08 July 2009
An international workshop for Holocaust scholars will take place at Yad Vashem’s International Institute for Holocaust Research next week. Examining how the Holocaust was reported in various media during World War II, the workshop, the first of its kind, brings together Holocaust researchers from Israel, Canada, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the UK, Hungary, Russia, Holland and the United States, for in-depth discussions of how the various media reported the Holocaust as it unfolded.
“The Holocaust and Its Immediate Aftermath (1933-1947): The Press, Newsreels, Films and Radio Broadcasts in Real Time” will take place at Yad Vashem on July 13-20, 2009, with the generous support of the Gutwirth Family Fund.
Prof. David Bankier, Head of the International Institute for Holocaust Research at Yad Vashem:
“So far, research has looked at post WWII media in relation to the Holocaust. For the first time this workshop brings together serious research on real time media coverage of the Holocaust. In fact, some of the research that will be presented was undertaken specifically for this workshop. Looking at a diversity of media and geographic areas, the workshop will help clarify such questions as what ‘bystanders’ really knew about the Holocaust, during the Holocaust and, if the Holocaust was marginalized in the press, why was this the case?”
Participants will present new research on issues such as “German Newsreels and the Holocaust”; “Antisemitism in Nazi-influenced Wartime Newsreels: An International Perspective”; “The Czechoslovak BBC section and the Jewish Aspect of the Broadcasts to the Protectorate and Slovakia during WWII”; “Jews in Hungarian Newsreels, 1933-1947”; “Anti-Jewish Propaganda in Occupied Poland, 1939-1945: Inciting Hate Through Posters, Films and Exhibitions”; “Racist and Antisemitic Propaganda in Context: Fascist Radio Broadcasts in Italy About Racism and Antisemitism, Newsreels and the Plans for Racial Movies (1933-1945)”; “Radio Vaticana: A Catholic Voice in the Second World War”; and “The Bystanders’ Perspective: Coverage of the Persecution of the Jews and the Holocaust in the Canadian Print, Radio and Newsreel Media and Its Impact on Holocaust Awareness and Governmental Policies in Canada, 1933-1947.”
