U of T hosting Holocaust scholars from around the world
Published: October 3, 2013
A group of young scholars from 11 different countries will gather at the University of Toronto to discuss new research on the Holocaust on October 6 - 7.
“We have worked hard to bring together some of the most interesting and original new scholars in Holocaust studies,” said U of T historian Doris Bergen, the Chancellor Rose and Ray Wolfe Chair of Holocaust Studies at U of T and organizer of the meeting.
“Our meeting will demonstrate the vitality of Holocaust research, and introduce new ways of thinking about this crucial event of the last century.”
Attendees will include Vojin Majstorović, (pictured below) a doctoral student in U of T’s Department of History and Centre for Jewish Studies, who studies everyday life in the Red Army. Majstorović’s research, which has taken him to archives in Russia, Ukraine, Serbia and the United States, sheds light on the Soviet troops’ encounter with Europe from the perspective of frontline soldiers and officers.
“Little has been known about the Red Army during the Second World War because the former communist regime shrouded the topic in secrecy,” said Majstorović.
Majstorović’s presentation at the conference – entitled “Interpreting Genocide: Soviet Officers and the Holocaust in Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Hungary" – will explain how Red Army officers used the Holocaust to accuse enemy nations such as Germany and Hungary of committing appalling atrocities, and so justify the terrible violence which the Red Army unleashed against them.
The conference is part of the annual meeting of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, an intergovernmental body committed to Holocaust remembrance and the fight against anti-Semitism.
For more information about the upcoming conference, please call 416.978-1624 or visit the conference website.
