Knowledge and Understanding. The Holocaust and the Limits of Historical Perception

Guest lecture by Prof. Dr Jan Gerber, University of Leipzig, organised by the Selma Stern Centre for Jewish Studies Berlin-Brandenburg. The lecture will take place at the Free University of Berlin.

At a time when awareness of the historical uniqueness of the Holocaust and society’s memory of the crime are fading, it is worth taking a look at the early attempts to understand the events at all. Even during the Second World War, information about mass shootings, deportations and death camps was accumulating. Nevertheless, even after the liberation of the camps, the full extent of the Nazi policy of extermination was initially apparent to only a very few contemporaries.

The lecture explores the question of why even well-informed observers struggled to grasp the historical dimension of the crime that would later be termed the Holocaust. Drawing on contemporary reports, diplomatic communications and early attempts at interpretation, it demonstrates how widely knowledge and historical understanding sometimes diverged. Examining these limits of perception also offers insight into some of the conditions under which historical understanding emerges.

For any questions regarding the event, please contact the Research Coordinator, Doris Maja Krüger: mkrueger@europa-uni.de

The lecture will be held in German.