Roundtable Discussion: The Holocaust in History and Memory

Speakers

Dr James Bulgin (Head of Public History at Imperial War Museums)
Dr Anna Katila (Presidential Fellow in the Department of International Politics at City St George’s)
Dr Joanna Beata Michlic (social and cultural historian specialising in Polish-Jewish history, the Holocaust, and Jewish childhood and an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the UCL Institute of Education)

Moderator

Dr Dina Fainberg (Senior Lecturer in International Politics, City St George’s)

Summary

This year’s Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest and most notorious Nazi concentration and extermination camp, and the 30th anniversary of the genocide in Bosnia. These milestones present a unique opportunity to reflect on the Holocaust’s enduring impact on global history and memory, while considering the persistent threats of hatred, bigotry, and genocide in our modern world. This panel will examine the Holocaust’s historical significance and the challenges of preserving the memory of its horrors. The discussion will draw connections to the Bosnian genocide and will explore shared themes of memory and reflection.

Speaker bios

Dr James Bulgin is Head of Public History at Imperial War Museums and was previously Head of Content for the award-winning new Holocaust Galleries. He is the presenter of How the Holocaust Began (BBC) which was nominated for Best Specialist Factual Programme at the 2024 Broadcast Awards, and has appeared as an onscreen expert on D-Day The Unheard Tapes, Rise of the Nazis (for which he is a historical advisor) and the Channel 5 series Secrets of the Imperial War Museum. He can also be seen across IWM’s online content talking, and has regularly appeared in the media discussing different aspects of twentieth century conflict. James has spoken at conferences in Germany, Israel, Poland and the US and has written for The Guardian and The Radio Times. He is the author of the book The Holocaust and the co-writer of an upcoming publication from de Gruyter about the creation of the Holocaust Galleries. Before joining IWM, James worked in theatre as an actor, director and producer, with work in the West End and on national tour.

Dr Anna Katila is a Presidential Fellow in the Department of International Politics at City St George’s, University of London. She researches legacies of genocide and mass atrocity and newly established peace. Her work on Rwanda and former Yugoslavia analyses discourses and narratives – legal, creative and media – focusing on transitional justice, memory, interdisciplinary methods, postcolonialism and gender. Her latest publication on cultural memory and mediation of the Srebrenica genocide is due to be published in The Palgrave Handbook of Literary Memory Studies in February 2025.

Dr Joanna Beata Michlic is a social and cultural historian specializing in the history of the Holocaust and its memory in Europe, East European Jewish childhood, rescue of Jews and antisemitism and nationalism in Europe. She is a Senior Honorary Fellow at the UCL Institute of Education and is one of the editors-in-chief of Genealogy journal. She has just completed her tenure as a Visiting Hedda Andersson Full Professor of Holocaust and Contemporary History at Lund University, Sweden.  Michlic is an author of 8 books and more than 100 articles, and is a recipient of many prestigious academic awards and fellowships, including Gerda Henkel Fellowship, 2017 – 2022. She also serves as a senior Academic Faculty consultant on the Claims Conference Committee.   Her forthcoming publication Family, War, Identity and Nationhood: Through the Eyes of Jewish Child Survivors from Poland will be published in 2025 in English by Nebraska University Press and in German by Dietz-Verlag publisher. Her book Jewish Family 1939 –Present: History, Representation, and Memory, Brandeis University Press/NEUP, January 2017) made to the Ethical Inquiry list of the best books published in 2017 at Brandeis University.