Event in Belgrade 20-22 April 2016 - Escalating into Holocaust

Opening of the exhibition “October 1941” – Escalating into Holocaust

On Wednesday 20 April 2016 at the Historical Archives of Belgrade, in the presence of many prominent guests and visitors, exhibition “October 1941” was opened.

Authors of the exhibition are Dr Milovan Pisarri and Nikola Radić Lucati from Center for Holocaust Research and Education (CHRE) from Belgrade. Through archival materials and newspaper clips, 32 exhibition boards presents each day of October 1941, a month in which mass prosecutions of the civilians – Serbians, Jews and Roma began in Serbia. This led to the final phase of Holocaust in Serbia – systematic execution of the remaining Jewish women and children detained in the Sajmište camp, in the notorious gas van, so called “dušegupka”.

A press conference was organized before the exhibition opening, with a goal to present the project Escalating into Holocaust and upcoming activities. Participants of the press conference were Mr Dragan Gačić, project director and director of the Historical Archives of Belgrade, Mr Vladan Vukosavljević, Secretary of the Secretariat of Culture of the City of Belgrade, Mrs Nevena Bajalica, project manager and co-founder of the Terraforming international network Stockholm-Amsterdam-Novi Sad, and Dr Milovan Pisarri, co-author of the exhibition.

The exhibition was opened by Mr Dragan Gačić, director of the Historical Archives of Belgrade, H.E. Yossef Levi, Israeli ambassador and H.E. Axel Dittmann, German ambassador to Serbia.

Israeli ambassador to Serbia H.E. Yossef Levi underlined that it should not be forgotten what had happened on Sajmište concentration camp and that we should all cherish this memory. He repeated the fact that in World War II in Europe six million of Jewish men, women, children and babies were killed by Nazis. Levi said that Jews were killed by Nazi occupiers, but also by Ustashas, Hungarian gendarmerie, and by Serbs who were executing the orders of the occupation authorities. “There were Serbs who helped Jews in so many ways, but there were also those who participated in mass murders”, stated the ambassador of Israel.

German ambassador to Serbia H.E. Axel Dittmann said that the crimes committed by Nazi authorities in Germany must be remembered if we want to shut the door to the evil.

Ambassador of Croatia H.E. Gordan Markotić and ambassador of Montenegro H.E. Branisalv Mićunović also attended the ceremony.

The exhibition was open from 21. April – 27. May 2016 from 10 AM – 5 PM, every day except Sundays and Mondays.

The exhibition opening was also attended by international experts – guests from Germany, the Netherlands, Hungary, Austria, Sweden and Croatia, participants of the international conference “Escalating into Holocaust”. International guests complimented the exhibition. Among others, Dr Gerhard Baumgartner, director of the Documentation Center of Austrian Resistance from Vienna, suggested the cooperation between the two archives and exhibition visit to Vienna.

In June 2016 the exhibition will be presented in the city of Niš.

Event in Belgrade was the first in a series of international events that will be organized within the frames of the project Escalating into Holocaust. Events in Niš, Kragujevac, Novi Sad, Amsterdam, Jasi and Stockholm are scheduled for June 2016 – January 2017.

A visit to Staro Sajmište

After exhibition opening, a visit to Staro Sajmište was organized for international participants. Guests from Germany, the Netherlands, Hungary, Austria, Sweden and Croatia were presented with the history of Old Fairground before, during and after the war, in an organized tour around Staro Sajmište, guided and lectured by Nikola Radić Lucati.

Отварање изложбе Октобар 1941 у Историјском архиву Београда

Black and white photo by Nikola Radić Lucati

From the YouTube channel of the Historical Archives of Belgrade

From the website: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty RFE/RL

International Conference “Escalating into Holocaust”

On Thursday, 21 April 2016 International Conference “Escalating into Holocaust” was held in the Palace of Serbia in Belgrade.

The conference was focused on two topics:

Topic 1: Holocaust in Serbia and a wider plan to destroy European Jews 
Topic 2: “The Holocaust and Porajmos in regional culture of remembrance and the shared European narrative that defines European values of diversity, tolerance and Human Rights”

Program

The conference was opened by welcoming speeches of Mr Dragan Gačić, director of the Historical Archives of Belgrade and Mr Goran Vesić, City Manager of the City of Belgrade and member of the Planning Committee for the Memorial Center at Sajmište.

Dr Milan Koljanin, historian from the Institute for Contemporary History from Belgrade, presented a short history of the camp in a lecture: Historical background – Concentration Camp at Staro Sajmiste. Tijana Kovčić, archivist from the Historical Archives of Belgrade presented the work on the database of the Sajmište camp victims. This database is a focal point of the international project “Escalating into Holocaust” and will serve as an important contribution to the future Holocaust researches and education, as well as to the future permanentSajmište memorial.

Four panel discussions followed:

Introductory presentation:
Holocaust in Serbia in the European context – Dr Susanne Heim, historian in the Institute for Contemporary History in Berlin, researcher and leader of the project “Persecution of the Jews 1933–1945”;
Panelists:
Dr Milan Koljanin, historian, Institute for Contemporary History, Belgrade;
Dr Alexander Korb, historian, director of The Stanley Burton Centre for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, professor of contemporary European history on Leicester University;
Moderator:
Miško Stanišić, pedagogue, creative director of the Terraforming international network;
Introductory presentation:
The Fate of Yugoslav Jewry – Professor Dr Valter Manoschek, historian, Faculty of political Sciences, University of Vienna;
Panelists:
Bishop Jovan Ćulibrk, president of the Planning Committee for the Memorial Center at Staro Sajmište;
Professor Dr Milan Ristović, History Department, Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade;
Moderator:
Dea Marić, historian and sociologist, Documenta – Center for Dealing with the Past, Zagreb;
Introductory presentation:
Sufferings of the Roma in Serbia during the Holocaust – Dr Milovan PIsarri, historian, Center for Holocaust Research and Education, Belgrade;
Panelists:
Dr Gerhard Baumgartner, historian, director of Documentation Center of Austrian Resistance from Vienna;
Dr Zlata Vuksanović Macura, an architect, Belgrade;
Moderator:
Miško Stanišić, pedagogue, creative director of the Terraforming international network;
Introductory presentation:
The Holocaust in Yugoslavia – A Transnational History – Dr Alexander Korb, historian, director of The Stanley Burton Centre for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, professor of contemporary European history on Leicester University;
Panelists:
Aleksandar Lebl, journalist, Holocaust survivor, Belgrade;
Anat Harel, program coordinator at the Jewish Historical Museum in Amsterdam;
Danilo Trbojević, anthropologist, Belgrade;
Moderator:
Dr Vjeran Pavlaković, historian, Department for Cultural Studies Faculty of Philosophy, University of Rijeka;

The closing speech was made by Dr Ruben Fuks, president of the Federation of the Jewish Communities of Serbia.

Participants

Constant exchange of knowledge and experiences made this conference extremely motivating. Serbian and experts from other countries, panelists and other guests actively participated in numerous constructive discussions.
Representatives of the City of Belgrade Administration, experts from Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, the Museum of Genocide Victims, History Department from Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade, Institute for Contemporary History in Belgrade, Institute for Modern History of Serbia in Belgrade, Historical Archives of Belgrade, Historical Archives of Novi Sad, Jewish Historical Museum, Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade, and many others participated the conference.

In addition, important contribution to the conference was given by representatives of Jewish communities, Haver Serbia, other NGOs and respectable individuals.

Of course, representatives of partnering organizations of the project “Escalating into Holocaust” participated to the conference: Terraforming network Stockholm-Amsterdam-Novi Sad, Center for Holocaust Research and Education, and Faculty of Philosophy, University of Rijeka.

International Experts

Nevena Bajalica, Education Department of the Anne Frank House and co-founder of the Terraforming network Stockholm-Amsterdam-Novi Sad;
Dr Gerhard Baumgartner, director of Documentation Center of Austrian Resistance from Vienna;
Szilvia Dittel, representative of Yad Vashem school for Holocaust studies in Budapest;
Anat Harel, program coordinator in Jewish Historical Museum in Amsterdam;
Dr Susanne Heim, historian in the Institute for Contemporary History in Berlin, researcher and leader of the project “Persecution of the Jews 1933–1945”;
Dr Akim Jah, scientific assistant in Pedagogy and Education Department in International Tracing Service Bad Arolsen, Berlin;
Dr Alexander Korb, director of The Stanley Burton Centre for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, professor of contemporary European history on Leicester University;
Dr Valter Manoschek, historian, Faculty of political Sciences, University of Vienna;
Dea Maric, Documenta – Center for Dealing with the Past, Zagreb;
Dr Vjeran Pavlakovic, chief of Cultural Studies Department, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Rijeka;
Misko Stanisic, pedagogue, creative director of the Terraforming network Stockholm-Amsterdam-Novi Sad;

In addition to the conference in Belgrade, within the frames of the project “Escalating into Holocaust” international conferences will be organized in Niš, Kragujevac, Novi Sad, Bucharest, Amsterdam and Stockholm.

Black and white photo by Nikola Radić Lucati

Workshops

On the third and last day of the event in Belgrade, on 22 April 2016, two workshops were organized in the Historical Archives of Belgrade.

The Digital Monument

First workshop was organized by NIOD – Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies from Amsterdam. The Institute was established on 8 May 1945 with the mission to study the history of the Second World War in the Netherlands. From 1 January 1999 the Institute has become a part of the Royal Academy for Sciences and Arts (KNAB). From 2010 the Institute is merged with the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Research, and now it is known under the name Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies NIOD. NIOD is also known as the leading archival institution when it comes to the archival material related to the WWII in the Netherlands.

Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies NIOD is a partner in the project “Escalating into Holocaust”. The NIODžs contribution to the event in Belgrade was a workshop “The Digital Monuments”, led by Anat Harel, project manager at the Jewish Historical Museum in Amsterdam. Anat presented a project “Digital monument and the online community” implemented by Historical Museum in Amsterdam. The project started in the year 2000 and has gone through several phases since then. The latest version of “The Digital Monument” has been released only few days ago, at the end of April 2016.

“The Digital Monument” is a specific archive of Holocaust victims of the Dutch Jewish community. Each one out of 104.000 victims, recorded in this archive, has its own “page” with all gathered data about that victim’s life, all gathered photographs, maps and memories of his friends and relatives who survived. All these data are contributions of victim’s survived relatives and descendants and they are the ones who continuously edit and expand their “online remembrance community”.

Web address of the project: www.joodsmonument.nl

Тераформинг - радионица ”Графичка новела у едукацији о Холокаусту”

Graphic Novel In Teaching And Learning About Holocaust

Second workshop was organized and by the Terrafoming network Stockholm-Amsterdam-Novi Sad. Terraformig is a partnering organization in the “Escalating into Holocaust” project. Within the project, Terraforming is using archival material about Sajmiste camp victims in order to develop teaching materials about the pre-war life of Belgrade Jews, and its destruction during the Holocaust. These teaching materials will, among others, use the language of graphic novel. For this reason, the aim of the workshop was to present the best international practices and challenges of using visual language of film, animation and graphic novel for presenting the Holocaust. Another goal was to present the pedagogical methodologies of using archival materials and historical documentation in teaching and learning about the Holocaust.

Lecturers and participants in the panel discussion:

Professor Dr Nevena Daković, Faculty of Dramatic Arts, Belgrade
Gabriel Kousbroek, illustrator and visual artist, Amsterdam
Iva Ćirić, assistant professor on Animation studies, Faculty of Applied Arts in Belgrade
Dr Akim Jah, scientific assistant Pedagogy and Education Department in International Tracing Service Bad Arolsen, Berlin;
Nevena Bajalica, Education Department the Anne Frank House and co-founder of the Terrafoming network;

Program host and moderator:
Miško Stanišić, pedagogue, creative director of the Terrafoming network;

Program

THE IMAGES OF HOLOCAUST
Prof. Dr Nevena Daković, Faculty of Dramatic Arts, Belgrade
THE HOLOCAUST AS SEEN THROUGH THE GRAPHIC NOVEL
Gabriel Kousbroek, illustrator and visual artist, Amsterdam
MONUMENTS
Animations: animated woodcuts from the bibliophile edition “Monuments” (1961) by Milos Ciric (1931-1999), inspired by the texts of Serbian poets about sufferings during the Second World War
Iva Ćirić, assistant professor on Animation studies, Faculty of Applied Arts in Belgrade
EXPLORING DOCUMENTS – SHAPING MEMORIES:
THE DOCUMENTS ON INDIVIDUAL FATES   AND PATHS OF PERSECUTION, AND ITS USE IN EDUCATION
Dr Akim Jah, scientific assistant Pedagogy and Education Department in International Tracing Service Bad Arolsen, Berlin;
EDUCATIONAL CONCEPT OF THE PROJECT: “ESCALATING INTO HOLOCAUST”: DEBATE / Q&A SESSION
Panel discussion with all the lecturers and Q&A with the audience
Panel: Iva Ćirić, Prof. Dr. Nevena Daković, Dr. Akim Jah, Gabriël Kousbroek,
and Nevena Bajalica, Co-founder of the Terraforming network, International Department of the Anne Frank House Amsterdam;

About 40 participants of the workshop – students, teachers, artists, NGOs and others, actively participated in the debate.

A part of the workshop “Graphic Novel in Teaching and Learning about Holocaust” recorded by the eye of camera.
During the panel discussion, from left to right: Iva Ćirić, Dr Akim Jah, Professor Dr Nevena Dakovic, Gabriel Kousbrok and Nevena Bajalica. Moderator: Misko Stanisic