ShoahLab: Holocaust studies laboratory is designed as a hub of disciplinary and methodologically different approaches to Holocaust research. The Laboratory brings together historians, philosophers, sociologist, theorists of visual arts, literature and contemporary media as well as practitioners in the field of museology, education, archiving and librarianship – in a joint effort to shed light on an unimaginable
The ShoahLab: Holocaust studies laboratory was established in 2019 as a research center of the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory. The Laboratory is the first institutional unit in the higher education system of the Republic of Serbia dedicated to the academic study of the Holocaust. ShoahLab was founded with the idea of gathering researchers in this field in the Republic of Serbia to create a framework for interdisciplinary and modern approach to studying the Holocaust and its consequences and causes in society, with special focus on representation studies, Holocaust education, theoretical and philosophical reflections on the Holocaust, and regional transnational studies of the Holocaust, war, and genocide.
Activities of the ShoahLab include creating and publishing scientific papers and books, organizing lectures, round tables and conferences, leading research and educational projects and developing a physical and digital library and information center for Holocaust studies in Serbia. The Laboratory includes researchers and practitioners from the fields of history, museology, librarianship, art history, literary studies, education, media and communication studies, philosophy and social theory, sociology, religious studies and memory and representations studies.
The Laboratory leans on the previous achievements of the Institute: a series of events titled “Holocaust Remembrance” (that included exhibition, scientific conference, public forum, music and educational program), organized by the Regional Scientific Center in Novi Sad of the Belgrade University’s Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, from 18 to 22 April 2017; the prominent Holocaust and Philosophy collection of papers, published in the early 2018; the translation of Stein Vervet’s book Testimony of the Holocaust, War and Transnational Remembrance from Yugoslav and Post-Yugoslav Literature (Routledge, 2017), co-published by the Academic Book and the Institute; the book by the same co-publishers Ordinary People – Willing Executioners: A Discussion of (German) Anti-Semitism, that illustrates the controversy over the motives of the perpetrators of mass crimes; as well as Manifestation “Holocaust: heritage of fascism” held since 2019 in cooperation with the Museum “October 21”.
Our donors, contrubutors and partners include The Federation of Jewish Communities in Serbia, Claims Conference, Memorial park „October in Kragujevac“, Faculty of Philosphy – University of Banja Luka, Faculty of Philosophy – University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Dramatic Arts – University of Arts in Belgrade, Moise Palace – Cres, NGO Jewish Digital Library and NGO Center for Public History.
Contact: shoahlab@instifdt.bg.ac.rs
Predrag Krstić (IFDT), Milovan Pisarri, PhD (IFDT, NGO Center for Public History), Vera Mevorah, PhD (IFDT), Marija Velinov (IFDT), Biljana Albahari (Serbian National Library), Marko Terzić (Museum 21st October, Kragujevac), Nada Banjanin Đuričić (Railway Technical School Belgrade, NGO Center for public history), Dragana Stojanović, PhD (Faculty for Media and Communications, Singidunum University), prof. Nevena Daković (Faculty of Dramatic Arts, University of Arts in Belgrade), Vladimir Cvetković, PhD (IFDT), Aleksandar Pavlović, PhD (IFDT), Miloš Ćipranić, PhD (IFDT) and Željko Radinković, PhD (IFDT).
Coordinator: Milovan Pisarri, PhD, Research Fellow, Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, milovan.pisarri@instifdt.bg.ac.rs