Holocaust studies

Holocaust studies (less often, Holocaust research) is a scholarly discipline that encompasses the historical research and study of the Holocaust. Institutions dedicated to Holocaust research investigate the multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary aspects of Holocaust methodology, demography, sociology, and psychology. Furthermore, Holocaust research explores trauma, memory, and testimony of the experiences of Holocaust survivors,^[1] human rights, international relations, Jewish life, Judaism, and Jewish identity in the post-Holocaust world.^[2]

Holocaust research also encompasses the study of Nazi Germany, World War II, Jewish history, religion, Christian-Jewish relations, Holocaust theology, ethics, social responsibility, and genocide on a global scale.

Among the research institutions and academic programs specializing in Holocaust research are the:

• International Institute for Holocaust Research at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, Israel^[3]
• Fritz Bauer Institute in Frankfurt, Germany, named after the German judge and prosecutor at the Frankfurt Auschwitz trials
• Uppsala Programme for Holocaust and Genocide Studies in Sweden
• Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC
• Polish Center for Holocaust Research at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, Poland.
• European Holocaust Research Infrastructure^[4] "The project European Holocaust Research Infrastructure is financed by FP7 (the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development) of the European Union."
• Stockton University offered the first master of arts in Holocaust & genocide degree in the United States in 1999.
• Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies (VWI)

Prominent Holocaust scholars include:

• H.G. Adler (1910-1988), a Czechoslovakian Jew who survived the Holocaust and became one of the early scholars of the Holocaust.
• Hannah Arendt (1906-1975), a German-American political theorist who is known for the term "banality of evil," used to describe Adolf Eichmann.
• Yehuda Bauer (b. 1926), a Czechoslovak-born Israeli historian and scholar on the Holocaust and antisemitism.
• Michael Berenbaum (b. 1945), an American scholar and rabbi who specializes in the study of the memorialization of the Holocaust. He served as Project Director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1988-1993.
• Alan L. Berger (b. 1939), the Raddock Family Eminent Scholar Chair for Holocaust Studies at Florida Atlantic University, Professor of Jewish Studies at Florida Atlantic University, Director of the Center for the Study of Values and Violence after Auschwitz,^[5] Editor and Author of Interdisciplinary Holocaust Scholarship, Co-Editor of Second Generation Voices: Reflections by Children of Holocaust Survivors and Perpetrators,^[6] and Member of the Florida Department of Education Holocaust Education Task Force.^[7]
• Christopher Browning (b. 1944), an American historian of the Holocaust who is best known for his work Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland, a study of German Police Reserve Unit 101 that massacred Jews in Poland.
• Martin Gilbert (b. 1936), a British historian who has published many historical volumes about the Holocaust.
• Raul Hilberg (1926-2007), an Austrian-born American political scientist and historian who is widely considered to be the world's preeminent Holocaust scholar.
• Raphael Lemkin (1900-1959), a Polish Jewish lawyer who coined the term genocide, which was later adopted by the United Nations in the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
• Primo Levi (1919-1987), an Italian Jewish chemist who survived Auschwitz who later published over a dozen works. He committed suicide on April 11, 1987.
• Franklin Littell (1917-2009), a Protestant scholar who is regarded by some as the founder of the field of Holocaust studies.
• Léon Poliakov (1910-1997), a French historian who wrote on the Holocaust and antisemitism.
• Gerald Reitlinger (1900-1978), a British art historian who wrote three works after World War II about Nazi Germany.
• Carol Rittner Distinguished Professor of Holocaust & Genocide Studies at Stockton University, who co-produced the Academy Award nominated documentary The Courage to Care, and has written a number of important works about the Holocaust and various genocides.
• Richard L. Rubenstein (b. 1924), an American scholar who is noted for his contributions to Holocaust theology.

See also

• Aftermath of the Holocaust
• Genocide
• Holocaust Memorial Days
• Holocaust Museum Houston
• Holocaust Studies and Materials
• Yom HaShoah
• Elie Wiesel

References

1. Berger, ed., Alan L. (1991). [` Bearing Witness to the Holocaust, 1939-1989] Check |url= value (help). Philadelphia: Edwin Mellen Press. p. 20. ISBN 0773496440.
2. Berger, Alan L. (Spring 2010). "Unclaimed Experience: Trauma and Identity in Third Generation Writing about the Holocaust". Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies 28 (3): 149to158. doi:10.1353/sho.0.0453. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
3. "The International Institute for Holocaust Research." Yad Vashem. 2014. 23 January 2014.
4. European Union Commission, European Holocaust Research Infrastructure. "European Holocaust Research Infrastructure". The European Union: European Commission 2010. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
5. Berger, Dr. Alan L. "Dr. Alan Berger Raddock Family Eminent Scholar Chair for Holocaust Studies". Florida Atlantic University. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
6. Berger, Berger, Alan L., Naomi (2001). Second Generation Voices: Reflections By Children of Holocaust Survivors and Perpetrators. New York: Syracuse University Press. p. 378. ISBN 0815628846.
7. "Task Force on Holocaust Education: Task Force Members". Florida Department of Education. Retrieved 11 May 2014. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)

External links

• "Resources for Academics and Research" at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
• Yad Vashem
• European Holocaust Research Infrastructure
• Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity
• Center for Holocaust and Human Rights Education (CHHRE) at Florida Atlantic University, Encouraging the Next Generation of Holocaust Researchers
• Florida State Commissioner of Education's Task Force on Holocaust Education