International Conference: Narrating Catastrophes. References to the (European) Holocaust and their Function
This conference brings together international experts from Europe, Latin America, and the United States and is devoted to the question of how catastrophes of great magnitude, here understood as man-made disasters, are narrated in the literature of the 20th and 21st centuries, and how the European Holocaust, as a “travelling memory” (Erll), has been received and trans-formed within specific communities of memory, and how it has been functionalized as a “universal trope” and “powerful prism” (Huyssen)
- https://www.uni-giessen.de/de/fbz/fb05/romanistik/aktuelles/cal/narrating27
- International Conference: Narrating Catastrophes. References to the (European) Holocaust and their Function
- 2026-05-27T14:30:00+02:00
- 2026-05-27T18:15:00+02:00
- This conference brings together international experts from Europe, Latin America, and the United States and is devoted to the question of how catastrophes of great magnitude, here understood as man-made disasters, are narrated in the literature of the 20th and 21st centuries, and how the European Holocaust, as a “travelling memory” (Erll), has been received and trans-formed within specific communities of memory, and how it has been functionalized as a “universal trope” and “powerful prism” (Huyssen)
27.05.2026 von 14:30 bis 18:15 (Europe/Berlin / UTC200)
Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture (GCSC), Multifunktionsraum, Otto-Behaghel-Straße 12, 35394 Gießen
Responsible for the Workshop
Prof. Dr. Verena Dolle
Institut für Romanistik
Karl-Glöckner Straße 21 G
35394 Gießen
Contact
Wednesday, 27th May
14:30
Arrival and Registration
15:00
Karsten Krüger, Vicepresident for Academic Infrastructure (JLU Gießen)
Opening Words from the University Executive Board
Verena Dolle (JLU Gießen)
Narrating Catastrophes: References to the (European) Holocaust and their Function
16:00-16:15
Coffee Break
16:15-18:15
Panel I: The Holocaust and Travelling Memories
Moderation: Vadim Oswalt
Astrid Erll (Goethe-Universität Frankfurt)
Travels in Time: New Perspectives (Video)
Anika Ina Binsch (JLU Gießen)
From Trauma to Metaphor: Memory, Interpretation, and Misuse of the Term “Holocaust” in German-Language Public Discourse, 1980s–Present
Nicole Immig (JLU Gießen)
“Greek Holocaust Villages”: Discourses on German Occupation in Greece in World War I
The conference is funded by the DFG as part of the research project “Entangled Memories and their Dynamics: ‘h/Holocaust’ in Colombian Literature from 1985 until 2022“ (Project no. 543780449).