The International Institute for Holocaust Research

The Center for Research on the History of Soviet Jewry during the Holocaust situated in Yad Vashem’s International Institute for Holocaust Research will hold an international scholarly workshop on The Methodological Problems in Researching the History of Soviet Jews During the Holocaust.  This workshop will take place in Israel at Yad Vashem. 

Since 1990s, resulting from greater accessibility and demand to archival resources within the former Soviet Union, there has been an increase of international interest in the Holocaust that took place in German Occupied Soviet territories, including those territories occupied by the Soviet Union after September 1939.  Scholars who are researching this history must define and solve a wide-range of methodological problems and issues. As a result the Center for Research on the History of Soviet Jewry has decided to host a workshop to discuss them.  This gathering will highlight recently uncovered archival resources and cutting-edge research on the topic as well as discuss the numerous methodological challenges in researching this history.  Sessions will be dedicated but not limited to the Holocaust in the Soviet territories, the participation of Jews in the Red Army and Partisan Units, the difficulties in contextualizing global and local histories, the reliability of sources, statistical variations between the number of Jews murdered and those who actuality managed to flee, as well as the influences of the Holocaust on the ethnic identity of Soviet Jews.

Applicants interested in presenting a paper should be recent doctoral graduates (within the past five years) and PhD candidates researching or completing their theses related to the above themes.  Participants must submit their presentation in English by email three weeks prior to the workshop, for circulation among the other speakers.

The workshop will be conducted in English.

If you would like to propose a paper for the workshop, please send a completed application form, your curriculum vitae, a one-page description of your PhD, a one-page abstract of your proposed paper with title, and a description of the methodological problems that you would discuss to:

Dr. Arkadi Zeltser
Director of the Center for the Study of the History of Soviet Jews During the Holocaust
The International Institute for Holocaust Research
Yad Vashem
Email:  arkadi.zeltser@yadvashem.org.il

The application deadline is 31 August 2011.