Women and the Holocaust
The Fourth International Conference
Childhood and Youth under the Third Reich –
A Gender Perspective
Call for papers
The conference will take place between 29-31 October 2007 in Israel.
Monday, October 29th at Beit Berl Academic College
Tuesday, October 30th at Beit Terezin
Wednesday, October 31st at Beit Lohamei Haghetaot
General Conference Goals
- To advance comparative, critical and feminist analysis of gender issues in relation to the research of the Holocaust.
- To raise new gender perspectives that will influence Holocaust education and commemoration.
- To encourage public awareness of gender topics concerning Holocaust research and remembrance.
- To form an international network of Holocaust researchers interested in gender and the Holocaust.
- To stimulate research and public debate on topics connected to childhood and youth during the Holocaust from a gender perspective.
Specific Conference Goals
The conference will focus on childhood and youthunder the Nazi regime from a gender perspective. It will deal with a wide variety of topics related to the fate of children and adolescents, transcending national, religious and ethnic boundaries.
Suggested topics for presentations in the conference:
* A gendered approach to degradation, exploitation and abuse of minors
* Psychological and sociological perspectives concerning boys and girls, based on diaries and memoirs.
* Boys' and girls' heroic acts during the Nazi regime.
* Boys' and girls' involvement and roles in the youth movements.
* Gender roles played by children and adolescents during the Nazi regime.
* Artistic creation depicting girls and boys during the Nazi era.
* Artwork by youth relating to gender, cultural and national issues.
* Righteous among the Nations – girls and boys.
* Rescue attempts of boys and girls.
* Gender issues concerning youth in the ghettos, camps, death marches and among the partisans.
* Sexual abuse of children and adolescents under the Nazis.
* The fate of babies and toddlers during the Holocaust.
* How minors with no family were rehabilitated after the war.
* Childhood and youth in Nazi ideology.
* Gendered socialization of youth in Nazi Germany.
* Gendered youth images as propaganda in Nazi cinema.
* The Holocaust and other Genocides - Comparative study of how girls and boys survived.
* Girls and boys in memory and commemoration of the Holocaust in Israel and abroad.
Invited to propose abstracts of presentations at the conference:
* Scholars from relevant academic fields: history, anthropology, sociology, political science, psychology, education, literature, art and others.
* Artists from the fields of literature, cinema, plastic arts etc., who are involved in the subjects of the Conference.
* Holocaust survivors whose testimonies shed light on the subject of childhood and youth in ghettos, camps, hiding, or other situations.
Please submit a 500 word proposal in English or in Hebrew by April 1st 2007 to:
Dr. Batya Brutin
Beit Berl College
Beit Berl Post Office 44905
Israel
Or by E-Mail to: or
The full paper should be sent by July 1st 2007.