A two day workshop organized by the Holocaust Studies Program in Western Galilee College and the ... more A two day workshop organized by the Holocaust Studies Program in Western Galilee College and the the Centre for German-Jewish Studies, Sussex University
Workshop bringing together historians and researchers of cild rehabilitation after WW2 and the Ho... more Workshop bringing together historians and researchers of cild rehabilitation after WW2 and the Holocaust with practitionares working today with genocide and war affected children
"New Directions in Holocaust Research" A one day workshop in Hebrew. Western Galilee College 21.1... more "New Directions in Holocaust Research" A one day workshop in Hebrew. Western Galilee College 21.1.18 "סוגיות חדשות בחקר השואה", המכללה האקדמית גליל מערבי, עכו. כב' טבת תשע"ח 21.1.18
J.C. Friedman (Ed.), The Routledge History of the Holocaust (pp. 412-424). New York: Routledge
About 250,000 Jews, survivors of the Holocaust and refugees, were stranded in occupied Germany, A... more About 250,000 Jews, survivors of the Holocaust and refugees, were stranded in occupied Germany, Austria, and Italy in the immediate aftermath of World War II. It was only with the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 and the opening of other immigration possibilities that these people found a home outside of Europe. While on German soil (mostly) these Jewish Displaced Persons rebuilt their lives, forged new communities, and made their voice heard on the political scene. This chapter deals with the major issues and points of contention in the research of their experiences during these years.
J.B. Michlic (Ed.), Jewish Families in Europe 1939- Present: History Representation and Memory. New England University Press, 2017
Cohen, B., & Finder, G. (2017). "I Will Not Be Believed": Benjamin Tenenbaum and the Representati... more Cohen, B., & Finder, G. (2017). "I Will Not Be Believed": Benjamin Tenenbaum and the Representation of the Child Survivor". In: J.B. Michlic (Ed.), Jewish Families in Europe 1939- Present: History Representation and Memory. New England University Press, 196-208.
R. Wittmann (Ed.), The Eichmann Trial Reconsidered, University of Toronto Press, 153-168., 2021
The Eichmann Trial's Impact Reconsidered, in R. Wittmann (Ed.), The Eichmann Trial Reconsidered, ... more The Eichmann Trial's Impact Reconsidered, in R. Wittmann (Ed.), The Eichmann Trial Reconsidered, University of Toronto Press, 153-168.
The educational and rehabilitative work that three young women carried out with uprooted child Ho... more The educational and rehabilitative work that three young women carried out with uprooted child Holocaust survivors in postwar children's homes forms the subject of the following article. These caretakers also had lost most of their families, communities, and prewar social networks. While most survivors were rebuilding their own lives, they dedicated the immediate postwar years to their work in children's homes. The author establishes how they perceived the children and interacted with them, tracing their concerns, deliberations, and professional choices, and elucidates the practices and strategies they formulated.
Thousands of testimonies were collected in the immediate post-war period from child survivors of ... more Thousands of testimonies were collected in the immediate post-war period from child survivors of the Holocaust. These testimonies tell us much about the children's Holocaust experience and about society's attitude to child survivors. This paper presents an in-depth analysis of two such testimonies on the backdrop of historical research of their setting and context. Through our analysis of two children's testimonies given in the Aschau DP Children's Camp, we demonstrate that it is crucial to explore the immediate context in which testimonies were given, because of its strong influence upon their content and structure. In fact, our research shows that the contemporary context enters into the very fabric of the testimonies. No analysis, therefore, is complete without an inquiry into this crucial aspect. The two testimonies were chosen because they make up a distinct subgroup within a larger collection of testimonies that were given concurrently and, therefore, they constitute each other's immediate context. This paper also demonstrates the indispensability of a multidisciplinary analysis that draws upon elements from the fields of historical, literary and linguistic scholarship.
Abstract:The educational and rehabilitative work that three young women carried out with uprooted... more Abstract:The educational and rehabilitative work that three young women carried out with uprooted child Holocaust survivors in postwar children’s homes forms the subject of the following article. These caretakers also had lost most of their families, communities, and prewar social networks. While most survivors were rebuilding their own lives, they dedicated the immediate postwar years to their work in children’s homes. The author establishes how they perceived the children and interacted with them, tracing their concerns, deliberations, and professional choices, and elucidates the practices and strategies they formulated.
RACHEL AUERBACH (1903–76), an author and publicist of articles and reviews published in a wide ra... more RACHEL AUERBACH (1903–76), an author and publicist of articles and reviews published in a wide range of Yiddish and Polish newspapers, was a central figure in Jewish literary circles in inter-war Poland. After the German invasion of Poland, Auerbach directed one of several soup kitchens in the Warsaw ghetto under the auspices of the Aleynhilf (Self-Help), the large network of Jewish relief organizations, and became a member of the Oneg Shabes archive established and directed by the historian Emanuel Ringelblum. Her writings for Oneg Shabes included an essay about her soup kitchen and some of its regular patrons. At the end of 1942, Ringelblum asked Auerbach to transcribe the testimony of Abraham Krzepicki, who had escaped from Treblinka, which she edited into the most extensive description of the death camp to date. She fled the ghetto in March 1943, a few weeks before the uprising, and hid on the ‘Aryan’ side for the duration of the war. She dedicated herself to aiding Jews in hidi...
Holocaust survivors are often depicted in historical writing and in literature as passive and sil... more Holocaust survivors are often depicted in historical writing and in literature as passive and silent ‘others’. Their silence ended, it is claimed, following the Eichmann trial in 1961 or later in the 1970s. This silence is attributed to the deep trauma of their experiences and even to the indifferent reception of absorbing communities. Israeli society and its leaders are notoriously singled out for such treatment of survivors, for, on the one hand, sidelining them and, on the other, manipulating Holocaust memories for Zionist and Israeli state purposes. Current research is challenging this picture of silence and shows survivors as an active force in early Israeli society. Survivors lobbied successfully for Holocaust-related legislation and raised their voices in issues connected to Holocaust commemoration.
This paper focuses on an unpublished Yiddish manuscript of 42 child Holocaust testimonies, collec... more This paper focuses on an unpublished Yiddish manuscript of 42 child Holocaust testimonies, collected and written down in Polish Bytom in 1945 by Shlomo Tsam, the principal of the local Hebrew School, who – through chronicling the fate of his charges under the Nazis – gave permanence to the children’s stories of loss and survival, stories which otherwise would have been lost.
Abstract:The educational and rehabilitative work that three young women carried out with uprooted... more Abstract:The educational and rehabilitative work that three young women carried out with uprooted child Holocaust survivors in postwar children’s homes forms the subject of the following article. These caretakers also had lost most of their families, communities, and prewar social networks. While most survivors were rebuilding their own lives, they dedicated the immediate postwar years to their work in children’s homes. The author establishes how they perceived the children and interacted with them, tracing their concerns, deliberations, and professional choices, and elucidates the practices and strategies they formulated.
A two day workshop organized by the Holocaust Studies Program in Western Galilee College and the ... more A two day workshop organized by the Holocaust Studies Program in Western Galilee College and the the Centre for German-Jewish Studies, Sussex University
Workshop bringing together historians and researchers of cild rehabilitation after WW2 and the Ho... more Workshop bringing together historians and researchers of cild rehabilitation after WW2 and the Holocaust with practitionares working today with genocide and war affected children
"New Directions in Holocaust Research" A one day workshop in Hebrew. Western Galilee College 21.1... more "New Directions in Holocaust Research" A one day workshop in Hebrew. Western Galilee College 21.1.18 "סוגיות חדשות בחקר השואה", המכללה האקדמית גליל מערבי, עכו. כב' טבת תשע"ח 21.1.18
J.C. Friedman (Ed.), The Routledge History of the Holocaust (pp. 412-424). New York: Routledge
About 250,000 Jews, survivors of the Holocaust and refugees, were stranded in occupied Germany, A... more About 250,000 Jews, survivors of the Holocaust and refugees, were stranded in occupied Germany, Austria, and Italy in the immediate aftermath of World War II. It was only with the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 and the opening of other immigration possibilities that these people found a home outside of Europe. While on German soil (mostly) these Jewish Displaced Persons rebuilt their lives, forged new communities, and made their voice heard on the political scene. This chapter deals with the major issues and points of contention in the research of their experiences during these years.
J.B. Michlic (Ed.), Jewish Families in Europe 1939- Present: History Representation and Memory. New England University Press, 2017
Cohen, B., & Finder, G. (2017). "I Will Not Be Believed": Benjamin Tenenbaum and the Representati... more Cohen, B., & Finder, G. (2017). "I Will Not Be Believed": Benjamin Tenenbaum and the Representation of the Child Survivor". In: J.B. Michlic (Ed.), Jewish Families in Europe 1939- Present: History Representation and Memory. New England University Press, 196-208.
R. Wittmann (Ed.), The Eichmann Trial Reconsidered, University of Toronto Press, 153-168., 2021
The Eichmann Trial's Impact Reconsidered, in R. Wittmann (Ed.), The Eichmann Trial Reconsidered, ... more The Eichmann Trial's Impact Reconsidered, in R. Wittmann (Ed.), The Eichmann Trial Reconsidered, University of Toronto Press, 153-168.
The educational and rehabilitative work that three young women carried out with uprooted child Ho... more The educational and rehabilitative work that three young women carried out with uprooted child Holocaust survivors in postwar children's homes forms the subject of the following article. These caretakers also had lost most of their families, communities, and prewar social networks. While most survivors were rebuilding their own lives, they dedicated the immediate postwar years to their work in children's homes. The author establishes how they perceived the children and interacted with them, tracing their concerns, deliberations, and professional choices, and elucidates the practices and strategies they formulated.
Thousands of testimonies were collected in the immediate post-war period from child survivors of ... more Thousands of testimonies were collected in the immediate post-war period from child survivors of the Holocaust. These testimonies tell us much about the children's Holocaust experience and about society's attitude to child survivors. This paper presents an in-depth analysis of two such testimonies on the backdrop of historical research of their setting and context. Through our analysis of two children's testimonies given in the Aschau DP Children's Camp, we demonstrate that it is crucial to explore the immediate context in which testimonies were given, because of its strong influence upon their content and structure. In fact, our research shows that the contemporary context enters into the very fabric of the testimonies. No analysis, therefore, is complete without an inquiry into this crucial aspect. The two testimonies were chosen because they make up a distinct subgroup within a larger collection of testimonies that were given concurrently and, therefore, they constitute each other's immediate context. This paper also demonstrates the indispensability of a multidisciplinary analysis that draws upon elements from the fields of historical, literary and linguistic scholarship.
Abstract:The educational and rehabilitative work that three young women carried out with uprooted... more Abstract:The educational and rehabilitative work that three young women carried out with uprooted child Holocaust survivors in postwar children’s homes forms the subject of the following article. These caretakers also had lost most of their families, communities, and prewar social networks. While most survivors were rebuilding their own lives, they dedicated the immediate postwar years to their work in children’s homes. The author establishes how they perceived the children and interacted with them, tracing their concerns, deliberations, and professional choices, and elucidates the practices and strategies they formulated.
RACHEL AUERBACH (1903–76), an author and publicist of articles and reviews published in a wide ra... more RACHEL AUERBACH (1903–76), an author and publicist of articles and reviews published in a wide range of Yiddish and Polish newspapers, was a central figure in Jewish literary circles in inter-war Poland. After the German invasion of Poland, Auerbach directed one of several soup kitchens in the Warsaw ghetto under the auspices of the Aleynhilf (Self-Help), the large network of Jewish relief organizations, and became a member of the Oneg Shabes archive established and directed by the historian Emanuel Ringelblum. Her writings for Oneg Shabes included an essay about her soup kitchen and some of its regular patrons. At the end of 1942, Ringelblum asked Auerbach to transcribe the testimony of Abraham Krzepicki, who had escaped from Treblinka, which she edited into the most extensive description of the death camp to date. She fled the ghetto in March 1943, a few weeks before the uprising, and hid on the ‘Aryan’ side for the duration of the war. She dedicated herself to aiding Jews in hidi...
Holocaust survivors are often depicted in historical writing and in literature as passive and sil... more Holocaust survivors are often depicted in historical writing and in literature as passive and silent ‘others’. Their silence ended, it is claimed, following the Eichmann trial in 1961 or later in the 1970s. This silence is attributed to the deep trauma of their experiences and even to the indifferent reception of absorbing communities. Israeli society and its leaders are notoriously singled out for such treatment of survivors, for, on the one hand, sidelining them and, on the other, manipulating Holocaust memories for Zionist and Israeli state purposes. Current research is challenging this picture of silence and shows survivors as an active force in early Israeli society. Survivors lobbied successfully for Holocaust-related legislation and raised their voices in issues connected to Holocaust commemoration.
This paper focuses on an unpublished Yiddish manuscript of 42 child Holocaust testimonies, collec... more This paper focuses on an unpublished Yiddish manuscript of 42 child Holocaust testimonies, collected and written down in Polish Bytom in 1945 by Shlomo Tsam, the principal of the local Hebrew School, who – through chronicling the fate of his charges under the Nazis – gave permanence to the children’s stories of loss and survival, stories which otherwise would have been lost.
Abstract:The educational and rehabilitative work that three young women carried out with uprooted... more Abstract:The educational and rehabilitative work that three young women carried out with uprooted child Holocaust survivors in postwar children’s homes forms the subject of the following article. These caretakers also had lost most of their families, communities, and prewar social networks. While most survivors were rebuilding their own lives, they dedicated the immediate postwar years to their work in children’s homes. The author establishes how they perceived the children and interacted with them, tracing their concerns, deliberations, and professional choices, and elucidates the practices and strategies they formulated.
ABSTRACT This article examines the mindset, concerns and ideas of Dr Meir (Mark) Dworzecki (1908–... more ABSTRACT This article examines the mindset, concerns and ideas of Dr Meir (Mark) Dworzecki (1908–75), a survivor of the Vilna Ghetto and several slave labor camps, and a significant figure in early Israeli Holocaust research and commemoration. A physician, historian, active Zionist, and community leader, he established the world's first university chair in Holocaust studies at Bar-Ilan University. His impact on Yad Vashem and on the emergence of Holocaust historiography has begun to be reassessed. His prolific writings enable us to appreciate his motives, explore his research agenda, and learn his views on survivors in the postwar world and their mission.
This paper tells two intertwining stories reflecting post-Holocaust power struggles between Jewis... more This paper tells two intertwining stories reflecting post-Holocaust power struggles between Jewish communities and organizations and their impact on Holocaust documentation: the efforts to create a Holocaust archive in Yad Vashem from the late 1940s and the hitherto unknown involvement of Israel Kastner in these efforts. Kastner, a controversial leader and activist in Hungary during the Holocaust, was at the apex of a stormy public debate in 1950s Israel (known as the ‘Kastner trial’) and was murdered in 1957. His role in the Holocaust of Hungarian Jews is still debated by historians and in the Israeli public sphere. Yet, his involvement with Yad Vashem, the venerable Zionist-Israeli institution, did not come to light in the trial or in historical research. It is unearthed and discussed in this paper.
Thousands of testimonies were collected in the immediate post-war period from child survivors of ... more Thousands of testimonies were collected in the immediate post-war period from child survivors of the Holocaust. These testimonies tell us much about the children's Holocaust experience and about society's attitude to child survivors. This paper presents an in-depth analysis of two such testimonies on the backdrop of historical research of their setting and context. Through our analysis of two children's testimonies given in the Aschau DP Children's Camp, we demonstrate that it is crucial to explore the immediate context in which testimonies were given, because of its strong influence upon their content and structure. In fact, our research shows that the contemporary context enters into the very fabric of the testimonies. No analysis, therefore, is complete without an inquiry into this crucial aspect. The two testimonies were chosen because they make up a distinct subgroup within a larger collection of testimonies that were given concurrently and, therefore, they constitute each other's immediate context. This paper also demonstrates the indispensability of a multidisciplinary analysis that draws upon elements from the fields of historical, literary and linguistic scholarship.
If you wanted to know the inside story of Israeli Holocaust Research this is what you were lookin... more If you wanted to know the inside story of Israeli Holocaust Research this is what you were looking for.
My book 'Israeli Holocaust Research: Birth and Evolution' just came out in a paperback edition. Now it may be affordable to my researcher colleagues. this is a discount flyer
An exploration of the development of Holocaust research in Israel, this book ranges from the cons... more An exploration of the development of Holocaust research in Israel, this book ranges from the consolidation of Holocaust research as an academic subject in the late 1940s to the establishment of Yad Vashem and beyond.
Research on the story of historiography is often a work on books, on the "final products" that fill academic bookshelves yet, in Israeli Holocaust Research, Boaz Cohen illustrates that the evolution of holocaust research in Israel has a more human element to it. Drawing on knowledge gained through seven years of work in ten major archives in Israel, the author reveals a previously unseen picture of the development of Israeli Holocaust research "from below," and of the social and cultural forces influencing its character. In doing so, a new facet to the picture emerges, of the story beyond the archive and the people who see Holocaust research as their mission and responsibility.
This book will be a fascinating addition to the study of Holocaust research and will be of particular interest to students of history, historiography and Jewish studies
International conference and workshops
To be held on March 8-10, 2016
At Western Galilee College,... more International conference and workshops To be held on March 8-10, 2016 At Western Galilee College, Akko, Israel
The Jewish History Program and the Holocaust Studies Program of the Western Galilee College
Th... more The Jewish History Program and the Holocaust Studies Program of the Western Galilee College
The Borns Jewish Studies Program of Indiana University, Bloomington
cordially invite you to the international conference and workshops:
Jewish Historical Writing: 140 years to Heinrich Graetz's "History of the Jewish People"
To be held on March 9-10, 2015
At Western Galilee College, Akko, Israel
החטיבה לתולדות ישראל והתכנית ללימודי השואה במכללה האקדמית גליל מערבי
והתוכנית ללימודי יהדות ע"... more החטיבה לתולדות ישראל והתכנית ללימודי השואה במכללה האקדמית גליל מערבי
והתוכנית ללימודי יהדות ע"ש בורנס באוניברסיטת של אינדיאנה בבלומינגטון
שמחות להזמינכם
לכנס בינלאומי בנושא:
כתיבה היסטורית יהודית: 140 שנים ל"תולדות היהודים" של היינריך גרץ
שיתקיים ביום ג', כ' אדר תשע"ה, 10.3.2015 בשעה 09:00
במכללה האקדמית גליל מערבי
The Holocaust Studies Program of Western Galilee College, the Jewish Studies Program at the Unive... more The Holocaust Studies Program of Western Galilee College, the Jewish Studies Program at the University of Virginia, and the Maurice Greenberg Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Hartford announce the fourth international interdisciplinary conference and workshop on The Future of Holocaust Testimonies to be held on 8–10 March 2016 in Akko, Israel.
The document presented here was created in 1945 in Bytom, Poland. It contains testimonies by Holo... more The document presented here was created in 1945 in Bytom, Poland. It contains testimonies by Holocaust survivor children collected and put down in a notebook by their survivor teacher, Shlomo Tsam, in the immediate aftermath of the Holocaust. The testimonies shed light on Jewish children's experience in Eastern Europe during the Holocaust, describing oppression, flight, and survival in the words of the weakest segment of Jewish communities – children. The testimonies provide raw data on the encounters between Jews and non-Jews in the territories in which the “Final Solution” was carried out. It is thus an important source contributing to the burgeoning research on the involvement of local populations in the murder of the Jews, on one hand, and in saving Jews, on the other. The creation of this document, one of several collections of Jewish survivor children's testimonies produced in the immediate postwar years, is also indicative of post-Holocaust Jewish sensibilities and concerns regarding surviving children.
This is a plan for the research of Post war Holocaust Survivor and DP children. Its original vers... more This is a plan for the research of Post war Holocaust Survivor and DP children. Its original version was presented in the workshop "Life in the aftermath – Displaced Persons, Displaced Children and Child Survivors: New approaches in education and research". We are now opening it to comments and suggestions. will be very thankful for your input.
In Reference to the "Children in Crisis: Post WW2 and Relevance for Today" Conference, London Oct... more In Reference to the "Children in Crisis: Post WW2 and Relevance for Today" Conference, London October 17-19 2017
Uploads
2018 'events
"סוגיות חדשות בחקר השואה", המכללה האקדמית גליל מערבי, עכו. כב' טבת תשע"ח 21.1.18
Papers
"סוגיות חדשות בחקר השואה", המכללה האקדמית גליל מערבי, עכו. כב' טבת תשע"ח 21.1.18
My book 'Israeli Holocaust Research: Birth and Evolution' just came out in a paperback edition. Now it may be affordable to my researcher colleagues. this is a discount flyer
Research on the story of historiography is often a work on books, on the "final products" that fill academic bookshelves yet, in Israeli Holocaust Research, Boaz Cohen illustrates that the evolution of holocaust research in Israel has a more human element to it. Drawing on knowledge gained through seven years of work in ten major archives in Israel, the author reveals a previously unseen picture of the development of Israeli Holocaust research "from below," and of the social and cultural forces influencing its character. In doing so, a new facet to the picture emerges, of the story beyond the archive and the people who see Holocaust research as their mission and responsibility.
This book will be a fascinating addition to the study of Holocaust research and will be of particular interest to students of history, historiography and Jewish studies
To be held on March 8-10, 2016
At Western Galilee College, Akko, Israel
The Borns Jewish Studies Program of Indiana University, Bloomington
cordially invite you to the international conference and workshops:
Jewish Historical Writing: 140 years to Heinrich Graetz's "History of the Jewish People"
To be held on March 9-10, 2015
At Western Galilee College, Akko, Israel
והתוכנית ללימודי יהדות ע"ש בורנס באוניברסיטת של אינדיאנה בבלומינגטון
שמחות להזמינכם
לכנס בינלאומי בנושא:
כתיבה היסטורית יהודית: 140 שנים ל"תולדות היהודים" של היינריך גרץ
שיתקיים ביום ג', כ' אדר תשע"ה, 10.3.2015 בשעה 09:00
במכללה האקדמית גליל מערבי