Interview with Tobias Ebbrecht-Hartmann for the upcoming Internationale Kurzfilmtage in Oberhausen
Prior to the short film festival in Oberhausen, Tobias Ebbrecht-Hartmann was interviewed about the audiovisual handling of the visual aesthetics of the perpetrators‘ material in context of the Holocaust and the Hamas attacks of the 7th of October.
The interview can be found here.
Noga Stiassny chaired the panel titled War and Media: Perception, Pedagogy, and Propaganda
On March 14th, Noga Stiassny chaired the panel titled “War and Media: Perception, Pedagogy, and Propaganda” at the Society for Cinema & Media Studies (SCMS) 2024 Annual Conference in Boston (the panel was sponsored by the SCMS War and Media Studies Scholarly Interest Group). Within the framework of this panel, Stiassny shared the insights gained from her two-year investigation into the Wochenschau-Material that recorded the anti-Jewish Boycott carried out in Berlin on April 1st, 1933. Her presentation, “From THE NAZI PLAN Backwards: April 1st Anti-Jewish Boycott as a Visual Backdrop for Communicating Multiple Perspectives”, delved into the historical significance and production context of the footage in question. Beginning with the boycott sequence that was screened as evidence at the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg on December 11, 1945, as part of the compilation film THE NAZI PLAN, Stiassny retraced the origins of the footage to 1933. Contrary to the perception dominant in existing research, she showed that this iconic footage was not produced by the Nazi regime. A detailed version of Stiassny’s research is planned for publication in the journal Research in Film and History in the upcoming months under the same title.
Tobias Ebbrecht-Hartmann presented the results of the project Creating Holocaust Awareness in TikTok.
Tobias Ebbrecht-Hartmann gave one of the lectures on the results of the project Creating Holocaust Awareness in TikTok. The TikTok Shoah Commemoration & Education Initiative, launched in October 2021, has successfully encouraged nine memorial sites and museums in Germany and Austria to utilize TikTok as a tool for Holocaust education. This report evaluates the initiative, its accounts, and videos, aiming to inspire improvements in Holocaust remembrance on TikTok. Given the Hamas attack on October 7 and its resonance on social media, especially TikTok, this initiative gains additional significance.
The report was published on 29th of January 2024 at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem. Among those present were the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Prof. Gili S. Drori, and the German Ambassador to Israel, Steffen Seibert.
A short summary and the brochure can be found here.
Fabian Schmidt gave a lecture on dealing with photos and films in the context of the Holocaust
In their lecture at the Museum of Photography on the 25th of January 2024, our team member Fabian Schmidt, along with his colleague Anne Högner from the project „Visual History of the Holocaust: Rethinking Curation in the Digital Age,“ explored ethical questions related to the use and utilization of photos and films depicting atrocities during the Holocaust.
A short summary can be found here.
Yael Ben Moshe published two articles for Makor Rishon and The Times of Israel
Our team member, Yael Ben Moshe, wrote two articles for the Israeli online newspapers Makor Rishon and The Times of Israel.
The former articles, written in English, discusses the profound impact of historical documents, particularly in the context of the Holocaust, as powerful catalysts for collective memory. It highlights the challenges and risks associated with the digitization of global archives, emphasizing the need for mechanisms to monitor the usage of historical materials to prevent potential misuse and manipulation.
Meanwhile, the latter article, written in Hebrew, deals with the media strategy of Hamas since 2007 and the support the terror organization gains globally. It raises questions about the comparison between Hamas and the Nazis and the need for a more nuanced approach in current memory wars.
The articles can be found here and here.
Tobias Ebbrecht-Hartmann was interviewed for Terra X
Tobias Ebbrecht-Hartmann was interviewed for an episode of the German TV show Terra X, which explores the antisemitic pogroms in Germany in November 1938, their ‚forbidden pictures‘, and what these images reveal about the atrocities.
Watch the full episode here.
Research trip to Paris, France
Research trips are not uncommon for an internationally oriented research project like ours. On one of these trips, our team member Daniel Körling visited the François-Mitterrand site of the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF) on September 6th and 7th.
During this visit, he conducted an evaluation of the French release of DER EWIGE JUDE, which is held by the Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée (CNC) and accessible at the BnF.
Several substantial differences between the German and Dutch versions were identified. Ultimately, the French copy possesses a distinct perspective compared to the Germanic-speaking releases. Further research will be carried out to analyze all three language versions and their underlying intentions.
Annual MSA Conference in Newcastle, UK
The Memory Studies Association (MSA) held its seventh annual conference in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK, from the 3rd to the 7th of July 2023. The motto for this year’s conference was ‚Communities and Change‘, which aptly reflected the city’s rich history – from being a powerhouse of the industrial revolution during the 19th century to evolving into a major hub of science, education, and tourism, Newcastle-upon-Tyne embodies the theme of transformation.
On the 5th of July, our project presented a panel showcasing our research. The panel featured lectures by Aleksandra Miljković, Fabian Schmidt, and Daniel Körling, followed by a discussion with the audience about our project.
For more information about the conference see here.
Chris Wahl published a new anthology
One of our project leaders, Chris Wahl, collaborated with Rasmus Greiner to edit a new anthology. The articles in this anthology, written by Chris Wahl, project member Daniel Körling, as well as Rasmus Greiner and Lea Wohl von Haselberg, explore the close relationship between history, memory, and the mediums of moving images and sounds.
For more information about the anthology see here.
14th – 16th May: Team Meeting in Jerusalem
For the first time, our research team met at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Various topics were scheduled, including articles for a special issue of the online journal “Research in Film and History” concerning our focus material, the dealing with other iconic film footage, and the organization of future meetings.
Photo: Alexander Zöller.
14th and 15th February: Expert Workshop in Potsdam
Various experts were invited to discuss our focus material, to give feedback regarding our conducted research and our project in general at a workshop we held at the Filmuniversität Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF on the 14th and 15th of February. Moreover, valuable notes concerning further research and our project in general were given.
Our guests are dealing with a wide range of fields streaking our topics, for instance film archives, memory culture as well as film-, Holocaust- and NS-studies.
We warmly welcomed Christoph Classen (ZZF Potsdam), Martin Cüppers (Forschungsstelle Ludwigsburg, Uni Stuttgart), Adelheid Heftberger (Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv, Berlin-Lichterfelde), Eva Hohenberger (Ruhr Universität Bochum, retired), Christoph Kreutzmüller (Haus der Wannseekonferenz), Martin Loiperdinger (Universität Trier, emeritus), Brad Prager (University of Missouri), Andres Veiel (director, based in Berlin), Lea Wohl von Haselberg (Filmuniversität Babelsberg) and Ingo Zechner (Ludwig Boltzmann Institut für Geschichte und Gesellschaft Wien).
Tobias Ebbrecht-Hartmann publishes in the anthology „Einblendungen. Elemente einer jüdischen Filmgeschichte der Bundesrepublik“
The anthology „Einblendungen. Elemente einer jüdischen Filmgeschichte der Bundesrepublik“ deals with an underexposed topic: Jewish participation in the film history of Western Germany after the Second World War. The publication is edited by Johannes Praetorius-Rhein and Lea Wohl von Haselberg, members of the research network „Jüdische Filmgeschichte“.
For more information about the anthology see here, regarding the research network see here, or listen to this podcast on Deutschland Kultur.
Chris Wahl published an article concerning his focus material TRIUMPH OF THE WILL
In the newest publication of De Gruyters editio / Beihefte about critical film and literature editions, Chris Wahl published an article – „Den Unterschied macht die Forschung: ein Doppelplädoyer für das kritische Edieren von Ufa-Sprachversions- und NS-Vorbehaltsfilmen“.
For more information about the anthology see here.
Tobias Ebbrecht-Hartmann receives Shimon-Peres-Prize
Creating awareness about the Holocaust – on TikTok: For his contribution to shape German-Israeli relations Dr. Tobias Ebbrecht-Hartmann is awarded the Shimon-Peres-Prize, granted by the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the German-Israeli Future Fund.
For more information about the project see here.
Upcoming symposium on video essays
Evelyn Kreutzer, former member of Filmikonen, Maike Reinerth, Anna-Sophie Philippi (all Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf) and Kathleen Loock (Leibniz Universität Hannover) received a grant by the Volkswagen Foundation to sponsor a symposium dedicated to the study and practice of video essays. „Videography: Art and Academia. Epistemological, Political and Pedagogical Potentials of Audiovisual Practices“ will take place in Hannover, Germany, Nov. 2-4, 2022.
Yael Ben-Moshe on Israeli TV Channel 11
Yael Ben-Moshe was interviewed on Israeli TV channel 11 on Holocaust Memorial Day, April 28, 2022.
Team Workshop in Potsdam
After many conversations and collaborations via zoom, the German and Israeli team members met up in Potsdam in March 2022. In a 4-day workshop at the Film University, the Brandenburg Center for Media Studies (ZeM), and the Gedenk-und Bildungsstätte Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz, the teams discussed the leading questions and concepts of the project and their works-in-progress.
Evelyn Kreutzer and Noga Stiassny publish multi-modal project „Digital Digging“
Evelyn Kreutzer and Noga Stiassny have published „Digital Digging: Traces, Gazes, and the Archival In-Between“, consisting of a video essay and a written article, in Research in Film & History.
It is available here.
Fabian Schmidt receives Karsten-Witte-Preis
Fabian Schmidt received the Karsten-Witte-Preis by the Gesellschaft für Medienwissenschaft for his article „The Westerbork Film Revisited – Provenance, the Re-Use of Archive Material and Holocaust Remembrances“ in 2021.
See the German press release here.
Project launch
Our project was launched on May 1, 2021.
See the German press release here.
