220345 Commemorating Mass Violence: Memorial Sites in Germany, Israel, Rwanda and Ukraine (S) (SoSe 2025)

Rationale
This course aims to introduce the ways in which memorial sites across the globe exhibit the history of mass violence. By exploring case studies from Germany, Israel, Rwanda and Ukraine we will discuss three overall subjects related to the museal representation of mass violence: 1) human agency, that is the role of multiple actors involved in the process of museum making, 2) historical sources, that is the relationship between museums and archives, 3) historical exhibition, that is the crucial tenets of creating a compelling museal representation. The concrete examples explored in this seminar revolve around Yad Vashem in Israel, Ntarama Church Museum in Rwanda, Babi Yar in Ukraine as well as Bergen Belsen and Stalag 326 in Germany.
The course is designed as a distance learning course with blended mobility for students from Bielefeld University and Tel Aviv University. It includes excursions to Bergen Belsen, Stalag 326 and the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin.

Teaching plan
The first stage of the course will combine frontal lectures with interactive work between the students from both universities (on Zoom) and learning on site in smaller groups (in May and June 2025). The second stage will consist of a one-week workshop in Bielefeld (23 - 27 June 2025). Students will work on assignments combining short academic papers and contributions to a podcast and a blog to be submitted by the end of the semester.
We will have a common learning platform and can contribute to a blog run by Bielefeld University and Tel Aviv University.

Learning Outcomes

● get acquainted with the history and memory of mass violence
● gaining confidence in critical reading and chairing discussions
● creating compelling, original arguments
● asking questions that integrate theoretical perspectives and research findings
● identifying the main approaches to the study of the social and cultural history in multilingual and multicultural settings

Course Requirements
Enrolled students are required to regularly attend classes, to participate in the class discussions, which are based on the readings for that particular session, and to be co-responsible for chairing one of the debates. Students missing a class are requested to notify the instructors via email before the class.