CALL FOR PAPERS

Special Issue of Dapim: Studies on the Holocaust
Fascism, Extremism, and Extermination

Editors: Dr. Ishay Landa (Guest Editor) and Dr. Michal Aharony

The paradigmatic genocidal campaign in modern history, the Holocaust, was the product of a regime considered by many, but not all, historians to have been a “fascist” one. But what was the precise relation between fascism and extermination? Was there something distinctly fascist about the National Socialist eliminationist impulse, as some historians argue? Or was it, as others have claimed, a unique feature of National Socialism, the outcome of a racist obsession so pervasive as to set Nazism apart from all other fascist regimes and ideologies? Violence and extremism are regularly associated with interwar fascism, but often in ways that eschew a comparative perspective and merely presuppose, but do not accord sustained attention to the specificities of fascist violence. The aim of this special volume of Dapim is to zoom in on the question of fascist extremism up to, and including, extermination. The board of Dapim therefore invites scholars in various disciplines (such as Holocaust studies, history, philosophy, and sociology), to submit proposals for essays that offer innovative perspectives on themes and questions that include, but are not limited to, the following ones:

- Was there in so-called generic fascism a general tendency to strive to physically eliminate the enemies, real or imagined?
Do the Holocaust and the genocidal campaigns against the Roma and Sinti attest to the sui generis nature of Nazism?
Or did they, rather, form the utmost expression of a broader logic underpinning the fascist experience?

- How should fascist extremism/extermination best be conceived?
Was it, for instance, the result of a revolt against civilization, the product of a de-civilizing process (Norbert Elias)?
In contrast, was it an exacerbation of a genocidal pattern inherent in Western civilization?

- Was fascist violence indeed distinguished from that meted out by other modern regimes, and if so, in what ways?
How did fascism innovate in that sphere when compared to eliminationist practices and theories in Western history? Was it the culmination of Western racism and imperialist aggression, or did it qualitatively leap beyond them?
How does it stand when compared to non-Western cases, and to pre-modern history?

- What were the main forces propelling fascist extremism/extermination: Economic? Demographic? Cultural?

- Comparative perspectives on specific cases of extremism/extermination, either between different fascist regimes or between fascist and non-fascist cases.

- Extremism/extermination as conceived and/or prefigured by important (proto-) fascist authors and politicians.

Deadline:
The deadline to submit proposals is May 1, 2017. Titles and abstracts (300 words max.) and a short bio (200 words) should be submitted in Word format to: dapim_h@univ.haifa.ac.il

The deadline to submit the articles is January 1, 2018.
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