The workshop has been organised since 1994 by an international group of young scientists and educators who decide on the location of the workshops and look for a partner institution. This year, the workshops will be held in Lodz, and the Centre for Jewish Studies at the University of Lodz is responsible for their organisation.
The 26th workshop’s thematic focus is Bodies and Borders as analytical categories to study and understand Nazi concentration camps and killing sites.
The workshop will address questions pertaining to historiography, memory politics, the spatial- and forensic turns in Holocaust studies, and novel visual representations of victims’ and bystanders’ experiences
– explains Dr Adam Sitarek from the Centre for Jewish Studies at the University of Lodz
Ghettos, concentration camps and many killing sites are usually imagined with clearly demarcated spatial boundaries yet were often more open and accessible geographical spaces. Bodies were at the heart of these locations: the physical bodies of the victims, perpetrators, and bystanders; as well as the administrations of the camps and killing sites
– adds Dr Adam Sitarek
A stone monument to the victims of the death camp in Chełmno (photo by E. Selman)
The organisers of the event also emphasize the unique, egalitarian nature of the workshop meetings.
The workshop is coordinated and run by young scientists for young scientists. Experienced researchers appear only as advisors and keynote speakers. In the absence of academic hierarchies, discussions and lectures can take place in a welcoming and supportive academic atmosphere. This year, over 30 young scientists from around the world will take part in the workshop and 14 interdisciplinary research projects will be presented
– explains Dr Sitarek
This year's lecturers include:
- Dr Natalia Romik, an architect and a designer, the author of the exhibition "Kryjówki. Architektura przetrwania prezentowanej w Zachęcie Narodowej Galerii Sztuki”;
- Dr Natalia Judzińska from the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences, a culture expert, the co-initiator (together with Nina Boichenko) of the Researchers at the Border group, dealing with the documentation and scientific study of the ongoing humanitarian crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border;
- Dr Adam Sitarek, a historian, a researcher of the Lodz ghetto from the Centre for Jewish Studies at the University of Lodz.
The workshop provides a space for discussion focused on building and maintaining a wide network of contacts between the young generation of researchers and educators. Holocaust research continues to develop and a truly international exchange of ideas means progress and provides the opportunity to develop new, critical points of view
– says the researcher.
The organising committee consists of doctoral students and educators from Germany, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, the USA and Poland. They represent institutions such as the University of Jena, Clark University, École des hautes études en sciences sociales in Paris, European University Viadrina, Jagiellonian University and the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust.
Since its beginning, the workshop has built up an impressive international research network and we hope to be able to make a significant contribution each year to the discourse on the history and memory of the National Socialism, the Holocaust and the places we explore. The results of the workshop work will be presented in an English-language publication, thanks to which the effects of our work will be available to a wider group of interested parties
– concludes Dr Sitarek.
Edit: Bartosz Kałużny (Communications and PR Centre, University of Lodz)
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