Professional Background
Dr. Nicholas Chare is currently Associate Professor in Modern Art, Department of Art History and Film Studies, at the Université de Montréal (Canada). He holds a PhD from the University of Leeds (United Kingdom). As the Diane and Howard Wohl Fellow at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, Dr. Chare will be conducting research for his project entitled, “Witnessing the Grey Zone: Representations of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Sonderkommando in Art, Film and Literature.”
Dr. Chare is fluent in English and French.
Dr. Chare is the author of several books including Auschwitz and Afterimages: Abjection, Witnessing and Representation (2011), and is co-author (with Dominic Williams) of Matters of Testimony: Interpreting the Scrolls of Auschwitz.
Fellowship Research
While in residence at the Mandel Center, Dr. Chare conducted research in order to draw connections and establish differences between specific representations of the Sonderkommando as a means to foster a better understanding of the complexities involved with bearing witness to their experiences at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Drawing on the Museum’s resources, he examined how these different forms of representation make reference to the moral ambiguity and psychic trauma of the extermination camp.
Dr. Chare was in residence from April 1 to July 31, 2018.
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