The Middle East and North Africa, the Holocaust, and World War II

Call for Applications

Salzburg, Austria May 24–28, 2025

The William H. Levine Family Institute for Holocaust Education and the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum invite applications from early-career scholars and researchers affiliated with universities, research institutions, and memorial sites in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) for a consultation on the state of research on the Holocaust and World War II in that region. The consultation is scheduled for May 24–28, 2025. It will be hosted by Salzburg Global at the Schloss Leopoldskron Hotel in Salzburg, Austria and held in partnership with UNESCO.

Overview

This consultation will convene early-career scholars and researchers from the MENA region whose research addresses the impact of the Holocaust and World War II in the Middle East and North Africa. Participants will share their research projects and consult with Museum staff about its educational outreach and academic programming in Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, and the Gulf countries. ​We seek to assess the state of research on wartime North Africa and the Middle East at institutions in that region, identify the needs of scholars to support and advance their research on this critical period, and explore opportunities to extend the reach of our educational and academic programming.

The program will consist of presentations of participants’ research projects, coupled with discussions with Museum staff about our programming and resources, including our support for academic researchers and our archival collections. Housed in the David M. Rubenstein National Institute for Holocaust Documentation, the Museum’s comprehensive collection contains millions of documents, artifacts, photos, films, books, and testimonies that document the fate of victims, survivors, rescuers, liberators, and others. Many of these records have not been examined by scholars, offering unprecedented opportunities to advance the field of Holocaust and genocide studies. To search the Museum's collections, please visit collections.ushmm.org/search.

Participants will also tour the Mauthausen Memorial (KZ-Gedenkstätte Mauthausen), a former concentration camp. Mauthausen was one of more than 44,000 camps and other incarceration sites established between 1933 and 1945 by Nazi Germany and its allies that were used for a range of purposes, including forced labor and detention of people deemed to be "enemies of the state."

Background

The Museum’s Levine Institute for Holocaust Education has led efforts in the MENA region to organize International Holocaust Remembrance Day commemorations, co-publish educational guides, and host workshops and educational programs for civil society leaders in collaboration with regional partners and scholars. These initiatives expand access to accurate information about the Holocaust to Arabic-speaking audiences and aim to depoliticize the history of the Holocaust, highlight its contemporary relevance, and counter misinformation.

The Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies promotes the vitality of the field of Holocaust studies around the world, cultivates and strengthens international research networks, and supports the production and dissemination of new scholarship. Its fellowships, research workshops, and other programs provide opportunities for scholars from around the globe to advance their research on the Holocaust and related topics.

Application Details

Applications are welcome from early-career scholars (Ph.D. students to assistant professors) and researchers affiliated with universities, research institutions, or memorial sites located in the Middle East and North Africa and in any relevant academic discipline whose research addresses World War II and the Holocaust—and their aftermath—in the Middle East and North Africa. We encourage applications from scholars whose work explores the experiences of Jewish communities in the Arab world, Arab/Jewish relations, and/or Arab responses to Nazism, the Holocaust, and the war. The workshop will be conducted in English.

The Levine Institute will reimburse the costs of round-trip economy-class air tickets to/from Salzburg, Austria, and related incidental expenses up to a maximum reimbursable amount calculated by home institution location, which will be distributed 6-8 weeks after the program’s conclusion. The Levine Institute will also provide hotel accommodation and meals for the duration of the program, including per diem the first and last day of travel.

The deadline to apply is Friday, March 28, 2025. All application materials must be submitted in English via our online form. Applications must include:

• An abstract of no more than 300 words outlining the applicant’s current research project and its relationship to the study of the Holocaust and World War II, and if applicable, related plans for future research.

• A short bio 

• A CV

Questions should be directed to Katie Doyle, Project Coordinator, Levine Institute for Holocaust Education, at kdoyle@ushmm.org.

In partnership with UNESCO