Center for Holocaust & Genocide Studies
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CENTER FOR HOLOCAUST & GENOCIDE STUDIES 2015- 2016 Our work is motivated by the hope to inspire future genera- tions to fight hatred and strengthen democracy, thus en- suring a more peaceful and just world. Promoting academic research, education and public awareness on the Shoah, other genocides and current forms of mass violence From the director New Initiatives in 2015-2016 Greetings from the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Since its In Fall 2015 CHGS developed a Genocide Ed- founding by Stephen Feinstein in 1997, the Center has established a local, ucation Outreach (GEO) program, pairing national and international reputation. We are honored to continue nurturing graduate students doing genocide-related studies a legacy of engaged scholarship, impactful educational programs and fruitful with schools, community colleges and organizations collaboration with organizations within and beyond the Twin Cities. seeking guest speakers on topics related to the sub- ject. As part of a pilot, CHGS sent graduate stu- This year we maintained our focus on our mission while paving the way to dents to speak at three venues last year (see pg. 5). enact it in new ways (see right). The development of our continually grow- ing CHGS blog benefits a rising readership and provides a platform for shar- In January 2016 we published a CHGS Blog ing research on genocide and mass violence at the University of Minnesota (CHGS-blog.org) featuring new content by schol- and by visiting scholars. Our new GEO program offers professional devel- ars and students, as well as a retrospective of select opment opportunities to graduate students, while also supplying teachers newsletter articles (see pg. 8) going back to 2012. with expert guest speakers on timely and critical topics. We look forward to Highlights include: further broadening outreach to scholars, educators and the community • Visits by over 2,000 unique users from 76 coun- through our newly catalogued print library, a soon-to-be-launched improved tries. website, digital image and physical object collections. • The three most popular articles were: “Hidden No More: How Technology is Bringing Canada’s Resi- I am proud of the work we have done as the Center approaches its 20th an- dential Schools to Life”; “Student Spotlight: Miray niversary. None of it would have been possible without the steady and de- Philips”; and “Making Germany Great Again: Hitler tailed work of our committed staff and student workers, and we were again Returns in Look Who’s Back.” privileged to draw upon the expertise of our distinguished affiliate faculty to offer top-notch lectures, film screenings and exhibits featuring the CHGS art Over the course of 2015-2016 we migrated our and object collection. Thank you for the many ways you support the Center electronic resources in preparation for a big for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. website upgrade, initiated the Stephen C. Fein- Alejandro Baer stein Archive with the UMN Libraries, and au- Stephen C. Feinstein Chair and Director dited our print and video library (see Collec- Holocaust survivor Dora Zaidenweber visits SOC/GLOS 4315 class in Spring 2016. tion Care section, pg. 7). Inside this issue 2 Collaborators and Partners. Institutions within the University, community, and around the world. 2-3 Student Opportunities. HGMV workshop, Badzin Fellowship, courses, and unique opportunities. 4 Scholarly Lectures and Public Events. Complete listings for 2015-2016. 5 Programs for Educators. Teacher workshops and outreach. 6-7 Arts and Literature. Events, exhibits, performances, books, film, and collection care. 7 People. CHGS staff and affiliate faculty members. 1 CHGSLorem Accomplishments, Ipsum 2015-2016 Co-sponsorships & partnerships Strong partnerships and intellectual collaborations yield rewarding experi- ences for audiences and organizers. We thank the institutions that helped to make 2015-2016 so successful: UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA African Studies Initiative Arsham and Charlotte Ohanessian Chair Center for Austrian Studies Center for German & European Studies Center for Jewish Studies Center for Modern Greek Studies College of Liberal Arts Department of Art Department of Cultural Studies & Compara- tive Literature Department of English Department of French & Italian Department of German, Scandinavian & Dutch Department of History Department of Sociology CHGS guides and mentors undergraduate and Department of Spanish & Portuguese Human Rights Program graduate students by organizing courses and work- Humphrey School of Public Affairs Immigration History Research Center Archives shops, offering fellowships and providing unique Institute for Advanced Study opportunities for interacting with leading experts Institute for Global Studies Kautz Family YMCA Archives in the field. Law School Weisman Art Museum HGMV Interdisciplinary Graduate Group University of Minnesota Libraries S The Holocaust, Genocide and Mass Violence Studies (HGMV) group is an active collaborative of graduate students, faculty, and in- ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS OUTSIDE UMN Macalester College vited scholars to foster interdisciplinary conversations on the subject Mt. Holyoke College areas of Holocaust and genocide studies, human rights, representa- New York University tions of violence and trauma, transitional justice, and collective Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) memory. CHGS co-facilitates the workshop series with the Human University of Bayreuth (Germany) STUDENT Rights Program. Our 2015-2016 presentations provided opportuni- COMMUNITY ties for graduate students to engage in the development of research Children of Holocaust Survivors of Minnesota projects by providing and receiving constructive feedback. Nine stu- (CHAIM) dents presented their works-in-progress over the course of 2015- Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) 2016, and two students were awarded travel funding to present of Minnesota and the Dakotas their HGMV papers at conferences in Summer 2016: Minnesota Humanities Center Ohanessian Endowment Fund for Justice and Peace Studies at the Minneapolis Founda- • Paula Cuellar: “Confronting Mass Atrocities in El Salvador and tion Guatemala: Scorched Earth Operations as Genocidal Practices” at Rimon: The Minnesota Jewish Arts Council, the International Network of Genocide Scholars (Jerusalem, Isra- an initiative of the Minneapolis Jewish el; June 2016) Federation Sabes Jewish Community Center • Maria Hofmann: “Postmemory in The Contemporary Holocaust St. Paul-Nagasaki Sister City Committee Documentary” at the Visible Evidence Conference (Montana, United States - Japan Foundation USA; August 2016) 213 3 For a complete list of HGMV presentations, please vis- The course delved into the complex and timely top- it z.umn.edu/hgmvschedule. ic of memories of mass violence in a transnational (continued) and comparative perspective. Coordinators of the Badzin Fellowship Institute were Bernt Schnettler (University of Bay- For the past four years, CHGS and the Department of reuth) and CHGS Director Alejandro Baer. In addi- History have awarded the Bernard and Fern Badzin tion to participant presentations, lectures and guest Graduate Fellowship in Holocaust and Genocide Stud- workshop sessions, the group transited the layered ies to graduate students in the College of Liberal Arts. topographies of memory in the city of Richard This award pays the cost of tuition and health insur- Wagner and the opera Festspiele, the Memorium of STUDENTS ance, and a stipend of $18,000. Yagmur Karakaya, the Nuremberg Trials and the Documentation Cen- PhD Candidate in Sociology, was awarded the fellow- tre at the former Nazi Party Rally Grounds in Nu- ship for 2015-2016. remberg. During her fellow- ship year, Yagmur Undergraduate Research and Support passed preliminary This spring and summer, CHGS had the opportunity examinations, de- to work with three exceptional undergraduate stu- fended her disser- dents. Dana Queen and Malak Shahin were appoint- tation prospectus ed to CHGS through the CLA Dean’s Freshman Re- entitled “Imperial search program in Spring 2016. We set them to Daydreaming: Ot- work researching newspaper articles for a special toman Nostalgia in community project, reporting on HGMV graduate new Turkey” and conducted fieldwork in Turkey on group meetings, installing and creating materials for the politics of memory involving Turkish Holocaust two CHGS exhibits (see page 6 for details on Dis- commemorations. Currently, Alejandro Baer and placed: The Semiotics of Identity and the Maxine Rude Yagmur are fine-tuning a paper analyzing Holocaust photojournalism exhibit), and helping catalog CHGS commemorations in Turkey and Spain, which they collections generally. We were pleased to have Ma- have already presented at the 2015 American Sociolog- lak and Dana, as well as senior Tashina Picard, con- ical Association conference in Chicago. tinue on with us over the summer to audit and cata- log the CHGS print and video library collection. “Reframing Mass Violence in Eu- rope and the Americas” DAAD/CGES Transatlantic Summer Institute This June, fourteen graduate students and five guest faculty from Europe, the US, Is- rael and Canada met at the University of Bayreuth (Germany) for an intensive semi- nar through the DAAD’s Transatlantic Summer Institute (TASI). TASI is sponsored by the UMN Center for German and Euro- pean Studies through a grant of the DAAD. 2015-2016 Course Offerings Spring 2016 Fall 2015 HIST 1000W/3000W: Global History of WWII (Hiromi Mi- GER 1905: Remediating the Holocaust (Leslie Morris)