Holocaust memory undoubtedly constitutes a central component of historical consciousness and political culture in unified Germany, Israel, and the United States. Yet can we make the same claim about other parts of the world? The study group "Global Holocaust? Memories of the Destruction of European Jews in Global Context" (Augsburg University, University of Vermont, University of Haifa, Jena Center) has been exploring this and related questions since 2011. Two past conferences have focused, for example, on the development of Holocaust memory in Israel, Eastern Europe, and Asia, as well as on its impact on international relations. The third and final event, a symposium at the Jena Center, will now explore how ethnic minorities and immigrants have engaged with the development of Holocaust memory in a variety of national and regional contexts in Western societies. We will ask, for example, how minority groups with their own experience of violence and/or persecution have responded to manifestations of Holocaust memory. Beyond exploring Western memorial cultures in a transnational context, we will investigate the implications of demographic change for Holocaust memory. How have immigrants engaged with the crucial role that Holocaust history plays in Western political culture, the media, and educational systems? We will thus seek to locate and discuss contradictions within, and challenges to, a development that scholars have come to refer to as the "globalization" or "universalization" of Holocaust memory.

The symposium will be co-sponsored by the Miller Center for Holocaust Studies at the University of Vermont, Augsburg University, the Stiftung Deutsch-Amerikanische Wissenschaftsbeziehungen, and the research network EURHISTXX.