On the 80th anniversary of the Operation Reinhard, the Jerzy Kłoczowski East Central Europe Institute, the Grodzka Gate–NN Theatre Centre in Lublin, the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies (Yale University) and the German Historical Institute in Warsaw organize a conference discussing the various stages of the extermination of Jews in different parts of the General Government.
We would like to discuss the indirect extermination in ghettos, the functioning of labor camps for Jews, the preparations for and course of the Operation Reinhard in various districts (including deportation actions in selected ghettos), death camps in Bełżec, Sobibór and Treblinka, and finally the third stage of the extermination from three perspectives: perpetrators, victims and bystanders. Politics and education about the Holocaust will also be discussed.
Our goal is to present the most recent research and to outline the directions and perspectives of further academic inquiries. An important element of the conference will be the debates and discussions among researchers regarding the studies presented. A special moment of the conference will be the Lelewel Debate.
THURSDAY, JUNE 9
9.00 Opening remarks
9.30 - 11.20 Perpetrators (chair: Lukasz Krzyzanowski)
Edward Westermann, The Intoxication of Violence: Performative Masculinity, Social Camaraderie, and Aggression
Markus Roth, The German County Chiefs in the Generalgouvernement and their Role in the Holocaust
Andrzej Żbikowski, Jürgen Stroop and the Final Liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto
Robert Parzer, A New Perspective on the Entangled History of the Shoa and Nazi-”Euthanasia”: Transfers of Perpetratorship between Occupied Poland and the Altreich
11.20-11.50 Coffee break
11.50-13.20 Victims (chair: Marek Radziwon)
Christhardt Henschel, Persecution of Jews in the Regierungsbezirk Zichenau and the „Aktion Reinhardt”
Katarzyna Person, Jews Helping Other Jews in General Government: The Case of Warsaw Ghetto
Natalia Aleksiun, Underground Lives: Jews in Hiding in Eastern Galicia
15.30-17.00 Bystanders (chair: Christhardt Henschel)
Michał Kowalski, Attitudes of Polish Witnesses towards Liquidation Actions during the Reinhardt Operation. The Case of the Sokołów District
Martyna Grądzka-Rejak, Persecution for Providing Help to Jews During and After the Operation Reinhardt
Adam Puławski, Polish Government-in-exile and the Polish Underground State Facing the Holocaust
17.00-17.30 Coffee break
17.30-19.30 Historiography; discussions & controversies (chair: Gieorgij Kasjanow)
Jan Grabowski, Jan Tomasz Gross, Andreas Lawaty, Natalia Aleksiun
FRIDAY, JUNE 10
9.30-11.20 Collaborators (chair: Mirosław Filipowicz)
Tomasz Frydel, The Polish Blue Police and the Holocaust: Ordinary Men, Extraordinary State Violence
Peter Black, What Happened to the Trawniki Men?: Patterns of Existence After Trawniki
John-Paul Himka, Local Police in Distrikt Galizien and in Volhynia within the Reichskommissariat Ukraine: Their Role in the Holocaust
Grzegorz Rossoliński-Liebe, Polish Mayors and the Holocaust in the General Government
11.20-11.40 Coffee break
11.40-13.20 Methodology (chair: Winson Chu)
Annika Wienert, Towards Transdisciplinary Holocaust Research: Spacial Thinking as recherche croisée
Zofia Wóycicka, Between Documentation and Inscenisation. Presenting the Holocaust in Contemporary Polish Museums
Marcin Urbanek, New Museum and Memorial Site in the Former Extermination Camp in Sobibór as a Protective Space
13.20-13.40 Coffee break
13.40-15.40 Education (chair: Roman Romantsov)
Piotr Trojański, Education about the Holocaust in Poland in a Historical Perspective
Jolanta Laskowska, Holocaust in Educational Activities at the State Museum at Majdanek
Stephen Naron, Reflections of Aktion Reinhardt in the Testimonies at the Fortunoff Video Archive
Monika Tarajko, Last/Lost traces. Symbols and Stories in Memory Work
17.30-20.00 Lelewel Debate (Event in English with simultaneous Polish translation)
30 Years after 'Ordinary Men': Groundbreaking and New Perspectives in Holocaust Research
Welcome by the organizers
Online address by Christopher Browning (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, emeritus)
Discussion
Mark Roseman (Indiana University, Bloomington), Roma Sendyka (Jagiellonian University, Krakow), Michał Bilewicz (University of Warsaw), Łukasz Krzyżanowski (German Historical Institute, chair)
Q&A
SATURDAY, JUNE 11
Tour of Holocaust memorial sites
The conference will be broadcast on the Internet and recorded on video.
Conference is designed to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the beginning of “Operation Reinhard”.