International Workshop within the Framework of the European Holocaust Research Infrastructure (EHRI) supported by the European Commission
Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe – Berlin
October 20-21, 2014
This expert meeting is organised within the framework of the European Holocaust Research Infrastructure (EHRI) programme, supported by the European Commission. EHRI was launched in November 2010, and is dedicated to opening up collections related to Holocaust history within a web-based environment. The overall objective of the EHRI experts' workshops is to generate a creative exchange of knowledge and views between experts in various methodological subfields of Holocaust research and documentation.
A vast amount of work was done in the last decades in order to document and commemorate the names of as many as possible of the Shoah victims. There is still much to be done in order to name each and all of the victims and we will have to stay the course on this mission for yet a long time. Nevertheless, there are already in existence many large and small projects and databases based on a huge array of sources. More and more pressingly now we are facing another kind of challenge: the need to make sense of the abundance of data, to organize it and cluster together, when available, the multiple pieces and bits of information referring to one and the same victim. This means rising up from the level of the flat separate data items to that of a relational system linking them in a virtual personal file, sometimes eventually resulting, as far as possible, in reconstructing a brief personal life story.
Participants are invited to present their findings and projects that focus on, in particular, methodology for and experience with identifying and matching documentary references relevant to one same victim, linking them and building clusters as well as presenting them in an articulated and meaningful way either in print or in a digital framework. Also of much interest would be new or non-traditional sources that have the potential to supply additional data that can be used to enrich and enhance the existing information on scantily documented individuals.
Hence, the Call for Papers is directed to historians and archivists, to researchers in the field of names databases and onomastics, as well as representatives of other related disciplines.
The planned EHRI archives and research portal will enable researchers to obtain knowledge about Holocaust-related fonds and collections in archives all over Europe. Widely scattered documents can be virtually rearranged according to their original provenances and material pertaining to specific topics can be brought together by interested researchers on their virtual desks. The conjunction of sources of information and of information itself about events, persons and locations in the context of the Holocaust is partly conditioned by the necessity of reconstructing and high lining the links between sources at the basic level of the individual victim.
This workshop will serve as a venue for representatives of various scientific disciplines to exchange ideas, with the goal of providing new incentives for Holocaust research, specifically in the application of methods for the micro personal history to the study of the Holocaust.
Call for Papers
Proposals are now invited for individual presentations or for participation in round tables relating to victims' names aspects, in workshop sessions on the following topics:
1. Projects at country level: large scale attempts to compile comprehensive information on each victim from specific countries
2. Local initiatives: smaller scale projects to reconstruct prewar Jewish life and individual stories in specific locations
3. Between documentation, research and museology: putting together individual, family or community stories for exhibition purposes
4. Opening up new types of sources for missing names and additional personal
We are open also to suggestions for additional aspects within the general topic.
Participants should endeavor to present the methodological issues as applied, or in the context of specific projects or research findings.
Individual Papers
Each accepted paper for individual presentation will be allotted between 15 to 20 minutes for presentation and then discussion.
Round Table Papers
This is an opportunity also for several shorter presentations (approx. 5-10 minutes each) and a chaired discussion. This may be a more suitable slot for 'works in progress'
submissions.
The workshop will be conducted in English. Translation from or to other languages will not be available. All workshop sessions will be led by a moderator.
If you are interested in giving an individual paper or participating in a round table discussion, please send a short 500 word proposal and a CV (including all relevant contact information) to:
anne.langer@stiftung-denkmal.de
The deadline for submissions of proposals is June 15, 2014.
Notification will be sent via email by July 15, 2014.
Subsidies will be available to participants in accordance with European Commission guidelines and the EHRI project budget.