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“Perpetrator Research in a Global Context”

Programme

Berlin, January 27 - 29, 2009

www.bpb.de

Location

dbb-Forum Berlin, Friedrichstraße 169/170 Background In late 2006, the German Federal Agency for Civic Education (bpb) carried out a conference in cooperation with the Center for Research on Anti-semitism entitled “The Holocaust in Transnational Memory”. One of the results of that congress was a general agreement that Germany needs to regularly host international conferences of this nature, both to help present the current status of Holocaust research and to point the way for its possible inclusion in civic education practices. In response to this demand, the bpb is now organising in cooperation with the Holocaust Research Centre at Royal Holloway, University of London and the Institute for Advanced Study in Humanities Essen a conference entitled “Perpetrator Research in a Global Context”, to take place from January, 27 – 29, 2009. The topics that will be addressed there are based on clear indications that research on Holocaust perpetrators has reached a turning point. Until only a few years ago, the organisers of the Holocaust were portrayed as belonging to one of two categories. On the one hand were the ‘desk killers’, those distanced from the actual process of mass murder. On the other were those who actually carried out the killings, and who were seen - except for a small minority of sadists - as merely following orders, with no personal interests or motives.

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The proportion of genocidal Holocaust perpetrators that could be considered psychologically abnormal is generally estimated at between five and ten percent. Compared with typical societies, this is not a particularly spectacular figure. These observations are supplemented by information about perpetrators of other genocides, as well as by explanations provided by experts from fields such as social psychology, sociology, psychology and anthropology. Viewed from the other side, this of course means that the vast majority of perpetrators were psychologically ‘normal’. This is striking, because the acts committed by these psychologically ‘normal’ people are so abnormal that even today there is no convincing explanation for how or why they became mass murderers. From both an academic and a civic education perspective, it is imperative that we develop a framework for finding out more about what Germaine Tillion described as the ‘tragic ease’ with which people who would generally be abhorred by the idea of killing someone else can quickly become murderers or even mass murderers. With the expansion of perpetrator research, a process that has been continuing for more than a decade and has resulted in numerous individual and group studies, it has become increasingly clear that the search for one or more homogeneous perpetrator ‘types’ is misleading. Holocaust perpetrators came from a variety of age groups and social milieus, and had different intellectual horizons and career paths. Those who were motivated by ideology killed alongside those who didn’t hold particularly radical racist beliefs. People regulate their behaviour according to specific frames of reference, and an action is played out within a framework of different contexts, from the societal to the individual level. With the help of this differentiation of contexts, we not only can describe what each individual did, but also how they understood the situation. We are able to examine which situational conditions determined their actions and under what supra-individual conditions – such as social and normative frameworks that lie beyond the limits of individual control – each action took place. Such an analytical framework opens up the possibility for comparative perpetrator research. The reconstruction of the frame of reference within which the killing took place provides a key to the explanation of perpetrator behaviour in the context of other genocides and mass murders, and it also rids violence of its exotic element. In civic education terms this method, which proceeds from an intensive examination of the historical experience of the Holocaust, would then be used to create a standpoint revealing that mass murder generally has a) a history and recurring aspects, and b) is made up of processes that can be described. Genocidal processes develop an inner dynamic. In the midst of genocide, things are possible that would not have been possible when it began. Coupled with this is the understanding that violence itself is not only destructive; ultimately, it also creates a new structure that did not exist before the violence began. The point is therefore to understand violence as a creator of structures, and to describe those who commit violence as thinking individuals, in order to be able to observe the development of genocidal processes and possibly to halt them before they reach their deadly conclusion.

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Programme Tuesday, January 27, 2009 From 4:45 p.m. Registration 5:45 p.m. Welcome addresses by the organizers 6:00 p.m. Dr. Wolfgang Schäuble, Minister of the Interior, The Federal Ministry of the Interior of the Federal

Republic of Germany 6:30 p.m. Keynote speech

Richard Overy, Professor of History, University of Exeter 8:00 p.m. Reception Wednesday, January 28, 2009 9:00 a.m. Introduction to the sessions & coffee 9:30 a.m. Panel 1

Who is a Perpetrator? The Changing Construction and Interpretation over Time Contributions by:

“Perpetrators in the Eyes of the Beholders“

David Silberklang, International Institute for Holocaust Research, Yad Vashem “The Historiography of Perpetrators” Dan Stone, Royal Holloway, University of London

“Reference Frames of Group Violence“ Harald Welzer, Center for Interdisciplinary Memory Research, Essen Discussion Moderation: Carolin Emcke, Journalist and Author, Berlin

11:00 a.m. Coffee break

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11:30 a.m. Panel 2 Case Studies of ‘Ordinary’ Perpetrators

Contributions by:

“Women as Perpetrators” Elisabeth Harvey, University of Nottingham “Holocaust and Collaboration” Wendy Lower, Towson University “Violence as a Popular Spectacle“ Michael Wildt, Hamburg Institute for Social Research

Discussion Moderation: Birthe Kundrus, Hamburg Institute for Social Research 1:00 p.m. Lunch snacks 2:30 p.m. Panel 3

Case Studies of Perpetrators in the Holocaust and Other Genocides in Comparative Perspective

Contributions by: “Perpetrators – Yugoslawia” Marie-Janine Calic, University of Munich “Perpetrators – Cambodia” Alex Hinton, Rutgers University, Newark

“Holocaust Perpetrators” Peter Longerich, Royal Holloway, University of London

Discussion

Moderation: Franziska Augstein, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Munich

4:00 p.m. Coffee break

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4:30 p.m. Panel 4 Interdisciplinary Approaches: the Social Sciences - Philosophy - Representation

Contributions by:

“Holocaust Studies and Philosophy” Robert Eaglestone, Royal Holloway, University of London “Holocaust Studies and Representation” Wulf Kansteiner, State University of New York “Holocaust Studies and Social Sciences” James E. Waller, University of Vermont

Discussion

Moderation: Claus Leggewie, Institute for Advanced Study in Humanities, Essen Thursday, January 29, 2009 9:00 a.m. Introducing the session and workshops & coffee 9:30 a.m. Panel 5

The Path Leading from Research to Citizenship Education: Transfer of Knowledge and General Aspects

Contributions by:

“Memorial Sites” Johannes Tuchel, German Resistance Memorial Center Berlin

“Teaching about the Holocaust”

Simone A. Schweber, School of Education, University of Wisconsin

Discussion Moderation: Christian Gudehus, Center for Interdisciplinary Memory Research, Essen

10:30 a.m. Coffee break

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11.00 a.m. Parallel workshop sessions Dealing with Perpetrators in Citizenship Education – From Research to Practice Workshop 1: Teaching and Learning about Perpetrators in Schools and Non-Formal Education

Contributions by: Paul A. Levine, Uppsala Programme for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Uppsala University Falk Pingel, The Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research, Braunschweig

Project Presentations by: Akim Jah, Workshop „Konfrontationen Berlin e.V.“ Julia Sarbo / Patrick Siegele, Anne Frank House, Amsterdam and Anne Frank Center, Berlin Moderation: Johannes Tuchel, German Resistance Memorial Center, Berlin Workshop 2: Teaching and Learning about Perpetrators within Memorial Sites

Contributions by:

Matthias Heyl, Memorial Museum, Ravensbrück Anatoly Podolsky, Ukrainian Center for Holocaust Studies, Kiev Project Presentations by: Simone Erpel, Curator and Historian, Berlin N.N., Justus-Liebig University Giessen Moderation: Christl Wickert, Historian and Political Scientist, Zernien

Workshop 3: Teaching and Learning about Perpetrators in Multi-Ethnic and Migration Societies

Contributions by: Astrid Messerschmidt, Technical University Darmstadt Elke Gryglewski, House of the Wannsee Conference, Berlin Project Presentations by: Dogan Akhanli, NS-Dokumentationszentrum, EL-DE-Haus, Cologne N.N. Moderation: Ulla Kux, Foundation “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future”, Berlin

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Workshop 4: Perpetrators in Movies and the Role of Film Education Contributions by: Tobias Ebbrecht, The Film & Television Academy “Konrad Wolf”, Potsdam-Babelsberg Barry Langford, Royal Holloway, University of London Tomasz Lysak, University of Warsaw

Project Presentation by: Birthe Templin / Gesa Knolle, Directors of the documentary „was bleibt“, Berlin together with Tobias Ebbrecht, The Film & Television Academy “Konrad Wolf”, Potsdam-

Babelsberg

Moderation: Michael Wildt, Hamburg Institute for Social Research 12:30 a.m. Lunch break 2:00 p.m. Continuation of the workshop sessions 3:30 p.m. Coffee break 4:00 p.m. Final Panel

The Artist's Perception - a Contribution to Citizenship Education? Romuald Karmakar, Director, Berlin Christoph Mayer, Artist and Project Manager of the “Audioweg Gusen“ Thomas Medicus, Author, Berlin Sandra Nuy, University Siegen

Moderation: Thomas Krüger, President of the Federal Agency for Civic Education, Bonn, and

Claus Christian Malzahn, Political Editor, Spiegel Online, Berlin