The International Institute for Holocaust Research

International Summer Workshop, The Persecution and Murder of Jews: Grassroots Perspectives
International Summer Workshop, The Persecution and Murder of Jews: Grassroots Perspectives

Annual Summer Workshops

The Annual Summer Workshop program was established by the International Institute for Holocaust Research in 2008 in order to invite researchers to discuss and give presentations on new research being conducted on a particular topic.  

The first workshop, Jewish Life During the Holocaust: New Approaches to and Aspects of Jewish Social Life, took place on 6-10 July 2008.  The participants included: Prof. David Bankier, The International Institute for Holocaust Research – Yad Vashem and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Dr. Havi Dreifus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Mrs. Ester Farbstein, Jerusalem Michlalah; Prof. Detlef Garz, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton; Dr. Edyta Gawron, Jagiellonian University, Krakow; Prof. Zvi Gitelman, University of Michigan; Dr. Amos Goldberg, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Prof. Jan Grabowski, University of Ottawa; Dr. Rita Horváth, Bar-Ilan University; Prof. Samuel Kassow, Trinity College, Hartford; Dr. Jacek Leociak, Polish Academy of Science (PAN); Dr. Dariusz Libionka, Polish Academy of Science (PAN); Prof. Dan Michman, Yad Vashem and Bar-Ilan University; Prof. Judit Molnár, University of Szeged; Dr. Emuna Nachmany-Gafny, Oranim Educational College; Dr. Iael Nidam-Orvieto, Yad Vashem and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Prof. Dalia Ofer, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Prof. Avinoam Patt, University of Hartford; Dr. Lea Prais, Yad Vashem; Dr. Robert Rozett, Yad Vashem; Dr. David Silberklang, Yad Vashem and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Dr. Chaim Shalem, Jerusalem Michlalah; Dr. Mikhail Tyaglyy, Ukrainian Center for Holocaust Studies, Kiev; Dr. Michal Unger, Ashkelon Academic College; Prof. Yfaat Weiss, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; and Prof. Lenore Weitzman, George Mason University, Fairfax. 

On 13-20 July 2009, the second summer workshop, The Holocaust and Its Aftermath (1933-1947) The Press, Newsreels and Radio Broadcasts in Real Time, was held at the International Institute for Holocaust Research.  The participants were: Prof. Ilya Altmann, Holocaust Research and Educational Center; Prof. David Bankier, The International Institute for Holocaust Research – Yad Vashem and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Ms. Liat Ben Habib, Visual Center – Yad Vashem; Prof. Michael Birdwell, Tennessee Technological University; Dr. Tommaso Dell’Era, Tuscia University; Mr. Patrick Fournier, University of Ottawa; Dr. Ulrich Frisse, University of Western Ontario; Dr. Valeria Galimi, University of Sienna; Prof. Jan Grabowski, University of Ottawa; Mr. Varga János, Hungarian Film Archives; Prof. Jöel Kotel, Free University of Brussels; Mr. Jan Lanicke, University of Southampton; Prof. Dan Michman, The International Institute for Holocaust Research – Yad Vashem and Bar-Ilan University; Dr. Raffella Perin, University of Padova and the Foundation for Religious Studies John XXIII; Dr. Alan Rosen, Independent Researcher; Mr. Avner Shalev, Chairman of the Yad Vashem Directorate; Dr. Colin Shindler, University of London; Dr. Kerstin Stutterheim, The Film and Television Academy “Konrad Wolf”; Prof. Johannes Houwink Ten Cate, University of Amsterdam and the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies; and Prof. Roel Vande Winkel, University of Antwerp and University of Ghent.

To see article –How Much Did They Know?  Real-time Media Reports During WWII, Yad Vashem Magazine, vol. 55, pages 2-3

The 3rd Annual Summer Workshop for Holocaust Scholars with the Participation of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany Research Fellows “The Persecution and Murder of Jews: Grassroots Perspectives” at the International Institute for Holocaust Research, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, was convened 4-12 July 2010.  The participates and topics included:

• Waitman Beorn, Claims Conference Fellow, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA
  Local Participation of the Wehrmacht in the Murder of Jews in Belarus, 1941
• Tal Bruttmann, City of Grenoble, France 
  French Ultra-Collaborators and the “Final Solution” in Southern France
• László Csősz, Holocaust Memorial Center, Budapest, Hungary
  Municipal Administration in Hungary and the Holocaust: Regional Patterns and Individual Responses
• Jovan Ćulibrk, and Seth Frantzman, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
  The Perception of the Jewish Parachutists from the Yishuv by the Yugoslav Partisans, 1943-1945
• Ulrich Frisse, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada
  The Role of the Local Judiciary:  The Sondergericht beim Deutschen Gericht Lemberg (Special Court at the German Court Lemberg) and Its Contribution to the Holocaust in Eastern Galicia
• Wolf Gruner, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA
  Protest and Resistance – Forgotten Individual Reactions Towards anti-Jewish Persecution in Nazi Germany

• Valeria Galimi, University of Siena, Italy
  The Role of the Local Police and Gendarmerie in the Deportation of Jews from Italy
• Rita Horváth and Kinga Frojimovics, International Institute for Holocaust Research, Yad Vashem and Yad Vashem Archives, Jerusalem, Israel
  The Confiscation of Jewish-owned Land in Hungary between 1939-1944: the Authorities, the Applicants, and the Jewish landowners
• Konrad Kwiet, University of Sydney, Australia
  Judenhäuser - A Vehicle for Perpetrator Activity at a Local Level
• Daniel Lee, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
  Vichy’s ‘Chantiers de la Jeunesse’: Stations of Sanctuary or Breeding-Grounds for the Regime’s Antisemitism
• Wendy Lower, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany
  Crossing Boundaries, Transgressing Norms: German Female Perpetrators in the Killing Fields of Ukraine and Poland, 1941-1944
• Elena Mazzini, The National Institute for the History of the Liberation Movement in Italy (INSMLI), Milan, Italy
  Northern-Central Italian Catholic Hierarchies and Public Opinion on Fascist Racism and Anti-Semitism, 1936-1939
• Beate Meyer, The Institute for the History of German Jews, Hamburg, Germany
  Local Jewish Communities and Deportations
• Richards Plavnieks, Claims Conference Fellow, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA
  Arajs Kommando: A Small-Unit Case Study of Eastern European Auxiliaries
• Alexander Prusin, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Socorro, USA
  The Role of the Indigenous Administration and Police in the Holocaust in Serbia, 1941-1943
• Leonid Rein, International Institute for Holocaust Research, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, Israel
  The Second Wave of Extermination of Belorusssian Jews in the Mirror of the Newspaper “Belaruskaja Hazeta”
• Simona Salustri, University of Bologna, Italy
  The Expulsion of Jews from Italian Universities (1933-1943):  The Role of the Fascist Students’ Associations - Between Propaganda and Action
• Virginie Sansico, National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), Paris, France
  Local Criminal Courts and Antisemitic Persecutions:  The Role of the French Judges in the Implementation of Anti-Jewish Policies
• Sylwia Szymanska-Smolkin, Claims Conference Fellow, University of Toronto, Canada
  Oppression and Facilitation: The Polish Police vis-à-vis the Jewish Population in Nazi-Occupied Poland
• Ram Thein, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
  The Behavior of Professional Organizations Toward Their Jewish Members in the Second Czechoslovak Republic and During the Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia
• Nikolaos Tzafleris, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
  The Holocaust in Greece 1943-1944: Perpetrators, Collaborators and Bystanders
• Robby Van Eetvelde, Loughborough University, United Kingdom
  The Sipo-SD in Belgium:  One Country, Two Policies? A Comparison Between the Gestapo Activities in Antwerp and Liège
• Geraldien Von Frijtag, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands
  Ordinary Dutchmen’: Dutch Colonists in Ukraine and Belarus and the Holocaust
• Daniel Uziel, The Yad Vashem Archives, Jerusalem, Israel
  Jewish Slave Laborers in the German Aviation Industry and Their Interaction with Others in the Factories

In 1999 the International Institute for Holocaust Research established a program of international cooperation between Israeli and researchers from aboard.  In March of that year, Israeli researchers were invited by Professor Ulrich Herbert of the Lehrstuhl für Neuere und Neueste Geschichte - University in Freiburg to participate in a workshop with young German scholars on the Holocaust.  This program proved to be extremely beneficial and academically rewarding. This invitation was reciprocated by the International Institute for Holocaust Research when six German researchers were invited to participate in the workshop, which took place in November 2001.  Since these initial workshops, this research exchange program has taken place between Israelis and researchers from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, and Serbia.  

The purpose of the workshops is to give young researchers the opportunity to present their research findings to a group of the peers from another country, who often have different research approaches and ideas; and thus receive important feedback on their research.  It also provides the young scholars the opportunity to become known to the international academic community and allows the guest researchers to utilize the academic facilities in the host country, as well as to make valuable and lasting contacts for their future academic endeavors.

From 11 to 16 April 2010, the International Institute for Holocaust Research and the University of Southern Denmark, and the Danish School for Doctoral Studies in History at Aarhus University convened an international workshop for PhD candidates and young researchers.  This workshop was part of the ongoing workshop program between Yad Vashem and universities and research institutes outside Israel.  This workshop was the first of such gathering with researchers from Denmark. Danish – Israeli Workshop Program.