„Aktion Reinhardt (1942-1943): 80 years later”: After the conference
The International Academic Conference „Aktion Reinhardt (1942-1943): 80 years later”, which took place on September 22-23 in the Jewish Historical Institute, has come to an end. Thank you for your interest and participation!
The conference was organized by the Warsaw Ghetto Museum, Jewish Historical Institute and the State Museum at Majdanek as a part of commemoration of the Operation Reinhard 80th anniversary. Operation Reinhard (Aktion Reinhardt in German) was conducted by the Nazis on the territories of the General Government and the Bialystok District in 1942-1943. It led to the extermination of around 2 million Polish citizens, mostly of Jewish origin.
“We want the information about these events to be easily accessible and the victims to be honorably remembered” – the WGM director Albert Stankowski said at the conference inauguration.
The conference brought together researchers from different countries including Poland, USA and Israel. The first day started with a keynote lecture „When Time ends: A Cultural History Perspective on Jewish Life in Poland, 1940-1943” by Daniel Blatman, the Hebrew University professor and the Warsaw Ghetto Museum main historian.
The lecture was followed by four discussion panels focusing on the Holocaust and the local communities reactions to it. Among the participants was dr Martyna Grądzka-Rejak from WGM who presented a paper „What did they know about the Holocaust in the Cracow ghetto?”.
The second day of the conference opened with the lecture „After the Holocaust: the Operation Reinhard Trials” by the Touro College Berlin professor Stephan Lehnstaedt. The three discussion panels topics were: the local communities reactions to the Holocaust, the concentration camps functioning and the commemoration of the events which took place during the Operation Reinhard.
The Warsaw Ghetto Museum specialists – dr Martyna Grądzka-Rejak, dr Paweł Freus and Michał Kowalski from the Scientific Department and dr Wiesława Młynarczyk from the Education Department – also participated in the discussions moderation.
During the conference the Jewish Historical Institute director Monika Krawczyk honored dr Jarosław Sellin, prof Andrzej Żbikowski, dr Baria Brutin, Magdalena Erdman and dr Martyna Grądzka-Rejak with a special JHI 75h anniversary medal.
The whole conference recording is available on the JHI YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/JewHistInst.