An article in the Algemeiner (https://www.algemeiner.com/2020/02/05/anti-israel-professor-hijacks-a-holocaust-conference/) presents an entirely inaccurate impression of a conference planned for this May 20-22 on "“Post-War Memory, Holocaust Memorialization, and the Implications for the Present." It is a regional conference sponsored by the Holocaust Educational Foundation of Northwestern University, which will be held in Durham, NC
The Algemeiner article begins by saying that "A radical professor who thinks America is hopelessly racist will preside over an upcoming Holocaust education conference that will seek to show 'connections between racist ideology and policies in the US and Nazi Germany.'"
He continues: "One of those 'connections between racist ideology and policies in the US and Nazi Germany' that [Barry] Trachtenberg and his cohorts are focused on is comparing slavery in America to the Holocaust. In the conference description, they write that the event 'will also explore how the specific history of the Holocaust helps us to particularize and compare the continued controversial impact and reception of Southern slavery and segregation on our public and private lives.'"
The Algemeiner quotes one sentence from the description of the conference and leaves out the relevant context. This is the paragraph from which that sentence was taken: "Given the location of our Institute in the US South, the Regional Institute will also explore how the specific history of the Holocaust helps us to particularize and compare the continued controversial impact and reception of Southern slavery and segregation on our public and private lives. Through guest speakers and select readings, we will discuss historical connections between racist ideology and policies in the US and Nazi Germany (such as connections between Jim Crow and Nazi antisemitic legal policies) and parse distinctions between different manifestations of racism and moments in racist histories to identify what is specific to place, context, and peoples." Contrary to the Algemeiner's assertion, asserting that there was a connection between Jim Crow policies and Nazi antisemitic politics is not "radical," nor is it a sign that the organizers of the conference hate America.
James Q. Whitman's recent book, Hitler's American Model: The United States and the Making of Nazi Race Law (2017), argues that American citizenship laws, anti-miscegenation laws, and Jim Crow segregation were some of the influences upon Nazi racial laws.
As Whitman shows, the Nuremberg Laws were crafted in an atmosphere of considerable attention to the precedents American race laws had to offer. German praise for American practices, already found in Hitler’s Mein Kampf, was continuous throughout the early 1930s, and the most radical Nazi lawyers were eager advocates of the use of American models. But while Jim Crow segregation was one aspect of American law that appealed to Nazi radicals, it was not the most consequential one. Rather, both American citizenship and antimiscegenation laws proved directly relevant to the two principal Nuremberg Laws—the Citizenship Law and the Blood Law. Whitman looks at the ultimate, ugly irony that when Nazis rejected American practices, it was sometimes not because they found them too enlightened, but too harsh.The Algemeiner article also did not provide any other information about the conference, except to lambaste the politics of one of the organizers, Barry Trachtenberg, who is the Michael R. and Deborah K. Rubin Presidential Chair of Jewish History, Associate Professor in the Department of History, and Director of the Program in Jewish Studies at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. There are two other organizers - Karen Auerbach of UNC-Chapel Hill and Paul B. Jaskot of Duke University.
This is the full description of the conference, presenting it in an entirely different light from the hatchet-job provided by the author of the Algemeiner article.
Call for Proposals HEF Regional Institute 2020
“Post-War Memory, Holocaust Memorialization, and the Implications for the Present”
Durham, North Carolina, May 22-24, 2020
The Holocaust Educational Foundation of Northwestern University will host the second Regional Institute on the Holocaust and Jewish Civilization in Durham, North Carolina on May 22-24, 2020, with the support of Wake Forest University, Duke University, and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
There has been significant work in the past decades on postwar memory and memorialization as a crucial component of Holocaust Studies. Whether discussing the role of the trials of perpetrators, the reestablishment of Jewish communities in the diaspora, the rise in memorialization and other cultural representations of the Holocaust, or the explosive impact after 1993 of survivor oral testimonies for Holocaust research, it is clear that the postwar historical moment is an inextricable complement to the horrific pre-1945 history of the Holocaust. This HEF Regional Institute will build on these broad trends by engaging in depth with one particular period of postwar memory and memorialization – the end of the war to the Auschwitz Trials (1963-65). This period on the whole has not received as much attention as the post-1965 histories; conversely, in recent years, some key work has refocused our disciplinary interests on this moment, particularly in terms of issues of memory and memorialization.
Fellows will gain a familiarity with historiographic debates related to postwar memory and memorialization (focusing on history, Jewish Studies, art history, and cultural history) but also a deep exploration into recent new work on the period that also has great relevance to the field as a whole. In addition, the institute will be especially helpful to those Fellows who are contemplating developing a post-war element to their Holocaust Studies courses.
Given the location of our Institute in the US South, the Regional Institute will also explore how the specific history of the Holocaust helps us to particularize and compare the continued controversial impact and reception of Southern slavery and segregation on our public and private lives. Through guest speakers and select readings, we will discuss historical connections between racist ideology and policies in the US and Nazi Germany (such as connections between Jim Crow and Nazi antisemitic legal policies) and parse distinctions between different manifestations of racism and moments in racist histories to identify what is specific to place, context, and peoples.
Higher education faculty and graduate students who have attended a HEF Summer Institute or who have previously taught courses on any aspect of the Nazi Holocaust or Jewish civilization are encouraged to apply to become Regional Institute Fellows, particularly those who live and work in the Southeast United States. A fellowship includes the cost of tuition, room, and board during the Institute. (Fellowships do not cover travel expenses to and from Durham or the cost of any assigned materials.) Please contact JewishStudies@wfu.edu with questions.
The 2020 Regional Institute will be held from May 22 – 24, 2020. Please send application materials, which should include 1) a cover letter indicating your interest and intent to teach classes related to the topic, 2) your CV, 3) a sample syllabus of Holocaust or Jewish Civilization courses that you have previously taught, and 4) for graduate students, a letter of recommendation. Send materials in a single pdf to JewishStudies@wfu.edu by January 1, 2020.
Organizers: Karen Auerbach-UNC Chapel Hill; Paul B. Jaskot-Duke University; and Barry Trachtenberg-Wake Forest University
