ShoahLab

The Laboratory for Holocaust Studies is the first institutional unit in the higher education system of Serbia dedicated to academic and professional research and education on the state-led mass killing of European Jews, Roma, Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), people with disabilities, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, black people, Poles, Soviet prisoners of war, political prisoners, and other undesirable members of society – such as the homeless, sex workers, alcoholics, and criminals – carried out by Nazi Germany and its allies across the European continent between 1933 and 1945.

The Laboratory was established with the idea of bringing together scholars, educators, activists, museologists, and other experts dedicated to these topics to create a framework for an interdisciplinary approach to studying the Holocaust, its victims and perpetrators, social and ideological mechanisms, causes, consequences, and legacy. A special focus is placed on Holocaust discourse, education, theoretical and philosophical reflections on the Holocaust, and transnational studies on the Holocaust and other genocides.

The group’s goal is to contribute to the understanding of the event that many consider a crime without precedence, the paradigm of genocide that called into question the entire civilizational project of European modernity. The Laboratory strives to pay special attention to contemporary culture of remembrance and memory politics regarding the Holocaust and World War II in Serbia and beyond, and through its activities prevent the recurrence of horrific crimes among people.

Conferences

• International Scientific Conference “Women in the Holocaust”, Belgrade, October 10–12, 2023 (WHISC – Women in the Holocaust International Study Center, ShoahLab IFDT, NGO Haver Srbija)
• International Conference “If Not Then, Now: Memorialization of Staro Sajmište”, Belgrade, December 14 – 15, 2022 (ShoahLab IFDT, Memorial Center “Staro Sajmište”, NGO Haver Srbija, Heinrich Böll Stiftung Belgrade)
• Regional Scientific Conference “Holocaust and Theology”, online, April 21, 2022 (ShoahLab IFDT, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Banja Luka)
• Memorial Conferences “Holocaust: Legacy of Fascism” 1-6, Kragujevac 2019–2024 (Museum “21 October”, ShoahLab IFDT, Federation of Jewish Communities of Serbia, Center for Public History – Belgrade, FILUM, Jewish Digital Library Association, Center for Peacebuilding)
• Regional Scientific Conference “Holocaust and Philosophy”, Novi Sad, April 22, 2017 (IFDT)
• Conference “Remembering the Holocaust”, Novi Sad, April 18 – 22, 2017

Courses

• Holocaust Courses for Undergraduate, Master’s, and Doctoral Students 2024
• Holocaust Courses for Undergraduate, Master’s, and Doctoral Students 2022/2023

Lectures

• Heike Karge – The Charm of Schizophrenia: Psychiatry, War, and Society in the Croatian-Serbian Region
• Robert Williams – Dynamics of Contemporary Antisemitism and Holocaust Fact Distortion
• Dragana Stojanović – Memorial Spaces in Contemporary Narratives: The Holocaust and the Ethics of Tourism
• Vera Mevorah – From Representation to Communication: The Holocaust Today
• Nevena Daković – Filmic Images and Cultural Trauma: SFRY – Serbia (1945-2020)  (Holocaust: Legacy of Fascism 3)

Book Discussions and Seminars

• [Panel Discussion] 3D Reconstruction of Jasenovac: New Approaches to Memorializing Sensitive Heritage (ShoahLab & DigiLab)
•  [Book Seminar] Jovan Byford – Genocide in the Independent State of Croatia in Images
• [Book Talk] Local Histories and Memories of Roma in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina during World War II
• [Book Talk]  Franziska Caug – Recruitment for the Waffen SS in Southeast Europe

Coordinator:

Secretaries:

Members:

External associates:

Biljana Albahari, National Library of Serbia/Jewish Digital Library
Marija Velinov
Nada Banjanin Đuričić, Railway Technical School Belgrade/Center for Public History
Nevena Daković, Faculty of Dramatic Arts, University of Arts in Belgrade
Stefan Radojković, Institute for Political Studies
Marko Terzić, Museum “21 October”, Memorial Park “Kragujevački oktobar”
Sonja Viličić, Haver Srbija
Željka Oparnica, Institute of Historical Research, School of Advanced Study, University of London

ShoahLab books and edited collections

• Zamir, Lily, Dragana Stojanović, Batya Brutin (eds.) (2025 – forthcoming), Women in the Holocaust. Belgrade: Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory/WHISC – Women in the Holocaust International Study Center/Haver Srbija.
• Pisarri, Milovan, Stefan Radojković (eds.) (2024 – forthcoming), Perspektive izučavanja Holokausta i genocida [Perspectives on the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide], Beograd: Institut za filozofiju i društvenu teoriju. [Serbian language]
• Mevorah, Vera, Predrag Krstić, Marija Velinov (eds.) (2024 – forthcoming ), Industrija Holokausta: (Američka) debata o instrumentalizaciji Šoe [The Holocaust Industry: The (American) Debate on the Instrumentalization of the Shoah], Novi Sad/Beograd: Akademska knjiga/Institut za filozofiju i društvenu teoriju. [Serbian language]
• Mevorah, Vera, Željko Šarić, Predrag Krstić (eds.) (2023), Holokaust i teologija [Holocaust and Theology], Beograd/Banja Luka: Institut za filozofiju i društvenu teoriju/Filozofski fakultet, Univerzitet u Banjoj Luci. [BSHM language]
• Stojanović, Dragana (ed.) (2022), Thematic Section „The Ever-Emerging Memory: Holocaust at the Crossroads of Media, Ethics, and Consumerism,“ Philosophy and Society 33 (3): 515–582.
• Vervat, Stejn (2020), Holokaust, rat i transnacionalno sećanje: svedočanstvo iz jugoslovenske i postjugoslovenske književnosti [Holocaust, War and Transnational Memory: Testimony from Yugoslav and Post-Yugoslav Literature], Beograd/Novi Sad: Institut za filozofiju i društvenu teoriju/Akademska knjiga.
• Banjanin Đuričić, Nada, Predrag Krstić (eds.) (2019), Obični ljudi – dobrovoljni dželati: spor oko (nemačkog) antisemitizma [Ordinary Men – Willing Executioners: The Debate over (German) Antisemitism], Novi Sad/Beograd: Akademska knjiga/Institut za filozofiju i društvenu teoriju.
• Krstić, Predrag, Mark Lošonc (eds.) (2018), Holokaust i filozofija [Holocaust and Philosophy], Beograd: Institutu za filozofiju i društvenu teoriju.

Books, Scientific and Expert Papers

• Stojanović, Dragana (2024 – forthcoming), „Offline education and its immersive potential: Memory, postmemory, and history in the informational age,” in Ivan Nišavić, Nevena Mitranić Marinković, Predrag Krstić (eds.), Posthumanism and Education: Transgression or Interdependence, London: Transnational Press London Ltd.
• Oparnica, Željka, Jonathan Hirsch (2024 – forthcoming), „The Decline of the West and the Rise of the East: Re-Writing Jewish pasts for the 800th Maimonides anniversary in Sarajevo and Cairo,“ American Jewish Studies Review.
• Daković, Nevena (2024), “Reading the Cultural Trauma: Újvidék Raid,” in Davor Beganović et. al. (eds.), Procedures of Resistance Contents, Positions and the „Doings“ of Literary Theory, London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 175–191.
• Oparnica, Željka (2023), „The Boundaries of Community: Why Serbo-Croatian became a Sephardi Language?,“ European Journal for Jewish Studies 17 (1): 38–60.
• Oparnica, Željka (2023), „Judeo-Spanish pasts and futures – The Question of Language in Sarajevo Sephardi Political Thought Between 1900–1930,“ in Yael Attia, Jonathan Hirsch, Kathleen Samson (eds.), Minor Perspectives on modernity beyond Europe. An Encounter between Jewish Studies and Postcolonial Thought, Nomos: Baden-Baden, pp. 29–52.
• Daković, Nevena (2022), “The Trauma of the Others!? Yugoslav Holocaust Films of the 1960s,” Philosophy and Society 33 (3): 519–534.
• Stojanović, Dragana (2022), “Holocaust and the Ethics of Tourism: Memorial Places in Narrations of Responsibility,” Philosophy and Society 33 (3): 551–566.
• Mevorah, Vera (2021), “Communicating the Holocaust,” IPSI BGD TRANSACTIONS ON INTERNET RESEARCH, Digital Turn – Memory Studies, 17 (2): 8–16.
• Albahari, Biljana (2021), Bibliografija knjiga o Jevrejima i jevrejstvu štampanih u Srbiji od 1837. do 2017. godine [Bibliography of Books on Jews and Judaism Published in Serbia from 1837 to 2017], Beograd: Narodna biblioteka Srbija. [Serbian language]
• Banjanin Đuričić, Nada, Marijana Stojčić (2020), “Serbia: Equation with Two Knowns,” in Magdalena Dziaczkowska, Adele Valeria Messina (eds.), Jews in Dialogue: Jewish Responses to the Challenges of Multicultural Contemporaneity, Boston, Massachusetts: Brill, pp. 248–272.
• Stanšić, Miško, Vera Mevorah (eds.) (2019), Librarians and Archivists and the New International Resources for Teaching and Learning about the Holocaust, Belgrade: Terraforming Network.
• Pisarri, Milovan, Sanela Schmid (2018) (eds.), Producers, consumers and consequences of forced labour: Serbia 1941–1944, Belgrade/Berlin: Center for Holocaust research and Education/Humboldt University (also in German and Serbian).
• Pisarri, Milovan (2018), “I Saw Jews Carrying Dead Bodies on Stretchers,” in Milovan Pisarri, Sanela Schmid (eds.), Producers, consumers and consequences of forced labour – Serbia 1941–1944: Forced Labour and the Holocaust in Serbia, Belgrade/Berlin: Center for Holocaust research and Education/Humboldt University, pp. 12–29.
• Pisarri, Milovan (2018), „Ebrei profughi in Kosovo, Montenegro e Albania,“ in Lia Tosi (ed.), Soldati pistoiesi nella Resistenza in Albania e Montenegro 1943–1945, Pistoia: ETS, pp. 163–171.

Educational Programs, Exhibitions, and Projects

Milovan Pisarri

• Author and coordinator of the project Introducing the First Master’s Studies in Holocaust and Genocide in Serbia (ShoahLab IFDT, 2022–2024)
• Author of the traveling exhibition “Holocaust in Serbia” (2020)
• Author and coordinator of the project Mapping the Holocaust – Preservation of the Topovske Šupe Camp (Center for Public History, 2019)

Predrag Krstić

• Co-author and implementer of accredited programs for the continuous professional development of teachers, educators, and professional associates “Teaching about the Holocaust” (Group 484/Center for Public History), Institute for the Improvement of Education of the Republic of Serbia (2014 – present)
• Co-author of the program Holocaust: The Legacy of Fascism, Museum “21 October” (2019 – present)

Dragana Stojanović

• Co-author and implementer of the accredited program for the continuous professional development of teachers, educators, and professional associates “Jews – Culture, Tradition, History” (Haver Srbija), Institute for the Improvement of Education of the Republic of Serbia (2023 – present)

Milica Damjanović

• Co-author and implementer of workshop for high school and college students “History and Literature of the Holocaust”, Association of Teachers “M Forum”/Faculty of Legal and Business Studies Dr. Lazar Vrkatić/ShoahLab IFDT, Belgrade, December 26, 2022, and May 10, 2023.

Andrija Mihajlov

• Co-author and implementer of workshop for high school and college students “History and Literature of the Holocaust”, Association of Teachers “M Forum”/Faculty of Legal and Business Studies Dr. Lazar Vrkatić/ShoahLab IFDT, Belgrade, December 26, 2022, and May 10, 2023.

Marko Terzić

• Co-author and moderator of the program Holocaust: The Legacy of Fascism, Museum “21 October” (2019 – present)

• Author and curator of the exhibition “Bloody October 1941” [Krvavi oktobar 1941] Kragujevac, Belgrade, Novi Sad, Niš, Beijing (2021 – present)
• Co-author of the exhibition “The Light of Day – Original Messages from the Collection of the Museum 21th October” [Svetlost dana – originalne poruke iz zbirke Muzeja 21. oktobar], Kragujevac (2021)
• Author of the solo exhibition “The Tale of a Song” [Bajka o pesmi], Kragujevac, Valjevo (2023–2024)

Biljana Albahari

• Founder and administrator of the Jewish Digital Library (2019 – present)
• Associate of the Institute for the Improvement of Education of the Republic of Serbia on the project “National Educational Profile” platform – theme of memory culture

Sonja Viličić

• Organizer of Falafel – Festival of Jewish and Israeli LGBTQI Culture (Haver Srbija, Embassy of Israel in Belgrade, Merlinka Film Festival, NGO XY Spectrum, NGO KEC, and Paideia Institute – European Institute for Jewish Studies in Sweden) (2018 – present)
• Implementer of the project Stumbling Stones – Stolpersteine (Haver Srbija, Federation of Jewish Communities of Serbia, Jewish Community of Belgrade) (2022)
• Co-author and implementer of the accredited program for the continuous professional development of teachers, educators, and professional associates “Jews – Culture, Tradition, History” (Haver Srbija), Institute for the Improvement of Education of the Republic of Serbia (2023 – present)

Nada Banjanin Đuričić

• Co-author and implementer of the accredited program for the continuous professional development of teachers, educators, and professional associates “Jews – Culture, Tradition, History” (Haver Serbia), Institute for the Improvement of Education of the Republic of Serbia (2023 – present)
• Co-author and implementer of accredited programs for the continuous professional development of teachers, educators, and professional associates “Teaching about the Holocaust” (Group 484/Center for Public History), Institute for the Improvement of Education of the Republic of Serbia (2014 – present)
• Author of the film How I Survived the Holocaust – Jozef Baruhović, Center for Public History (2021)
• Participant in the project Code Viking 1942–2021 (Stiftung Erinnerung, Verantwortung und Zukunft, Deutsch-Russisches Museum Berlin-Karlshorst, War and Peace Center, Federal Foreign Office of Germany, Center for Public History, 2022)

Lectures, Conferences, and Panels

Marija Velinov

• Organizer and moderator of the book seminar Jovan Byford – Genocide in the Independent State of Croatia through Images, Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, June 2023

Vera Mevorah

• Participant in the panel discussion “Music and the Holocaust,” Holocaust: The Legacy of Fascism 5, Museum “21 October,” Kragujevac, January 26, 2023
• Member of the organizational and scientific committee of the international conference Women in the Holocaust (ShoahLab IFDT, WHISC – Women in the Holocaust International Study Centre, Haver Srbija), Belgrade, October 10–12, 2023
• Moderator of the panel discussion “Holocaust at the Crossroads: Media, Ethics, and Consumerism,” international conference If Not Then, Now: Memorialization of the Staro Sajmište, Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, Belgrade, December 14–15, 2022
• Organizer and moderator of the seminar on the book Jelena Subotić – Yellow Star, Red Star: Holocaust Remembrance after Communism, Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, Belgrade, February 25, 2022
• Lecture “How to Narrate the Holocaust,” program Films of History and Memory, Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade, June 11, 2021
• Lecture “What We Talk About When We Talk About the Holocaust: Memory, History, or Representation,” Holocaust: The Legacy of Fascism 2, Kragujevac, January 24, 2020
• Lecture “From Representation to Communication: The Holocaust Today,” Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, Belgrade, June 13, 2019

Predrag Krstić

• Lecture “How to Theorize the Holocaust?”, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Banja Luka, April 27, 2021
• Organizer and participant in the debate “Can the Holocaust Happen Again?”, Šabac, September 2, 2019

Milovan Pisarri

• Lecturer in the project University Partnership for Holocaust Studies (Claims Conference, 2022–2025)
• Participant in the discussion on the book Dragan Stanojević, Tanja Jakobi, Milovan Pisarri (eds.) – Roma in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina: Local Histories and Memories of World War II, Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, Belgrade, March 12, 2024
• Participant in the book seminar Jovan Byford – Genocide in the Independent State of Croatia through Images, Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, Belgrade, June 2023
• Participant in the panel discussion “3D Reconstruction of Jasenovac: New Approaches to Memorialization of Sensitive Heritage,” Novi Sad, December 13, 2022
• Presentation “The Roma in Jasenovac” at the international scientific conference Jasenovac Past and Present: History and Memory of Institutionalised Destruction, online, December 15–17, 2021

Dragana Stojanović

• Lecture “Post-Holocaust Readings in Jewish Thought: Trauma, Faith, and Continuity,” Holocaust – The Legacy of Fascism 6, Museum “21 October”, Kragujevac, January 2024
• Participant in the book seminar Jovan Byford – Genocide in the Independent State of Croatia through Images, Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, Belgrade, June 2023
• Member of the organizational and scientific committee of the international conference Women in the Holocaust (ShoahLab IFDT, WHISC – Women in the Holocaust International Study Centre, Haver Serbia), Belgrade, October 10–12, 2023

Milica Damjanović

• Member of the organizational committee of the international conference Women in the Holocaust (ShoahLab IFDT, WHISC – Women in the Holocaust International Study Centre, Haver Serbia), Belgrade, October 10–12, 2023

Andrija Mihajlov

• Member of the organizational committee of the international conference Women in the Holocaust (ShoahLab IFDT, WHISC – Women in the Holocaust International Study Centre, Haver Serbia), Belgrade, October 10–12, 2023

Marko Terzić

• Participant in the conference If Not Then, Now: Memorialization of the Staro Sajmište (ShoahLab IFDT, Memorial Center “Staro Sajmište”, Haver Serbia, Heinrich Böll Stiftung Belgrade), Belgrade, December 14–15, 2022

Sonja Viličić

• Member of the organizational committee of the international conference Women in the Holocaust (ShoahLab IFDT, WHISC – Women in the Holocaust International Study Centre, Haver Serbia), Belgrade, October 10–12, 2023
• Member of the organizational committee of the Ninth International Bet Debora Conference of Jewish Women Activists “Jewish Women: Being Present, Making a Difference” (Bet Debora, Haver Serbia), Belgrade, September 13–15, 2019

Nada Banjanin Đuričić

• Lecture “What (Don’t) We See?”, Haver Srbija, online, May 13, 2024
• Presentation “Personalization of the Victim as a Didactic Strategy for Holocaust Education,” scientific symposium Civilian Victims of World War II (1939–1945), Memorial Park “Kragujevac October,” Kragujevac, October 7, 2022
• Moderator of the program “Holocaust Remembrance Day – Second Generation,” Haver Srbija, online, February 1, 2021
• Public class “Hungarian Army and Camps: Testimony of Mira Aršinov,” project Testimonies from the Past – Warning for the Present: Teaching about the Holocaust through Oral History, Hermes Zagreb & USHMM, Zagreb, 2021
• Lecture “How to Teach about the Holocaust,” Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, Belgrade, October 14, 2020
• Presentation “Ordinary Men – Willing Executioners,” seminar for teachers Holocaust by Bullets in the Occupied Soviet Territories, Yahad-in Unum/Center for Public History, October 5–6, 2019
• Presentation “Teaching/Learning about The Holocaust,” Ninth International Bet Debora Conference of European Jewish Women Activists, Academics, Artists, Rabbis, and Cantors, Belgrade, September 13–15, 2019

Biljana Albahari

• Presentation “Narrative on the Exhibition Turning over the Pages of Time: Jewish Periodicals in Serbia (1888-2016),” Ninth International Bet Debora Conference of European Jewish Women Activists, Academics, Artists, Rabbis, and Cantors, September 13–15, 2019
• Presentation “Jewish Women in the Serbian Jewish Press,” Ninth International Bet Debora Conference of European Jewish Women Activists, Academics, Artists, Rabbis, and Cantors, Belgrade, September 13–15, 2019
• Lecture “Creating the Collection Writing of Suffering: A Guide to Holocaust Publications,” seminar “The Role of Librarians, Archivists, and Museum Workers in Modern Holocaust Education,” National and University Library of the Republic of Srpska in Banja Luka, 2019

Memberships in Organizations and Working Bodies

Milovan Pisarri

• Member of the Board of the Memorial Center “Staro Sajmište,” Republic of Serbia (2021 – present)

Vera Mevorah

• Member of the Board of the Memorial Center “Staro Sajmište,” Republic of Serbia (2023 – present)
• Member of the Board of WHISC – Women in the Holocaust International Study Center, Givat Haviva, Israel (2022 – present)

Dragana Stojanović

• Member of the Board of WHISC – Women in the Holocaust International Study Center, Givat Haviva, Israel (2022 – present)

Nevena Daković

• Member of the National Council for Culture of the Republic of Serbia (2022 – present)
• Member of Academia Europaea
• Member of the editorial board of the scientific journal European Review (Cambridge University Press)

Nada Banjanin Đuričić

• Member of the Victimology Society of Serbia (1997 – present)
• Member of the Association of Civic Education Teachers (2006 – present)

Biljana Albahari

• Member of the International Initiative Committee of the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) (2023 – present)
• Member of the Board of NGO Terraforming, Novi Sad (2022 – present)
• Member of the Board of NGO Haver Serbia (2018 – present)
• Member of the Library Association of Serbia (1994 – present)

Sonja Viličić

• Member of the Board of WHISC – Women in the Holocaust International Study Center, Givat Haviva, Israel (2022 – present)
• Member of the Board of Labris – Organization for Lesbian Human Rights (2019 – present)

Awards

Milovan Pisarri

• “Third Way” Award from the Victimology Society of Serbia (2020)

Nevena Daković

• “Nebojša Popović” Award (2023)

The Holocaust Research Laboratory, in collaboration with international partners, leads initiatives in studying the Holocaust and genocide through several key projects.

• Introduction of the first Master’s program in Holocaust and Genocide Studies in Serbia

This project, supported by the US Embassy in Serbia, aims to build a network of experts from Serbia and the US, with the goal of establishing the first Master’s program in Holocaust and Genocide Studies in Serbia. The master’s program is expected to be launched in the academic year 2024/2025. In addition to program development, the project seeks to enhance knowledge about the Holocaust, genocide against Roma, revisionism, racism, and the recent history of Serbia, former Yugoslavia, and the US through both in-person and distance lectures.

• University partnership program for Holocaust studies

With the support of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, the Federal Ministry of Finance of Germany, and the “Remembrance, Responsibility, Future” Foundation, the Laboratory has been organizing free courses on Holocaust history every semester since the academic year 2022. The courses are available to students at all levels and fields of study, and they include a curriculum that encourages the development of both academic and practical skills related to Holocaust studies.

• Network for Jewish Studies in Southeastern Europe

Under the auspices of the Rothschild Hanadiv Europe Foundation, the Laboratory is working on building a network of research collaboration focused on Jewish studies in Southeastern Europe. This initiative is particularly important because Southeastern Europe has a rich and diverse Jewish history that has been insufficiently explored so far, both locally and internationally. The project promotes university collaboration and organizes academic activities to promote knowledge and memory of the Jewish community in the region.

The ShoahLab video archive was created as a result of extensive activities covering various aspects of Holocaust studies. Below are just a few of these programs, while the rest can be found on the ShoahLab YouTube playlist

• Hungary and the Holocaust
• Simon Levis Sullam – Italy and the Holocaust
• Dr Robert Williams – Dynamics of Present-Day Antisemitism and Holocaust Distortion
• Yehuda Bauer – Why is the History of Woman in the Holocaust important and the Necessity of Researching it
• Krinka Vidaković Petrov – The Gender Perspective in the Writings by Jewish Women Holocaust Survivors in Yugoslavia
• Alex Lichtenstein – Unsettling Memories: Commemoration and Racial Justice in the US and South Africa