Rowan to host international scholars for conference on Holocaust memorial books

International scholars will convene at Rowan University on Wednesday, Oct. 23, for a conference exploring yizker bikher, little-studied books created to memorialize Jewish lives and communities lost in Eastern Europe during the Holocaust.

Rowan’s Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights (RCHGHR) and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum are teaming up to present “Interdisciplinary Approaches to Yizker Bikher,” a day-long conference, from 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. in the Eynon Ballroom of the Chamberlain Student Center, 201 Mullica Hill Road, Glassboro.

The conference is free and open to the public, but online registration is required.

According to Rowan Sociology Chair Jenny Rich, executive director of RCHGHR, approximately 1,000 memorial books exist, but the books have not been studied widely by scholars. Composed after the devastation of the Holocaust and featuring photos, hand-drawn maps, sketches and documents, the books memorialize the writers’ hometowns, passing on collective community memory to descendants of both victims and survivors.

“Despite the richness of these sources, the books have been almost entirely overlooked by the scholarly community,” says Rich, who is writing a book about yizker bikher.

Rich is co-convener of the conference with Robert M. Ehrenreich, director of academic research and dissemination at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Scholars from around the world—from Glasgow to Haifa to London to Potsdam—will serve as panelists at the conference as they discuss interdisciplinary approaches to the books.

For information on the conference, visit go.rowan.edu/yizker or email rchghr@rowan.edu