Call For Papers: Older People and the Holocaust: A Workshop for Doctoral Students and Early Career Researchers

5 – 6 December 2024
The Wiener Holocaust Library, 29 Russell Square, WC1B5DP London

Download the full Call for Papers here.

The Wiener Holocaust Library in partnership with the Holocaust Research Institute, Royal Holloway, University of London (together the Holocaust and Genocide Research Partnership, HGRP), the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany (Claims Conference) are pleased to invite calls for papers that explore the history of the Holocaust through the prism of age, with a particular focus on older Jews and other persecuted groups before, during, and after the Holocaust. This workshop, intended for doctoral students and early career researchers, is designed to provide an opportunity to present works in progress that explore the experiences of older Jews and other persecuted groups, reaching beyond the standard narration that tends to marginalise older people by solely highlighting their vulnerability and death.

While there is a burgeoning literature that aims to examine the particular experiences of older Jewish and other persecutees (e.g., Hájková, Stone, Strauss, Meyer, Zatlin, Moskowitz, Taylor, Brandt), more research needs to be done about how older Jews and other victims experienced the Holocaust across geographic borders, about their survival strategies, and about others’ responses to the plight of the elderly. In fact, the concept of “the elderly” is a charged and contested one. How does one define “elderly victims” during and after the Holocaust? Where are life histories of elderly persecutees before, during and after the Holocaust “locatable” in the archival record? A relatively small number of older Jews, particularly women, survived World War II. How was help for them organised? What problems did older survivors face? What happened to elderly Jews and other survivors who reached displaced persons (DP) camps, to the returnees to their home countries, and to those who settled elsewhere?

The workshop organisers invite proposals from any methodological/disciplinary approach in Jewish and Holocaust Studies (including history, sociology, literature, digital humanities, anthropology) that zoom in on age as a category of analysis and that illuminate how older individuals – based on biological or relational, social age constructs, self-understanding, external definitions, and so on – lived through genocide, navigated the aftermath of atrocities, and how other actors (individuals, communities, organisations, states) reacted to the needs of older persecutees. Projects that explore the intersections between age, class, gender, sexuality, and other frameworks are particularly welcome. We also welcome projects already in progress that, while not using the frame of age or a focus on older people as a primary lens, would benefit from knowledge exchange with other scholars to enhance their understanding of this framework and to expand and deepen their research focus.

Participants will be asked to pre-circulate drafts/excerpts of chapters prior to the workshop via a secure link. These will not be made publicly available, and the workshop will be closed to accepted participants and will not be recorded. Accommodation in London for one night will be provided for non-local participants, and dinner on 5 December and lunch on 6 December will also be provided. Limited travel grants will be available. All participants will be asked to stay for the duration of the workshop, and subsidies for travel that are granted will be provided as reimbursements after the workshop.

This workshop derives from a forthcoming edited volume, Older Jews and the Holocaust (Wayne State University Press, 2025), co-edited by Christine Schmidt, Elizabeth Anthony, and Joanna Sliwa. It is generously supported by the Ernest Hecht Charitable Foundation and the Holocaust Research Institute, Royal Holloway, University of London.

Convened by:

Dr Elizabeth Anthony, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Dr Christine Schmidt, The Wiener Holocaust Library

Dr Joanna Sliwa, The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference)

Please submit your proposal with the information below, here.

1. Your name, institution, and e-mail address
2. An abstract of your project up to 600 words
3. A CV/bio of to 300 words
4. A cover letter (1 page) indicating why this workshop would be beneficial to your project, as well as an indication of travel costs for which you might need support.

For queries, please contact Christine Schmidt.

Download the full Call for Papers here.