This year it was a pleasure to participate in The Sefer Winter School “The History of the Holocaust and the Politics of Remembrance”, which took place in Zoom, 31 January — 5 February 2021. It was my 4th school with Sefer, however, the first time in the online format. Thus, the experience was quite new.
The Holocaust: A Jewish and Non-Jewish Perspective
The most important outcome from the course is the interrelation of the Holocaust with other subtopics. For instance, Nazi policy against Jews and the economy, or different theories about the routs of the Holocaust.
Dr. Kirill Feferman is a very talented lecturer, it was a pleasure to participate and to ask questions.
The Holocaust on the Territory of the USSR
Among other, the most important for me topics covered by Professor Ilya Altman were:
- Classification of the photo, video, and audio primary-sources, their systematization, challenges of validation, and access:
- The situation with Jewish refugees, the role of “Intourist” and “Phillips”;
- Jewish/Non-Jewish victimization, deportations, extermination.
It was an honor to participate because Ilya Altman is a person who prepared new editions of “The Black Book” and “Unknown Black Book” (2015).
The Holocaust, the Soviet Politics of Memory, and the Jews
In the past, I had an opportunity to participate in the lecture of Dr. Arkady Zeltser. Moreover, Arkady was my tutor during the fellowship in Jerusalem, 2018. This course brought dozens of new thoughts to my mind. Our discussions were mostly about:
- the transformation of the Soviet State Memory Policy;
- the Jewish response to this policy;
- Cold War and memory agenda.
“Sefer” gives an amazing opportunity to find soulmates and to expand professional network. Thus, I hope that next time we will be able to meet in person with all my friends from “Sefer”.