I met one of my students in the corridor just before the seminar. She was in tears and, to explain, wordlessly and sobbing, pulled from her bag a historical account of the suppression of the Warsaw Ghetto: background reading for the day’s discussion. Another colleague recalls her seminar group’s shock on hearing her suggest that what had so moved them in a particular Holocaust account was not events, per se, but the quality of the writing.Yet another colleague recalls the first heated and then shouting debate over the significance of historical inaccuracies in Schindler’s List. Teaching Holocaust Writing and Film tends to be full of moments like these and the problems they raise. In disciplines which take affect and response seriously these raise serious pedagogic questions and problems.
The English Subject Centre’s 2003 Survey of the English Curriculum and Teaching in UK Higher Education reveals a rapid growth in the teaching of Holocaust writing. Moreover, as a number of recent conferences held in London and Manchester have shown, the Holocaust plays a role in a range of modern language degrees and in film, cultural studies and media arts departments. However, there has – as yet – been no organised reflection on teaching the subject outside of History departments in the UK.
It isn’t only issues of affect that make this area difficult. While the relation of history to literary pedagogy is always problematic (one colleague recalls a student’s response to his lecture outlining Milton’s Civil War context: ‘what happened next?’), the Holocaust raises particular questions. The continuing historical debate over, for example, how much ‘ordinary Germans’ knew, or over Polish resistance and complicity, clearly impacts on many literary accounts. How much history do students need to know? (See Philip Martin’s article on pages 18-21.) Is there – should there be – a canon of Holocaust texts and films? How do well-established or even played-out critical debates (over authorial intention, say) look in relation to a survivor’s desire to testify to what they experienced? How far do we take into account issues of translation since Holocaust literature is strikingly heterogeneous? What are the ethics of teaching this subject? And what about institutional issues? What ‘department’ does Holocaust studies belong to?
In the light of this, the English Subject Centre, Sue Vice, Nicola King and I, with the Centre for Research in Holocaust and Twentieth Century History, have organised a two-day conference (to be held at the Friends Meeting House, Euston Road, London on 18-19 February 2005) which will examine these and other issues. In addition to plenty of discussion and papers, there will be a ‘graduate session’ which will discuss questions of doctoral research, employment, teaching, publication and funding. The conference will also be attended by representatives of the Holocaust Education Trust and the Weiner Library.
Speakers include: Tim Cole; Robert Eaglestone; Rachel Falconer; Jane Kilby; Nicola King; Peter Lawson; Anthony Rowland; Ursula Tidd; Sue Vice; Anne Whithead.
Organisers: Sue Vice (Sheffield), Nicola King (West of England), Robert Eaglestone (Royal Holloway, University of London)
