Othering, Occupation, Violence, and Denial: Connecting Past and Present: Historical Analogies and Presentism in Studying the Holocaust

The JHGC, EEHS, UM website and ASA are cooperating and partnering in launching a webinar series on the theme of “Othering, Occupation, Violence, and Denial”. Topics that will be engaged with under the central theme include the way in which historical analogies and presentism in studying the history of the Holocaust are used to foster deeper understanding and critical thinking about the Holocaust, current armed conflicts and the rise of hate speech. Ways in which oversimplifications, misrepresentations, distortions, and denial of these topics can be challenged and safeguarded against will also be grappled with, alongside testimonies, resistance, education, remembrance, and the collection and preservation of history. Previous webinar organised by the JHGC and the EEHS, “Never Again” as well as a series of podcasts, “Sleepwalking Through the Assault on Democracy”, discussed different interpretations of these themes, as well as questions around historical analogies.
The outcomes of the webinar series will firstly be disseminated to a scholarly audience by way of publication in English in upcoming issues of the EEHS journal, and in Ukrainian in the Ukraina Moderna Journal’s website. The project's commitment to inclusivity and dissemination in English and Ukrainian will ensure broad access through educational resources, enhanced public discourse and memorialization. The outputs of the project will also be adapted into an educational program in South Africa, and Austria, available in English and possibly Ukrainian if such an educational program is conducted in Ukraine. The project has an educational component: it targets political decision makers, civil servants, civil society, the media, educational policy makers, academia, museums and memorials, educational institutions, and potentially archives and archivists, all of whom can use the outputs in their educational programs with students, educators, and other volunteers in mediated online discussions. These educational materials will further be integrated into the Austrian Service Abroad educational program, not only equipping their volunteers but also being shared with their hundreds of global partners as effective teaching tools. The webinars will thereby bolster research and education, aligning with IHRA's goals to prevent distortion through shared practices and strengthened international cooperation.
The workshop organisers thus welcome proposals on one of the following four themes and subthemes:
1. Othering:
- case studies of the Holocaust;
- othering of targeted groups such as the Roma and Sinti during the Second World War;
- survivor testimonies;
- witnesses testimonies;
- early warning stages/indicators of mass atrocities in past or current conflicts;
- the rise of hate speech in the wake of current armed conflicts;
- oversimplification, misrepresentation, mis- and disinformation, and distortion;
- resistance;
- the law and othering;
- education on othering;
2. Occupation:
- Nazi occupation of Ukraine and other territories during WW2;
- human behaviour/life/survival/resistance under occupation (i.e. during WW2/the Holocaust/ongoing armed conflicts);
- survivor testimonies;
- witnesses testimonies;
- resilience;
- Russian occupation in Ukraine: oversimplification, reasons provided by Russia for the invasion;
- the impact of occupation on children (disappearance, re-education, deportation and transfer, pro-fascists during WW2 vs now i.e. Russifying children);
- mis- and disinformation, distortions of history;
- behaviour of occupying forces/power towards people,
- siege under occupation (for e.g. Leningrad, Mariupol).
3. Violence:
- against individuals, groups and minorities;
- looting;
- transit/ labour/concentration camps/killing sites and killing centres in the Holocaust;
- Sexual and gender-based violence
- survivor testimonies;
- witnesses testimonies;
- resilience against violence;
- violence against resistance groups;
- collective punishment (for example whole village);
- atrocity crimes/acts against Ukrainians (in history and currently);
- denial, misrepresentation, mis- and disinformation, distortions, propaganda;
- types of violent acts (for example starvation techniques, suppression of Warsaw ghetto uprising with fire etc.).
4. Denial:
- remembrance of the Holocaust to counter denial;
- survivor testimonies;
- witnesses testimonies;
- activism against denial and distortion;
- acknowledging atrocities committed in Ukraine by the Russian Federation (and oversimplification of historical analogies, ensuring continued focus on Ukraine in the context of other global events/armed conflicts);
- use and abuse of Holocaust memory in the discourse of the current Russo-Ukrainian war;
- distortion of Holocaust memory in current armed conflicts and the rise of hate speech;
- archives, collection and preservation of history;
- propaganda by way of oversimplification, misrepresentation, mis- and disinformation, distortions;
- teaching against mis- and disinformation;
- hate speech on social media and in the digital world.

Abstracts for papers on any of the above themes must be sent to Mispa Roux (mispa@jhbholocaust.co.za) not later than 16 September 2024. Abstracts should be no longer than 300 words, clearly indicating the theme. Successful candidates will be contacted within four weeks of submission and will be required to submit a draft paper two weeks before the date of the webinar. The webinar, which will be simultaneously translated into Ukrainian, will take the form of online papers presented during four panel discussions structured around the four main themes. Selected papers will then be peer reviewed and published in the Eastern European Holocaust Studies: Interdisciplinary Journal of the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center and Ukraina Moderna website publications in Ukrainian, translation covered by project funding.
The project is funded by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance and matching funding from partner organisations.