The Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS) and Introitte Publishers have the pleasure of inviting you to a seminar on:
Testimonies from Auschwitz:
An Intimate Look at the Sonderkommandos and
the Process of Mass Murder
Friday, 10 September 2010, 13.00-15.00
Danish Institute for International Studies
Main Auditorium
Strandgade 71, ground floor, 1401 Copenhagen K
Background
In order to carry out the extermination of European Jewry, the Nazi regime needed to develop efficient methods of mass murder. One of the measures they instituted was the establishment of a team in every Nazi death camp, solely consisting of Jews, assigned the horrific task of disposing of the bodies of the victims. These teams were labeled with the euphemistic term “Sonderkommando” (special unit). The only alternative for those assigned to this job was instant death.
Few members of the Sonderkommando lived to tell the world about the atrocities they had experienced. A series of testimonies from members of these Sonderkommandos are now available in Danish (Vi græd uden tårer, September 2010) with the recent translation of Gideon Greif’s book We Wept Without Tears: Testimonies of the Jewish Sonderkommando from Auschwitz, Yale University Press 2005. This book is considered one of the principal works concerning the Sonderkommandos in Holocaust historiography.
In this lecture, Gideon Greif will provide an intimate look at the process of mass killing as it was carried out in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Greif will address some of the more difficult questions associated with the history of the Sonderkommandos. How did the members of the Sonderkommando handle the daily choice between prolonging their own lives through complying or being killed? How were the surviving members of the Sonderkommandos treated by other survivors in the aftermath of the Holocaust? And why are testimonies, such as those presented in the work by Greif, important contributions to the history of the Holocaust?
Gideon Greif is an Israeli historian who holds a PhD from the University of Vienna. He is currently doing research at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem – one of the leading institutions in Holocaust research. Between 1996 and 2001, Gideon Greif taught at the University of Vienna and currently holds a position as a visiting professor at the Sue and Leonard Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies at the University of Miami. For more than 30 years, he has been working on documenting the Holocaust, particularly with relation to the work of the Sonderkommandos.
Programme
13.00-13.10 Introduction
Cecilie Felicia Stokholm Banke, Senior Researcher, DIIS
13.10-14.00 Testimonies from Auschwitz – An Intimate Look at the
Sonderkommandos and the Process of Mass Murder
Gideon Greif, PhD, Yad Vashem
14.00-14.15 Coffee Break
14.15-15.00 Open Discussion
Chair: Cecilie Felicia Stokholm Banke, Senior Researcher, DIIS
Practical Information
The seminar will be held in English.
It will be possible to purchase a copy of the book at a reduced price of DKK 250- (only cash is accepted!)
Participation is free of charge, but registration is required. Please use below online registration form no later than Wednesday, 8 September 2010 at 12.00 noon. |
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