Memory Maps: Early Postwar Efforts to Identify, Locate, Document, and Memorialize Former Sites of Jewish Life and Death (1944–1955)

Research Seminar | January 3-4, 2024 | Location: Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, Israel | Proposal due date: June 1, 2023

Organisers: The Diana and Eli Zborowski Centre for the Study of the Aftermath of the Holocaust, The International Institute for Holocaust Research, Yad Vashem, Israel | The Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life at the University of Connecticut, US

The Nazi persecution of European Jewry resulted in large-scale devastation; the murder of millions of innocent Jews, the physical destruction of their communities and homes, as well as the destruction of the sites of persecution. In some places, there were no signs of physical destruction as sites were used and adapted by the Nazis for their murderous plans, yet the people had gone.

On the heels of liberation many initiatives began across Europe to identify, document, and memorialize the former sites of Nazi persecution. These efforts were initiated by governmental commissions, local and national organizations, survivors of individual Jewish communities, and by individuals themselves. The purpose was manifold; to collect evidence of the crimes in the pursuit of postwar justice, to identify the dead and their remains, to assist in finding relatives and friends, to locate and create an inventory of property and economic life that had been plundered, to provide evidence for the historical record, and to commemorate and memorialize the victims.

The aim of this workshop is to examine issues of identification, materiality, and commemoration in the early postwar period. The workshop invites scholars of various disciplines and aims to gives scholars working on these topics the opportunity to present their work.

Suggested topics include:

1. Initiatives in locating sites of Nazi persecution and mass killing
2. Mapping destroyed sites and areas
3. Reconstruction work on destroyed Jewish communal properties
4. Reconstruction work on former sites of Nazi persecution
5. Collecting evidence of persecution
6. Creating memorials
7. Documenting material losses
8. Documenting language used in reference to sites of persecution and mass violence
9. Identification and restoration of Jewish cemeteries
10. The role of the local population in these initiatives
11. Survivors’ attempts to locate lost loved ones

Application process:

Abstracts of no more than 500 words and a short bio of no more than 200 words indicating your academic affiliation and research in the field should be sent to: avinoam.patt@uconn.edu and sharon.kangisser@yadvashem.org.il

Proposal due date: June 1, 2023

Travel and accommodation expenses (for the duration of the workshop) will be covered by the host institutions.

Academic Committee:

• Dr. Eliyana Adler, Penn State University
• Dr. Natalia Aleksiun, University of Florida
• Dr. Laura Jockusch, Brandeis University
• Dr. Sharon Kangisser Cohen, Yad Vashem
• Dr. Avinoam Patt, University of Connecticut

Photo by Maria Teneva on Unsplash