18-19 Nov 2019, Warsaw
The Coming of Nazi Occupation: Patterns of continuity and changes in Jewish and Polish life, 1939-1941
The conference marks the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II and the beginning of the Nazi occupation in Poland. It will deal with all aspects of the changes that took place in Jewish and Polish life during the first period of the Nazi occupation, as well as continuities in both communities. The purpose is to discuss a wide range of issues from all possible disciplines in order to characterize the formative year of the German occupation in Poland, its influence on Jewish and Polish life in the following years, as well as encounters between the two nations during this time.
Venues:
Day 1 - Jewish Historical Institute (Żydowski Instytut Historyczny), Tłomackie 3/5
Day 2 - Zielna Conference Center, Zielna 37
Programme
18/11/2019 Monday
9:00 - 9:30
Greetings and opening remarks
Jewish Historical Institute
Chair: Konrad Zieliński (Maria Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin/ Warsaw Ghetto Museum)
Albert Stankowski, Director of the Warsaw Ghetto Museum
Paweł Śpiewak, Director of the Jewish Historical Institute
Jan Rydel, Member of the Steering Committee of the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity
Albert Stankowski, Director of the Warsaw Ghetto Museum
Paweł Śpiewak, Director of the Jewish Historical Institute
Jan Rydel, Member of the Steering Committee of the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity
9:30 - 10:30
Keynote lecture
Stephan Lehnstaedt (Touro College Berlin): In the eyes of the occupier. Ordinary Germans looking at Poland, 1939-1940
10:45 - 12:45
Session no. 1: Jewish persecutions 1939-1941: regional perspectives
Chair: Daniel Blatman (Hebrew University/ Warsaw Ghetto Museum)
Szymon Pietrzykowski (Institute of National Remembrance, Poznań): Battlefield, internment, the return and persecution: The odyssey of Jewish soldiers from Poznańskie (1939-1941)
Jakub Chmielewski (The State Museum at Majdanek / Maria Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin): Between exclusion and ghettoization: The fate of Lublin Jews under the German occupation (September 1939–March 1941)
Lea Prais (Yad Vashem, Jerusalem): The small towns in occupied Poland: A look at the recent past in the context of testimonies from the Oyneg Shabes archives
Tomasz Domański (Institute of National Remembrance, Kielce): Persecution of Jews in the provincial ghettos of the Radom district (1939-1941)
Szymon Pietrzykowski (Institute of National Remembrance, Poznań): Battlefield, internment, the return and persecution: The odyssey of Jewish soldiers from Poznańskie (1939-1941)
Jakub Chmielewski (The State Museum at Majdanek / Maria Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin): Between exclusion and ghettoization: The fate of Lublin Jews under the German occupation (September 1939–March 1941)
Lea Prais (Yad Vashem, Jerusalem): The small towns in occupied Poland: A look at the recent past in the context of testimonies from the Oyneg Shabes archives
Tomasz Domański (Institute of National Remembrance, Kielce): Persecution of Jews in the provincial ghettos of the Radom district (1939-1941)
12:45 - 14:00
14:00 - 15:30
Session no. 2: Poles, Jews and the Germans’ occupation: Comparative paradigms
Chair: Jacek Młynarczyk (Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń/ Muzeum Getta Warszawskiego)
Alicja Bartnicka (Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń/ Muzeum Getta Warszawskiego): The organization of forced labor for the Jewish population in the General Government (until 1941)
Martin Borkowski-Saruhan (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen): Sporting Occupation: Jews and non-Jews in Nazi-Occupied East Upper Silesia, 1939–41
Karolina Wasiluk (Catholic University of Lublin): The Fate of Poles and Jews, 1939-1941: the Lublin district as a case study
Alicja Bartnicka (Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń/ Muzeum Getta Warszawskiego): The organization of forced labor for the Jewish population in the General Government (until 1941)
Martin Borkowski-Saruhan (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen): Sporting Occupation: Jews and non-Jews in Nazi-Occupied East Upper Silesia, 1939–41
Karolina Wasiluk (Catholic University of Lublin): The Fate of Poles and Jews, 1939-1941: the Lublin district as a case study
15:30-15:45
Coffee break
15:45 - 17:15
Session no. 3: Race and patters of persecution: ethnic groups in Poland and the German policy
Chair: Andrei Zamoiski (Berlin)
Michał Turski (Historisches Institut/ Osteuropäische Geschichte, Giessen): A real Apartheid? German ethnic lists and the separation of Germans and Poles in the Warthegau
Isabel Röskau-Rydel (Pedagogical University of Krakow): Volksdeutsche in the General Government: the Kraków district as a case study
Alicja Gontarek (Institute of National Remembrance, Warsaw/ Maria Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin): Persecution of the Roma people in occupied Poland (1939-1941): Typology, strategies, consequences
Michał Turski (Historisches Institut/ Osteuropäische Geschichte, Giessen): A real Apartheid? German ethnic lists and the separation of Germans and Poles in the Warthegau
Isabel Röskau-Rydel (Pedagogical University of Krakow): Volksdeutsche in the General Government: the Kraków district as a case study
Alicja Gontarek (Institute of National Remembrance, Warsaw/ Maria Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin): Persecution of the Roma people in occupied Poland (1939-1941): Typology, strategies, consequences
17-15:17:30
Coffee break
17:30 - 18:45
Session no. 4: Special event: Introducing the Jewish Historical Institute new encyclopaedia of the Ghettos
Chair: Andrzej Żbikowski (Jewish Historical Institute)
Maria Ferenc Piotrkowska (Jewish Historical Institute): The Encyclopaedia in the context of the current research on Warsaw ghetto and the digitalization of the humanities
Katarzyna Person (Jewish Historical Institute): The Warsaw ghetto elite through the prism of preparing the encyclopaedia
Justyna Majewska (Jewish Historical Institute): Research program on economic changes in the Warsaw ghetto based on the outlines of "Oneg Shabbat"
Maria Ferenc Piotrkowska (Jewish Historical Institute): The Encyclopaedia in the context of the current research on Warsaw ghetto and the digitalization of the humanities
Katarzyna Person (Jewish Historical Institute): The Warsaw ghetto elite through the prism of preparing the encyclopaedia
Justyna Majewska (Jewish Historical Institute): Research program on economic changes in the Warsaw ghetto based on the outlines of "Oneg Shabbat"
19/11/2019 Tuesday
9:45–11:30
Session no. 5: Jewish memory - Polish memory: perspectives of similarities and differences
Zielna Conference Center
Chair: Małgorzata Pakier (European Network Remembrance and Solidarity)
Andrzej Kirmiel (Alf Kowalski Międzyrzec Museum): "Polenaktion" in Zbąszyń (1938-9) and the perception of these events by todays’ residents of the town
Sara Bender (University of Haifa): Life under siege: Warsaw, September 1939 in Simcha Korngold’s memoires
Anna Ciałowicz (Pilecki Institute): Polish-Jewish relations between September and December 1939 in the light of the memoirs of Reuwen Feldszuh
Johannes-Dieter Steinert (University of Wolverhampton): Being a child and a forced labourer in occupied Poland: Polish and Jewish children’s memoirs
Andrzej Kirmiel (Alf Kowalski Międzyrzec Museum): "Polenaktion" in Zbąszyń (1938-9) and the perception of these events by todays’ residents of the town
Sara Bender (University of Haifa): Life under siege: Warsaw, September 1939 in Simcha Korngold’s memoires
Anna Ciałowicz (Pilecki Institute): Polish-Jewish relations between September and December 1939 in the light of the memoirs of Reuwen Feldszuh
Johannes-Dieter Steinert (University of Wolverhampton): Being a child and a forced labourer in occupied Poland: Polish and Jewish children’s memoirs
11:30 - 11:45
Coffee break
11:45 - 13:30
Session no. 6: Polish Jews in (and) the Soviet Union, 1939-1941
Chair: Sara Bender (University of Haifa)
Daniela Ozacky-Stern (Moreshet Archives and Bar Ilan University): The Kibbutz in Vilna during the beginning of the Nazi occupation in light of documents and testimonies
Vasyl Gulay (Lviv Polytechnic National University): The Jews of Western Ukraine at the early period of the Second World War
Andrei Zamoiski (Freie Univrsität Berlin): “About that Hell, [that the] Jewish towns have experienced in Poland, probably [you] already know…” What did the people in USSR know about the persecution of the Jews in Nazi-occupied Poland (1939-1941)?
Daniela Ozacky-Stern (Moreshet Archives and Bar Ilan University): The Kibbutz in Vilna during the beginning of the Nazi occupation in light of documents and testimonies
Vasyl Gulay (Lviv Polytechnic National University): The Jews of Western Ukraine at the early period of the Second World War
Andrei Zamoiski (Freie Univrsität Berlin): “About that Hell, [that the] Jewish towns have experienced in Poland, probably [you] already know…” What did the people in USSR know about the persecution of the Jews in Nazi-occupied Poland (1939-1941)?
13:30 - 14:30
Lunch break
14:30 - 15:30
Visiting the buildings of the Bersohn & Bauman Hospital
15:45 - 18:00
Session no. 7: Integrative perspectives on the history of Warsaw Ghetto
Chair: Hanna Węgrzynek (Warsaw Ghetto Museum)
Anna Hirsh (Jewish Holocaust Centre, Melbourne): “There Is No There”: Postcards from Warsaw, occupied Poland 1939-41
Daniel Reiser (Herzog Academic College/ Zafat Academic College): R. Szapiro’s faith and religious leadership in the first months of the occupation
Adam Puławski (The “Grodzka Gate – NN Theatre” Centre in Lublin): Polish underground towards the Jewish population of Warsaw (1939-1941)
Dorota Siepracka (Institute of National Remembrance, Łódź): “Akcja Żet”: A Polish Scouts aid campaign for the Warsaw ghetto
Anna Hirsh (Jewish Holocaust Centre, Melbourne): “There Is No There”: Postcards from Warsaw, occupied Poland 1939-41
Daniel Reiser (Herzog Academic College/ Zafat Academic College): R. Szapiro’s faith and religious leadership in the first months of the occupation
Adam Puławski (The “Grodzka Gate – NN Theatre” Centre in Lublin): Polish underground towards the Jewish population of Warsaw (1939-1941)
Dorota Siepracka (Institute of National Remembrance, Łódź): “Akcja Żet”: A Polish Scouts aid campaign for the Warsaw ghetto
18:00 - 18:30
Concluding remarks
Daniel Blatman (Warsaw Ghetto Museum/ Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
Partners
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