Confiscation of Jewish Property in Europe, 1933-1945: New Sources and Perspectives -- Agenda

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CONFISCATION OF JEWISH PROPERTY IN EUROPE, 1933–1945:
NEW SOURCES AND PERSPECTIVES

One-Day Symposium March 22, 2001

Helena Rubinstein Auditorium
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Though economic discrimination and the seizure of Jewish property were integral parts of the Holocaust, until recently research on this dimension of Nazi anti-Jewish persecution has lagged behind other areas of Holocaust studies. This program is a unique opportunity to hear from eleven scholars whose research in newly released archival materials has advanced the study of the confiscation of Jewish property by the Third Reich and its European allies. The speakers examine the institutions charged with implementing confiscation policies, the manner in which Jewish assets were seized, and the perspectives of those whose property was confiscated. Also considered are the possibilities for future research as well as potential barriers to it.

This website contains brief biographies of the participants and, soon after the conclusion of the symposium, audio files of the talks.

10–10:30 a.m. Session I: Opening Remarks

Introductory Comments—Paul A. Shapiro, Director, Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Confiscation of Jewish Assets and the Holocaust—Gerald D. Feldman, Professor, Department of History, and Director, Center for German and European Studies, University of California, Berkeley and Director, Institute of European Studies

10:30 a.m.–noon Session II: Institutions of Confiscation

The Finanzamt Moabit-West and the Development of the Property-Confiscation Infrastructure—Martin C. Dean, Research Scholar, Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

The Supervision and Plunder of Jewish Finances by the Regional Financial Administration: The Example of Westphalia—Alfons Kenkmann, Director, Villa ten Hompel Memorial Institute, Münster, and Lecturer, University of Dortmund

Property Seizures from Poles and Jews: The Activities of the Haupttreuhandstelle Ost—Jeanne Dingell, Doctoral Candidate, Technical University, Berlin

Noon–1 p.m. Break

1–2:30 p.m. Session III: Country Studies

Seizure of Jewish Property in Romania—Jean Ancel, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem

Nazi Looting of Antwerp’s Jewish Diamond Merchants—Eric Laureys, Historian, War and Contemporary Society Research Center, Brussels

Franco-German Rivalry and "Aryanization" as the Creation of a New Policy in France, 1940–1944—Jean-Marc Dreyfus, Doctoral Candidate, University of the Sorbonne, Paris, and Charles H. Revson Foundation Fellow, Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

2:30–4:30 p.m. Session IV: Victim Perspectives

Expropriation of the Property of Jewish Emigrants from Hessen during the 1930s—Susanne Meinl, Historian, Fritz-Bauer Institute, Frankfurt am Main

Economic Discrimination and Confiscation: The Case of Jewish Real Estate—Britta Bopf, Doctoral Candidate, Friedrich-Wilhelm University, and Curator, Museum of the History of the German Federal Republic, Bonn

Jewish Cultural Property and Its Postwar Recovery—Elisabeth M. Yavnai, Doctoral Candidate, London School of Economics and Political Science

4:30–5 p.m. Session V: Summary and Conclusions

Summary and Conclusions—Peter Hayes, Theodore Z. Weiss Professor of Holocaust Studies, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, and Member, Academic Committee, United States Holocaust Memorial Council

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