Panel discussion and commemoration on the occasion of the remembrance of the deportation of Jews from Novi Sad and Bačka

On April 26, 1944, the Novi Sad Jews were arrested and held in the Synagogue before being deported to death camps.
Photo Credit: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Moshe and Malka Lovy.

Inclusive Culture of Remembrance: Voices of the Jewish Community in Holocaust Education and Commemoration

On the occasion of commemorating the deportation of Novi Sad Jews to death camps in April 1944, in cooperation with the Jewish Community of Novi Sad, Terraforming is organizing a panel discussion with international guests from Sweden and the USA.

JONS - Terraforming

Time: Thursday, April 24, 18:00-19:30 CET

Venue: Small Cinema Hall of the Museum of Vojvodina (in the Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina, Dunavska 37, Novi Sad)

Panelists

The following speakers will take part in the panel:

Majlis Nilsson and Konstantinos Gountas from the Swedish Living History Forum;
Dan Hultquist, Director of Educational Programs at the Swedish Holocaust Museum;
Stephen Naron, Director of the Fortunoff Archives of Holocaust Testimonies at Yale University, USA;
Representative of the Jewish Community (TBA);
Miško Stanišić, Director of Terraforming and member of the delegation of the Republic of Serbia to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance IHRA, as host and moderator of the panel discussion;

Topics of the panel discussion

Some of the topics we will discuss are:

Whose is the culture of remembrance? How to provide space for the perspectives and voices of the contemporary Jewish and Roma communities in Serbian and European Holocaust remembrance?
How to move from symbolic and formal Inclusion to essentially meaningful participation of Jewish and Roma communities in shaping the culture of remembrance?
How does the concept of “victim competition” distort the purpose of memory, and how can we challenge narratives that put the suffering of one community against another?
What means already exist — and what has yet to be built — to give minority communities space, voice, and influence in memorial practice, education, and public history?
What does it mean to connect the past with the present, and historical experiences of the Holocaust with the experiences of antisemitism and antigypsyism today?
What are the models or examples of the transformation of memory into civic education, activism and democratic engagement?
How can Holocaust education foster critical thinking, media literacy, and democratic competence among young people, especially concerning the abuse of history to promote nationalism and anti-EU propaganda?

We would like to thank the Museum of Vojvodina for their cooperation and hospitality

This event is part of a wider Terraforming program to improve education and memorialization of the Jewish community in Novi Sad and Bačka that was persecuted during the Holocaust. Last year, on the 80th anniversary of the deportation, we organized an international program with guests from Great Britain, Germany, and Croatia. This time, we host experts from Sweden and the United States.
The project “Educational Graphic Novel about the Novi Sad Raid and the Deportation of the Jews of Backa – Capacity Building and Training of Trainers” is supported by the Claims Conference. As part of the project, we are producing a set of teaching materials that will comprise several elements: a graphic novel, various publications, including those on the Holocaust in Serbia and the persecution of Jews in Novi Sad, a collection of testimonies, and a manual for teachers.

Realized with Assistance from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany,
Supported by the Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future, and by the German Federal Ministry of Finance.

The program is linked to the international project “Inclusive Remembrance – Holocaust Education and Minority Voices for Democratic Competencies” under the auspices of the Swedish Institute, which Terraforming leads in cooperation with the Swedish Holocaust Museum and the Swedish State Agency for Education and Culture of Remembrance, “The Living History Forum.”

Also, the panel discussion is realized as part of the cooperation between Terraforming and the Fortunofff Archive of Holocaust Testimonies from Yale University in the USA as part of the program “Unlocking Survivor Testimony: A Program to Produce Critical Annotated Editions of Non-English Holocaust Testimonies,” through which we focus on Holocaust testimonies from Bačka and Novi Sad to present them to the international professional and wider community.

A memorial service will be held in front of the synagogue on April 25 at noon.

We invite you to join us on April 25 at 12:00 in front of the Synagogue for the official commemoration organized by the Jewish Community of Novi Sad, when we will remember the Jews deported to the death camps in April 1944. . On that occasion, a new exhibition about the deportation of Novi Sad Jews will be presented. The author of the exhibition is Miško Stanišić, director of Terraforming.