The Third International Scholars' Workshop „Medicine after the Holocaust“ will take place on September, 8-11, 2020 in Berlin, Fürstenberg/Havel and Alt Rehse/Penzlin. The conference will be jointly organized by the Sachsenhausen Memorial and Museum (Brandenburg Memorials Foundation), the Institute for the History and Ethics of Medicine/Charité – University of Berlin, the Memorial and Educational Site „House of the Wannsee conference“ and the Remembrance, Education and Encounter Site Alt Rehse.
Two conferences "Medicine after the Holocaust" were already held: in Houston, TX/USA (2015), and in Akko, Israel (2017). Now, the organizers want to host „Medicine after the Holocaust“ in Germany. It will take place in the symbolic memorial year 2020, which marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation from National Socialism. The conference will focus on the question of what can be learned for current medical ethics from the crimes of German Nazi doctors and how this knowledge can provide medical or therapeutic professionals with professionally relevant insights for today.
Since the conference will take place in Germany as the „land of the Nazi perpetrators“, historical sites of the medical crimes will play an important role: conference venues will be the Charité Berlin, the Ravensbrück Memorial and the Alt Rehse Memorial, Education and Encounter Centre, from where excursions to other relevant authentic sites will be offered. At the various conference venues, international perspectives and local educational experiences will come together in the discussion.
The conference language will be English.
Scholars in the field are invited to present new research on the followings conference topics:
Imparting / educating
- Nazi medicine in health professions education
- Films and other media in the educational work
(suggestions for interactive workshops of several applicants are particularly welcome)
Commemorating
- Forms of remembrance: artistic, medial and other approaches in the memorial culture
- "Giving back the names": data protection vs. commemoration
- Dealing with human remains in the context of Nazi medical crimes
Researching
- Current results on Nazi medical crimes in the occupied territories of Eastern Europe
- New findings on medicine in concentration camps
- New research on protagonists of Nazi medicine,
- and on the coping with Nazi medicine in the GDR and the Federal Republic of Germany.
Types of presentations: 20-minutes lectures in conference sessions; posters
Please send a one-page abstract (max. 300 words text) in English, with title and name of the presenter. The abstract should include a description of the research topic and innovation, a summary of findings and sources. Additionally a CV of up to one page to the following address:
Medicine-after-Holocaust@stiftung-bg.de
Abstract submission deadline: February, 10, 2020
Provided that we receive funding, travel and accommodation costs for lecturers can be covered.
Conference committee:
Prof. Dr. Thomas Beddies, Institute for the History and Ethics of Medicine/Charité – University of Berlin; Dr. Axel Drecoll, Brandenburg Memorials Foundation; Dr. Hans-Christian Jasch, Memorial and Educational Site „House of the Wannsee conference“; Dr. Astrid Ley, Sachsenhausen Memorial and Museum; Dr. Susanne Michl, Institute for the History and Ethics of Medicine/Charité – University of Berlin; Dr. Rainer Stommer, Remembrance, Education and Encounter Site Alt Rehse.
The conference will be funded by the Federal Government (Federal Foreign Office; Federal Ministry of Health; Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media), the State of Brandenburg (Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Integration and Consumer Protection (inquired); Ministry for Science, Research and Culture), the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (inquired) and the Berlin Chamber of Physicians.