JUNE 3–14, 2013
The deadline for applications has passed.
The Museum’s Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies announces the 2013 Curt C. and Else Silberman Seminar for college and university faculty from all disciplines who are teaching or preparing to teach Holocaust or Holocaust-related courses.
The 2013 seminar will strengthen participants’ backgrounds in Holocaust history and ensure a firm scholarly grounding for Holocaust courses. The seminar will consist of presentations on the history of antisemitism and the Holocaust, participant-facilitated discussions on classroom teaching methods, and roundtable discussions on teaching strategies across multiple disciplines. Presentations and discussions will include an overview of Holocaust history and topics, as well as new research findings for participants to incorporate into their course syllabi.
Christopher Browning, Frank Porter Graham Distinguished Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will lead the seminar. A specialist on the history of the Holocaust and Nazi Germany, he has focused his research on the decision-making process that launched the “Final Solution” and on the motivation of perpetrators.
Professor Browning’s many influential books include Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland; The Origins of the Final Solution: The Evolution of Nazi Jewish Policy; and his most recent work, Remembering Survival: Inside a Nazi Slave Labor Camp. All three received National Jewish Book Awards in the Holocaust category.
Professor Browning has given expert witness testimony in the trial of alleged Nazi perpetrators for Canada’s Department of Justice, the Australia’s Office of the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, and the British War Crimes Branch. He also served as an expert witness in the Holocaust denial trial of Ernst Zündel in Toronto and the libel trial of David Irving versus Deborah Lipstadt and Penguin Books in London.
A former J. B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Senior Scholar-in-Residence and Ina Levine Invitational Scholar at the Museum’s Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, he currently serves on the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Council’s Academic Committee.
The Center will introduce participants to resources that may be used in teaching and research about the Holocaust, including the Museum’s library, document archives, memoir collection, photo archives, oral testimony collection, film and video archive, and Holocaust survivor database, as well as the International Tracing Service (ITS) collection of more than 100 million Holocaust-era documents. The ITS records relate to the fates of more than 17 million people who were subject to incarceration, forced labor, and displacement during World War II.
Participants will also have the opportunity to consult and interact with Museum staff and visiting fellows. To learn more about the Museum’s collections, please visit http://www.ushmm.org/research/collections/.
Seminar applicants must be faculty members at accredited, baccalaureate-awarding institutions in North America. Applications must include: (1) a curriculum vitae; (2) a statement of the applicant’s specific interest and needs in strengthening his or her background in Holocaust history for the purpose of improving teaching; and (3) a supporting letter from a departmental chair or dean addressing the applicant’s qualifications and the institution’s commitment to Holocaust-related education. Applicants should also include the syllabi of any Holocaust-related courses they have taught. Syllabi will be distributed at the seminar to facilitate discussion of successful teaching strategies.
The Center will select a maximum of 20 participants, without regard to age, gender, race, creed, or national origin. For non-local participants, the Center will (1) cover the cost of direct travel to and from the participant’s home institution and Washington, DC, and (2) provide 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 commit to attend the entire seminar from June 3–14.
Please direct questions to Dr. Dieter Kuntz at dkuntz@ushmm.org or 202.314.1779. The Center will notify accepted applicants by Monday, March 25, 2013.
The Curt C. and Else Silberman Foundation endowed the Silberman Faculty Seminar in memory of Curt C. and Else Silberman. The Foundation supports programs in higher education that promote study of the Holocaust and protect and strengthen Jewish values in democracy, human rights, ethical leadership, and cultural pluralism.
