International Interdisciplinary
Conference
"Jews of Czechoslovakia as Social Canaries? Questions of
Memory and
Identity"
January 8-9, 2005
Munk Centre for International Studies
Room 108 North House
University of Toronto
1 Devonshire Place
(map: http://webapp.mcis.utoronto.ca/ContactUs/default.asp)
The conference is free and open to the public. Registration is not required.
PROVISIONAL PROGRAM
Saturday, January 8, 6 p.m.-10 p.m.
Reception and showing of the film Daleka cesta (Distant Journey).
In
this film Alfred Radok (1948) tried to capture recent war experience.
Although not shown in his homeland for several decades this work
gained
international acclaim. In fact, Alain Resnais cites it as an influence
on his famous Night and Fog (1955).
Sunday, January 9, 9 a.m.-7 p.m.
9 a.m.
Opening remarks by conference organizers, Veronika Ambros (CREES,
University of Toronto) and Alena Heitlinger (Trent University)
9:30 a.m.
Ivan Kalmar (Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto),
"Did
Prague Jews Make a Contribution to the Creation the Concept of
Central
Europe?"
10-10:15a.m. Coffee break
Panel I: Jewish Identity in Pre-War Czechoslovakia
10:15 a.m.-12:45 p.m.
Chair and Discussant: Derek Penslar, Jewish Studies, University
of Toronto
Presenters:
*Wilma Iggers (Professor Emerita, Canisius College, Buffalo),
"Rural
Jews in Prewar Bohemia"
*Helen Epstein (Writer and Journalist, affiliate of Center for
European
Studies, Harvard University), "Neither Kafka Nor Svejk: A
Czech-Speaking
Provincial, Water Polo Player, Officer and Jew"
*Tatjana Lichtenstein (Department of History, University of Toronto),
"Clipping the Wings: Was Zionism a Way of Making Jews at
Home in
Czechoslovakia?"
12:45-2 p.m. Lunch Break
2-2:45 p.m.
Yuri Dojc (Professional Photographer, Toronto), "Photographic
Images of
Shoah Survivors"
2:45-3 p.m. Coffee Break
Panel II, Constructions of Jewish Memories in Postwar Czechoslovakia
3-4:30 p.m.
Chair and Discussant: to be announced
Presenters:
*Veronika Ambros (CREES, University of Toronto), "'In Search
of an
Addressee': Early Depositions about Judenvernichtung in Czech
Film and
Fiction (Alfred Radok and Jiri Weil)"
*Alena Heitlinger (Department of Sociology, Trent University),
"(Non)constructing Shoah Memorials, (non)celebrating Czech
Jewish
Anniversaries in Postwar Czechoslovakia"
*Silvie Singer (Jewish Museum, Prague, Czech Republic), "Formation
of
Jewish Identity in Kosice after Shoah and during Communism. Perspectives
of Jews from Kosice Today"
Panel III: Closing Discussion
4:30-5:30 p.m.
Participants to be announced.
5:30-6:30 p.m. Film: The second part of the trilogy Between
a Star and
Half-Moon, directed by Martin Smok and Jan Bok. This part deals
with the
anti-Semitism of the political show trials in the 1950s. The documentary
was shown on Czech TV in October 2003.
6:30-7 p.m. Closing remarks
Janet Hyer
Program Officer
Centre for Russian and East European Studies
Munk Centre for International Studies
University of Toronto
1 Devonshire Place
Toronto ON M5S 3K7
Tel: (416) 946-8994
Fax: (416) 946-8939
janet.hyer@utoronto.ca
www.utoronto.ca/crees/