Collective Memory and Holocaust Remembrance Today

Welcome to a symposium about collective memory and Holocaust remembrance today. We will present a broad picture of the current state of memory studies, as both an academic discipline and as a form of social activism in talks and seminars with some of the leading international scholars in the field.

A century ago, in 1925, French sociologist Maurice Halbwachs published the book The social framework of memory (Les cadres sociaux de la mémoire). In it he coined and developed the idea of “collective memory”, how memory is not only something personal but a shared form of human experience.

From the 1970s onward this idea was revived and explored in the new field of Memory studies, including both collective and cultural memory. From the outset a core topic was the memory of the Holocaust, how it had been both forgotten, repressed, and why it needed to be reactivated and mobilized both as a way to honor the victims of the past and for the purpose of justice, repair, and reconciliation in the present. In Russia, the movement Memorial was founded in the wake of the Helsinki accord, to counter the collective trauma of Stalinism.

Celebrating Halbwachs work, the symposium will present a broad picture of the current state of memory studies, as both an academic discipline and as a form of social activism in talks and seminars with some of the leading international scholars in the field.

Participants

Aleida Assmann
Aleida Assmann is Professor emerita of English and literary studies at the University of Konstanz, and one of the world leading scholars in memory studies, collective memory and cultural and communicative memory.

Victoria Fareld
Victoria Fareld is Professor of History of Ideas. Together with colleagues from other disciplines, she founded a reaserchers network for Cultural Memory studies at Stockholm University.

Talya Feldman
Talya Feldman is media artist who generates social transformation through artistic and educational projects that offer alternative and reparative narratives to violence.

Hannes Meidal
Hannes Meidal is one of Sweden's most prominent actors who works at the Royal Dramatic Theater.

Jeffrey Olick
Jeffrey Olick is Professor of Sociology and History at the University of Virginia. Hw is a major figure in cultural sociology and social theory and has made significant contributions to the interdisciplinary field of memory studies.

Alexandra Polivanova
Alexandra Polivanova is member of the Board of International Memorial, an organisation helping to rehabilitate victims unjustly persecuted and repressed during the Soviet years.

Hans Ruin
Hans Ruin is Professor of Philosophy and director of Memory Studies Platform at Södertörn University

Rachel Spicker
Rachel Spicker is social scientist and systemic counselor as well as a supporter of the survivors of the antisemitic, racist and misogynist attack in Halle and Wiedersdorf on Yom Kippur 2019.

Rebecka Katz Thor
Rebecka Katz Thor is researcher and head of museum development at the Swedish Holocaust Museum.

Malin Thor Tureby
Malin Thor Tureby is Professor of History. Her research revolves around oral history, culture heritage history, migration and minorities studies, Holocaust studies and Jewish history.

Maja Thrane
Maja Thrane is an author, translator, and critic. She volunteers regularly as aid worker in Ukraine with the Swedish organization Operation Change, most recently with the project Books for Ukraine.

Sofia Winiarski
Sofia Winiarski is the musical director of the project Stolen Music, based on Anders Rydell's book, that lifts up the dark chapter ofa world of music that disappeared during the Holocaust.

The symposium is a collaboration between the Swedish Holocaust Museum, Jewish Culture in Sweden and the Memory Studies Platform at Södertörn University in Stockholm.

Thank You: Swedish Arts Council (Kulturrådet), The City of Stockholm (Stockholms stad) and Stockholm Region (Region Stockholm).