The Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum invites applications for a workshop focused on theuse of testimony in the study of the Holocaust in the former Soviet Union, to be held from August 1–12, 2016 at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC.
This workshop will bring together scholars whose work relies heavily upon oral and written testimonies of perpetrators, bystanders, and victims of the Holocaust on the territory of the former Soviet Union. Participants from North America and the states of the former Soviet Union will discuss research strategies and some of the central issues surrounding the use of testimonies in their work. Discussions will be prompted by pre-circulated synopses of participants’ research agendas, with a focus on their application of testimony to their wider projects. During the workshop, participants also will have the opportunity to engage with the many thousands of oral history testimonies available at the Museum, which include those of the USC Shoah Foundation and Yahad-In Unum. These records are but part of the Museum’s more than 210 million pages of archival material, which includes more than 15 million pages of microfilmed, digitized, and paper documents from the former Soviet Union. The program will culminate in a public presentation by the participants, in which they will discuss current issues and future directions in the use of testimony in research and in the teaching of the topic of the Holocaust in the former Soviet Union.
In addition to scholars from North American institutions of higher education, the Museum welcomes applications from Ph.D. students and scholars at universities in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. Please note that we are accepting applications from these areas only. Applicants should articulate clearly how they use testimony in their research.
Applications must be submitted in English and include: (1) an online application form; (2) a current curriculum vitae; and (3) a maximum 1000-word summary of the applicant’s current research topic. For details, see the application form.
Application materials may be sent by email attachment to Dr. Daniel Newman, Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum:danewman@ushmm.org. All application materials must be received by February 14, 2016. We will notify applicants regarding acceptance by March 1, 2016.
Participants must be in attendance each day of the workshop. Workshop sessions will be conducted in English. Participants will be required to submit a research proposal of eight to ten pages in English for pre-circulation by June 30, 2016.
Accepted applicants will receive (1) a stipend toward the cost of direct travel to and from each participant’s home institution and Washington, DC; (2) shared lodging for the workshop’s duration; and (3) a stipend toward the cost of meals, local transit, luggage surcharges, and other incidental expenses, which will be distributed after the workshop’s conclusion via international wire transfer. It is the sole responsibility of each participant to acquire the appropriate visa to enter the United States and to pay any costs associated with securing that visa.
This workshop will be led by Anika Walke and Daniel Newman.
This opportunity has expired. It was originally published here:
http://www.ushmm.org/research/scholarly-presentations/conferences/new-directions-in-the-use-of-oral-testimonies-soviet-experiences-of-the-holocaust