The deadline for applications has passed.
The Museum’s Committee on Ethics, Religion, and the Holocaust announces the 2012 Annual Seminar for Seminary and Religious Studies Faculty, which will explore the historical and theological dynamics of the complicity of churches in Nazi Germany. How widespread was complicity in the German churches during the Nazi era? What were the causes? What was the role of the leadership of the churches? How did this history influence postwar discussions in Germany about guilt and responsibility? How has this issue been addressed in the general historiography of the Holocaust?
The seminar is designed particularly for professors of theology, ethics, and religious studies at theological schools and other institutions of advanced education, but faculty from all disciplines are welcome to apply.
Participants will have the opportunity to learn more about Museum resources for their teaching and to consult and interact with Museum staff and visiting scholars. More information about the Museum’s programs on the history of the churches during the Holocaust can be found at ushmm.org/research/center/church/.
Seminar Leaders
The seminar will be taught by Robert Ericksen, Kurt Mayer Chair of Holocaust Studies at Pacific Lutheran University, with Victoria Barnett, Staff Director of the Museum’s Committee on Ethics, Religion, and the Holocaust.
Professor Robert Ericksen is author of the forthcoming Complicity in the Holocaust: Churches and Universities in Nazi Germany (2012) and Theologians under Hitler: Gerhard Kittel, Paul Althaus, and Emanuel Hirsch (1985).
Victoria Barnett has helped create academic and public programs, panels, and symposia on Christianity and the Holocaust with institutions around the country. Her publications include Bystanders: Conscience and Complicity during the Holocaust (1999) and For the Soul of the People: Protestant Protest against Hitler (1992). She is also a general editor of the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, the English translation of the complete writings of Bonhoeffer forthcoming from Fortress Press.
Application Information
Applicants must be faculty members at accredited, degree-awarding institutions in North America. Applications must include: (1) a curriculum vitae; (2) a statement of the candidate’s specific interest and purpose for attending the seminar; and (3) a supporting letter from a departmental chair or dean addressing the applicant’s qualifications and the institution’s potential interest in having Holocaust-related courses taught.
The Center will select a maximum of 20 applicants, without regard to age, gender, race, creed, or national origin. For non-local participants, the Center will (1) reimburse the cost of direct travel to and from the participant’s home institution and Washington, DC, up to but not exceeding the amount of $500; and (2) defray the cost of lodging for the duration of the seminar. Incidental, meal, and book expenses must be defrayed by the candidates or their respective institutions. All participants must attend the entire seminar.
Applications must be postmarked, e-mailed, or faxed by March 1, 2012, to:
Victoria Barnett
University Programs
Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, SW
Washington, DC 20024-2126
E-mail: crc@ushmm.org
Fax: 202.479.9726.
The Center will notify all applicants of the results of the selection process by March 21, 2012.
Additional Information
For questions, contact Victoria Barnett at 202.488.0469 or vbarnett@ushmm.org or Beverly Goines at bgoines@ushmm.org or 202.488.2644. This seminar is made possible by the Hoffberger Family Fund and by Joseph A. and Janeal Cannon and Family.
