The way out: Microhistories of flight from Nazi Germany

In recent years, the microhistorical turn in Holocaust history has placed increasing importance on individual practices and experiences by exploring new, nominative mass sources and combining a prosopographical approach with quantitative analysis of individual trajectories. As Claire Zalc and Tal Bruttmann state in the introduction to Microhistories of the Holocaust (2016): “Reducing the level of analysis increases knowledge, because smaller spaces can better elucidate the complexities of decision-making, help reestablish the “space of the possible”, show how reality was experienced at the individual level, and ultimately provide more compelling insights into the events that contemporaries faced in their day-to-day lives.” The micro-level of the individual and the family is a scale of observation that sheds light in a new way on the relationships between Jewish migrants and representatives of state authorities and places individual behaviour in the context of its social and political environment. It enables us to observe migrants in their networks and groups of belonging, trace their biographical and migratory trajectories and identify their agency, the means at their disposal and the opportunities or obstacles that the policy framework allowed them, so that we can identify their spaces of possibility and constraint.

The conference is organised by the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C²DH) / University of Luxembourg, the Institut d’histoire moderne et contemporaine, Ecole normale supérieure, Paris (CNRS), the Institut für Zeitgeschichte, München and the Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Amsterdam (NIOD).

Programme and registration

(PDF version)

Wednesday, 24 January 2018, 19.00

Centre culturel de rencontre Abbaye de Neumünster, room José Ensch

28, rue Münster, L-2160 Luxembourg

Opening Keynote by Dalia Ofer, Professor Emeritus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

The historian and his/her protagonists

>>>Register here for the opening keynote<<<

Dalia Ofer, born in 1939, is a well known historian of contemporary Jewry, with a research specialization in Holocaust studies. Illegal immigration to Palestine and daily life in east European ghettos are Dalia Ofer's main areas of research. In her keynote - which is opening the conference "The Way Out. Microhistories of flight from Nazi Germany" - the historian at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem gives insights into her work and explains why every voice and micro-history of involved protagonists counts when constructing a historical narrative. 

In the course of her research on immigration, she encountered multiple protagonists: persecutors and victims, political leaders, immigration activists, heads of communities, ideologues, and organizations and institutions from different countries such as the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC). All contribute their accounts as parts of a big puzzle. However, the narrative had many gaps until the scale of analysis was modified. The voices of different individuals had to join the orchestra not as illustrations but as a major factor that enables an integrated narrative of the protagonists I selected.

In the dialogue she conducted with her various sources, the micro-history of different immigrants and their families enriched her understanding of the role of other protagonists, such as youth movements, Zionist activists, Nazi rulers, concentration camps, and more. Only then did the emplotment merge into a fabric that presented a troubled and nuanced narrative. This left the historian and the reader uneasy and still questioning. In many respects, this is the root of the Holocaust era, with never a happy and satisfying ending. Micro-history is a necessary tool of the historical craft. It negotiates constantly with macro-history and assists in creating the complexity of the past for the present. 

Thursday , 25 January 2018

University of Luxembourg, Belval Campus

Maison du Savoir, Room 3.520

2, avenue de l'Université L-4365 Esch-sur-Alzette

>>>Register here for the conference in Belval<<<

Friday , 26 January 2018

University of Luxembourg, Belval Campus

Maison du Savoir

2, avenue de l'Université L-4365 Esch-sur-Alzette

Please note that a photographer will be present at this event. The images may be published by the University, e.g. on its social media, its website and in print products. If you do not wish to be photographed, please alert the organisers and the photographer.

Photo:

Albert Nussbaum, Director of Transmigration for the American Joint Distribution Committee, poses in the port of Lisbon in front of a wooden fence that cordons off the Jewish refugees who are waiting to board the SS Mouzinho. (10 June 1941)

© United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Milton Koch

The views or opinions expressed on this website, and in the context in which the image is used, do not necessarily reflect the views or policy of, nor imply approval or endorsement by, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.