The 18th workshop on history and memory of NS concentration camps focuses on the interrelated topics of Forced Labor, Exploitation and War Production. Discussions will evolve around the development and function(s) of the national socialist system of forced labor, as well as the (contested) ways of transmission and memory of this central aspect of the concentration camp universe.
Beyond the scope of the core themes, the workshop traditionally offers a platform to young scholars to present a wide range of ongoing research projects concerned with the history and memory of the national socialist concentration camp system.
First launched in 1994, the annual “workshop on history and memory of NS concentration camps” is a self-organized research framework run by Ph.D. candidates and former participants and thrives off its interdisciplinary and trans-European character. This year, scholars from Germany, Israel, Poland, the Czech Republic and the USA will participate, representing not only historiography, but the social and cultural sciences as well as literature, medicine and archeology.
Traditionally collaborating closely with a university and a memorial, this year’s workshop is being supported by the Institute for Ethnology and Cultural Research at the University of Bremen (Prof. Dr. Inge Marszolek) and the “Bunker Valentin” memorial, founded in 2011.
The program includes various excursions, enabling the participants to explore the historical sites of the “Bunker Valentin” and its surroundings and meet members of the memorial staff, thus facilitating exchange and discussions about new approaches to memorial work at the interface of theory and practice.
We are also glad to announce that the historical building of Villa Ichon Bremen will host this year’s public keynote lecture, delivered by Jens-Christian Wagner, one of the most renowned historians of the NS forced labor system and director of the Mittelbau-Dora memorial
The workshop is made possible by the generous financial support and cooperation of the following institutions: University of Bremen, “Bunker Valentin” memorial, Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future / Stiftung „Erinnerung, Verantwortung und Zukunft“, Erinnern für die Zukunft e. V., Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Rosa Luxemburg Foundation
contact: 18.workshop.orgateam@googlemail.com