The Holocaust and the Contemporary World

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Tuesday, 28 October, 2014
International Interdisciplinary Conference in Krakow, Poland
23rd-24th April 2015
Organizers: Professor Wojciech Owczarski – University of Gdańsk (Poland), Zofia Ziemann – Jagiellonian University (Poland), Amanda Chalupa – McGill University (Canada)
Co-organizer: InMind Support

Although Holocaust Studies is a thriving research area, boasting many important recent publications and projects, a truly broad, interdisciplinary perspective is still felt to be lacking. Hence, this conference is meant as an opportunity to look together at the theme of the Shoah in as diverse and wide a context as possible. We want to talk not only about the genesis, essence, or events of the Holocaust, but also about the influence of that monstrous genocide on the history of humankind, and its role and place in shaping the reality of our lives today. We would like to discuss the Holocaust as a decisive phenomenon in transformations of multiple aspects of our contemporary world: from politics to ethics, from norms of behaviour to religious beliefs, from art to economy, from philosophy to mass culture.

Various academic disciplines

We invite researchers representing various academic disciplines: anthropology, history, sociology, philosophy, psychology, psychoanalysis, neurology, history of literature, theatre studies, film studies, memory studies, consciousness studies, dream studies, gender studies, postcolonial studies, medical sciences, psychiatry, social policy, business, cognitive sciences et al.

Different forms of presentations are encouraged, including case studies, theoretical investigations, problem-oriented arguments, and comparative analyses.

The organisers will be happy to hear from both experienced scholars and young academics at the start of their careers, as well as graduate students. We also invite all persons interested in participating in the conference as listeners, without giving a presentation.

It is hoped that due to its interdisciplinary nature, the conference will bring many interesting observations on and discussions about the role of the Holocaust in the past and in the modern world.

The repertoire of suggested topics includes but is not restricted to: 

1) The Holocaust and Memory:

  • Museums, monuments, souvenirs
  • Holocaust denial
  • The Holocaust and postmemory
  • The Holocaust and amnesia
  • The Holocaust and oblivion
  • Manipulating the memory of the Holocaust
  • The Holocaust and “historical politics”
  • Holocaust mythology
  • The Holocaust in the consciousness and conscience of future generations

2) The Holocaust and Survival:

  • Survivors’ sense of guilt
  • The Holocaust and post-traumatic stress disorder
  • Therapy
  • Revenge
  • Forgiveness
  • Compensation

3) The Holocaust and Other Genocides

  • Debate on the uniqueness of the Holocaust
  • The Holocaust as a lesson for humanity
  • The Holocaust and racism
  • The Holocaust and xenophobia
  • The Holocaust and solidarity
  • Does History like to repeat itself?
  • Who’s next to be gassed?

4) After the Calamity

  • Everyday life after the Holocaust
  • Religion after the Holocaust
  • Ethics after the Holocaust
  • Philosophy after the Holocaust
  • Politics after the Holocaust

5) Art in the Face of the Shoah

  • Poetry after Auschwitz?
  • Holocaust fiction
  • Literary and film testimonies
  • Artistic provocations
  • The Holocaust in the comical perspective
  • The Holocaust and the tragic
  • The Holocaust in popular culture

6) The Holocaust and Imagination

  • Phantasms and images
  • Visions and hallucinations
  • Dreams about the Shoah
  • Dreams of the victims, survivors and witnesses

7) The Holocaust and Language

  • The Holocaust and translation
  • Communication in the camps
  • Lager language
  • Lingua Tertii Imperii
  • The Holocaust and censorship

8) Expressing the inexpressible

  • The Holocaust and representation
  • The Holocaust and disgust
  • The Holocaust and epiphany
  • The Holocaust and silence

Please submit abstracts (no longer than 300 words) of your proposed 20-minute presentations, together with a short biographical note, by 15th January 2015 both to prof. Wojciech Owczarski, University of Gdańsk: wowczarski1@tlen.pl and holocaustworld@tlen.pl.

The confirmation of acceptance will be sent by 31st January 2015. The conference language is English. A selection of papers will be published in a post-conference volume.

Website The Holocaust and the Contemporary World