Call for Papers: Childhood at War and Genocide

The conference organisers are interested in innovative contributions which tackle various historical and contemporary case studies of children and war and genocide. The organisers have three objectives. First, while the initial focus is on the Holocaust and the occupied European territories during the Second World War, we are also interested in taking a more global outlook at the experiences and representations of children who experienced, witnessed, and survived war and genocide during the twentieth and twenty-first century. Second, to explore similarities and differences in the experiences and life stories of displaced, orphaned, and also physically and mentally disabled young survivors of the Holocaust, and the genocides in Armenian, Rwandan, Cambodian, and Bosnian, among others. And third to examine the effect of war and genocide on children and childhood: on children’s emotions, needs and social identities; children’s social relations within family and friendship and long-life ties; and their role in the reconstruction of family in the aftermath of war and genocide.

The conference will take place at the Center for Holocaust Studies at the Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History (IfZ) in Munich on 24-26 October 2022. It will be conducted in English. Applicants should send an abstract (max. 350 words) and a short biography (max. 200 words) to zfhs@ifz-muenchen.de by 31 March 2022. The conference is hosted by the Center for Holocaust Studies at the Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History in cooperation with the Fritz Bauer Institute and the Institute of Advanced Studies at University College London.

Details regarding the conference and application can be found in the full Call for Papers.