expenses must be defrayed by the candidates or their respective institutions. All participants must attend the entire Seminar. Applications must be postmarked or received in electronic form no later than Friday, March 30, 2018, and sent to: University Programs Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, SW Washington, DC 20024-2150 Fax: (202) 479-9726 Email: university_programs@ushmm.org For questions, contact Dr. Kierra Crago-Schneider at 202-314-1779 or kcrago-schneider@ushmm.org. The Curt C. and Else Silberman Foundation endowed the Silberman Seminar for University Faculty in memory of Curt C. and Else Silberman. The Foundation supports programs in higher education that promote, protect, and strengthen Jewish values in democracy, human rights, ethical leadership, and cultural pluralism. https://www.ushmm.org/research/competitive-academic-programs/faculty-seminars/silberman-se…
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is holding two seminars in early January, applications are due in October: Seminar for Advanced Undergraduate, MA, and Early PhD Students A Research Introduction to the Holocaust in the Soviet Union January 4–8, 2016 Applications due October 11 The Mandel Center invites applications for a seminar designed to acquaint advanced undergraduate, MA, and early PhD students with the central topics, issues, and sources related to the study of the Holocaust in the Soviet Union, including evacuation, mass shootings, rescue, forced labor, and issues of commemoration and memory. Mandel Center scholars will lead discussions, and the seminar will include group analysis of many of the types of primary-source material available in the Museum’s collections. In addition, participants will have the opportunity to explore the Museum’s extensive library, archival, and other collections. Please address inquiries and applications to Elana Jakel, program manager of the Initiative for the Study of Ukrainian Jewry, Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, at ejakel@ushmm.org. For further information about this program and to view the full Call for Applications, please visit ushmm.org/soviet-union-seminar. 2016 Jack and Anita Hess Faculty Seminar After the Holocaust: Teaching the Postwar World January 4–8, 2016 Applications due October 30 Most courses in Holocaust studies end with liberation in 1945, making only passing reference to the long shadow thrown by the Holocaust on the postwar world. Faculty and students are very interested in the aftermath, however, including problems of survival; political wrangling over displaced persons; integration of the experience of soldiers and evacuees into the history; issues of postwar justice and restitution; and the challenge of representation for future generations. This seminar will explore how these issues were confronted (and not confronted) in postwar Europe, the United States, and Palestine/Israel, based on the growing literature in these fields. office for rent In addition to lecture and discussion, the seminar will devote time to specific pedagogical strategies concerning these issues. The seminar will be led by Michael Berkowitz, Professor of Modern Jewish History at University College London, and Norman J. W. Goda, the Norman and Irma Braman Professor of Holocaust Studies at the University of Florida. Applications can be sent to university_programs@ushmm.org. For complete competition guidelines and eligibility requirements please visit ushmm.org/hessseminar. Decisions will be announced in mid-November 2015. Please direct inquiries to Leah Wolfson, senior program officer, University Programs, Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, at lwolfson@ushmm.org. (more…)