Call for Applications: Introduction to the Holocaust in the Soviet Union

The Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum invites applications for the seminar "A Research Introduction to the Holocaust in the Soviet Union." This seminar will be held January 5-9, 2015, at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC.



The objective of the seminar is 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 mass shootings, evacuation and 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.

All application materials must be received by Tuesday, September 30, 2014. Selected participants will be notified by November 1, 2014.

Please click here for full details and application requirements.

Alejandro Baer to Present at USHMM Symposium

Alejandro Baer, CHGS will participate in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's Symposium, Sephardic Jewry and the Holocaust: The Future of the Field
April 28-30, 2013
University of Washington, Seattle



The symposium is part of the year long commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the opening of the Museum. Co-organized through the Sephardic Studies Initiative of the University of Washington's Samuel & Althea Stroum Jewish Studies Program and the Museum's Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, this symposium explores the unique history of Sephardic Jewry and the Holocaust.

Professor Baer will present The Voids of the Sephard: the Memory of the Holocaust in Spain.



Abstract of Dr. Baer's Paper:
The Holocaust did not take place within Spain's borders. Isolated and detached from the tragedy that consumed the rest of the European continent, Spain at that time was essentially submerged in the trauma of her own Civil War and its aftermath. When Spain finally emerged from the grip of Franco's dictatorship, the country's democracy was rebuilt on the margins of the prevailing European value system, in which the memory of Auschwitz and its ilk occupy a central place. It is only in the last decade, as a consequence of both institutional initiatives and the effects of cultural and educational transnationalization, that Spain has been progressively absorbed into the wider European debate about history, culture, and memory. As a result, discussions about the Holocaust have gained a more significant presence in Spanish public life. The process is an arduous one because it requires Spain to liberate itself from the shackles of its own past, specifically from the mantle of ignorance and prejudice that, until very recently, has covered everything related to Jews.
More information on the symposium can be found by clicking here.

Op/Ed The Next Genocide: Most likely in Syria.

The World's Next Genocide
November 15, 2012

Voices From Congo: The Road Ahead

Live webcast on Tuesday, July 26 starting at 9:30 a.m. EST on the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum website.

The stakes for the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the coming months are very high, not only for the country but also for the region. Preparations for elections scheduled for November are inadequate, political intimidation and violence are increasing, and human rights violations continue.
We invite you to join us for a unique conference that will bring to Washington a Congolese perspective on the current political and human rights situation and help inform U.S. policy on Congo with constructive ideas and recommendations.
This event is cosponsored by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the National Endowment for Democracy, and the Eastern Congo Initiative. It is made possible in part by the Helena Rubinstein Fund.