The Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory (IFDT) in Belgrade hosted last week Katharina von Schnurbein, the European Commission’s coordinator on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life. During her visit, Von Schnurbein toured the Holocaust Studies Laboratory and engaged in discussions with its members, as well as with the Institute’s leadership, on current projects and potential collaboration opportunities.
Gazela Pudar Draško, Director of IFDT, presented the Institute’s achievements, emphasizing that it is practically the only academic institution in the wider region dedicated to studying the Holocaust, antisemitism, and related topics. Laboratory Coordinator Milovan Pisarri introduced the guest to the work of this research unit and highlighted the importance of international cooperation and the involvement of external members in research activities.
“One of the programs we organize includes Holocaust education courses, which we aim to develop into an accredited postgraduate program,” Pisarri explained. He added that courses on identifying and preventing antisemitism, on the other hand, are still in the early stages. Miško Stanišić, director of the organization Terraforming from Novi Sad, presented the project “UP2US: Mapping the understanding of contemporary antisemitism in Serbia, Croatia and Romania”, which ShoahLab and Terraforming are implementing in cooperation with a network of institutions and organizations from various European countries, and he emphasized the importance educational approach to the issue of understanding contemporary anti-Semitism, especially in the digital world.
Von Schnurbein expressed her admiration for the Laboratory’s work and its completed projects to date, as well as the very significant cooperation between IFDT and the civil sector. “I particularly emphasize the importance of regional and international cooperation, as these are topics that transcend national boundaries,” she added. as well as cooperation between IFDT and the civil sector.
The participants agreed on the need to build capacities to integrate these types of programs into formal educational systems, due to the frequent manipulation of history in the public sphere. They also underscored the importance of a unified European approach to combating antisemitism, in light of the current social situation in Europe and around the world.
