The Moshe Mirilashvili Center for Research on the Holocaust in the Soviet Union of the International Institute for Holocaust Research at Yad Vashem and the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum are pleased to invite applications for an international research workshop entitled, Ego-Documents in the Soviet Sphere on the Holocaust: Revealing Personal Voices. The workshop is scheduled for June 3-7, 2018 at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, Israel.

The workshop will focus on the Holocaust and Jewish life in the Soviet Union during World War II as reflected in sources from the war and postwar periods, such as diaries, letters, memoirs, testimonies, interviews, and appeals of individuals to authorities.

The workshop will cover the countries of the former Soviet Union, including areas that were occupied by German and Romanian forces in WWII. The historical themes might include, but are not limited to, the following topics: surviving under the occupation, ghettoization, Jewish POWs and Soviet Jews in death camps, Jews in the underground and partisan movements, gender and the Holocaust, the fate and experiences of Jewish families, Jewish-gentile relations, collaboration, evacuation and Jewish life in the Soviet rear, and Jews in the Red Army.

Participants will present research projects centered on methodological problems and challenges of working with ego-documents, while reflecting on historical events in such documents. Discussions might explore the effect of wartime and postwar censorship, along with the ways that ego-documents reflect the identity of their authors’ shifting views over time and historical context. Participants will be expected to submit a paper (no more than 15 pages) three weeks prior to the start of the workshop for circulation among the participants. Daily sessions will include 30-minute presentations followed by discussion of research (up to 30 min), as well as opportunity for participants to do research at Yad Vashem’s library and archives. The workshop will be conducted in English.

Applications are welcome from scholars working in all relevant academic disciplines, including anthropology, archaeology, art history, geography, film studies, history, Jewish studies, law, literature, material culture, philosophy, political science, religion, sociology, and other fields. Applications will be accepted from doctoral candidates (aspirants) and scholars who obtained their Ph.D. (or candidate of science degree) within the last five years.

All applications materials must be received by 12 March 2018. Incomplete applications will not be considered after this date. Late applications will not be accepted. Selected participants will be notified by 30 March 2018.

An application consists of:

1. A current Curriculum Vitae outlining the applicant’s qualifications (including previous coursework, research projects, presentations, and publications).
2. An abstract of no more than 500 words for your proposed paper (including title and discussion of methodological and theoretical issues).
3. PhD students are required to include a recommendation letter from one of her/his dissertation advisers. To preserve the confidentiality of recommendation letters, faculty recommenders must email or fax their signed letters (on institutional letterhead) directly to , fax:+97226443479.

Please send all application materials via email to:

Ms. Shlomit Shulhani, program coordinator and researcher at Moshe Mirilashvili Center for Research on the Holocaust in the Soviet Union, International Institute for Holocaust Research Yad Vashem shlomit.shulhani@yadvashem.org.il

The organizers will cover round trip economy-class air tickets to/from Israel, provide lodging for the duration of the workshop, and meals. Participants must obtain their own health insurance.

This program is made possible by a generous gift of Michael and Laura Mirilashvili to Yad Vashem’s Moshe Mirilashvili Center for Research on the Holocaust in the Soviet Union of the International Institute for Holocaust Research and is supported by Jones Day Foundation at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.