Landscapes of the Holocause

Description

The persecution and murder of “enemies of the state” was an open secret during the Holocaust, but the Nazis wanted to ensure they left no evidence of their mass murder. They destroyed their murder centers and attempted to burn and bury any proof linking them to their homicidal actions. However, the physical landscapes continue to act as witnesses to Nazi crimes. What can we learn about the scale of persecution and victims’ experiences by mapping these places? How can the objects buried there further complicate the history we know? Join us as two Holocaust scholars reconstitute the Holocaust’s killing fields. SPEAKERS DR. CAROLINE STURDY COLLS, Director, Centre of Archaeology; Professor of Holocaust Archaeology and Genocide Investigation, University of Huddersfield; Museum’s 2025–26 Ina Levine Invitational Scholar DR. ANNE KELLY KNOWLES, McBride Professor of History Emerita, University of Maine; Museum’s 2026–27 Ina Levine Invitational Scholar MODERATOR DR. ELISE BOXER, Director, Institute of American Indian Studies; Associate Professor of History and Native American Studies, University of South Dakota COMMENTATOR GERALD J. STEINACHER, James A. Rawley Professor of History, University of Nebraska–Lincoln