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!!Report on the Summer School in Holocaust Literature and Film at the University of Wrocław
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__From 7 to 11 September 2026, the University of Wrocław hosted the second edition of its [Summer School in Holocaust Literature and Film|Acad_Main/Wroclaw_Knowledge_Hub_Events/Wrocław Summer School in Holocaust Literature and Film], bringing together thirty-six participants from fifteen countries, including Brazil, Mexico, and the United States, and six scholars and experts from Poland and abroad. Organised by [Prof. Helena Duffy|Member/Duffy_Helena] MAE in collaboration with Dr Jenny Watson from the [University of Edinburgh|https://www.ed.ac.uk], the Summer School was dedicated to representations of Holocaust landscapes in contemporary literature and film, with particular attention to the relationship between genocide, space, environment, and commemoration. The event was made possible through the generous support of the [University of Wrocław|https://uwr.edu.pl/en] and Academia Europaea, as well as funding and institutional support from a number of partner organisations.__
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[{Image src='lecture hall Jewish Studies_small.jpg' caption='Lecture Hall, Jewish Studies' height='400' alt='' align='center'}]
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A central aim of the Summer School was to introduce participants to the topographical perspective in Holocaust studies. Emerging in the 1990s in the wake of the spatial turn in the humanities, this approach has increasingly challenged exclusively anthropocentric understandings of the Holocaust by considering the significance of geographical, material, and environmental contexts. Lectures and discussions explored cultural representations of the diverse spaces in which the Holocaust unfolded, drawing, among other approaches, on concepts such as the ‘dispersed Holocaust’ developed by Roma Sendyka and Father Patrick Desbois’s research into the ‘Holocaust by bullets’. Particular attention was paid to the fact that mass shootings of Jewish populations took place largely in open spaces, often in proximity to forests, ravines, fields, and other elements of the natural environment. The programme therefore brought topographical approaches into dialogue with ecocriticism, animal studies, and new materialism, examining how landscapes and environments shaped the experiences of victims, perpetrators, and witnesses.
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[{Image src='Cemetery 1.jpg' caption='' height='400' alt=''}]
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[{Image src='Cemetery.jpg' caption='Visit to the Jewish cemetery' height='400' alt=''}]
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[{Image src='IMG-20260911-WA0008.jpg' caption='' height='400' alt=''}]
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The interdisciplinary programme combined lectures, workshops, film screenings, discussions, and field-based activities. Participants examined films including Paweł Pawlikowski’s Ida, Anka and Wilhelm Sasnal’s ''It Looks Pretty from a Distance'', Jesse Eisenberg’s A Real Pain, and Jonathan Glazer’s ''The Zone of Interest'', considering the ways in which cinematic representations engage with places of persecution, memory, and post-Holocaust landscapes. Other sessions focused on literary and theatrical representations of the Holocaust, including in Polish wartime poetry, British theatre and fiction, and German and Austrian literature. The programme also addressed the commemoration of the Holocaust in urban space, including a discussion of memorial sites in Belgrade. Together, these sessions demonstrated the value of bringing literary, cinematic, theatrical, geographical, and material perspectives into conversation.
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[{Image src='Tour of Jewish Wrocław.jpg' caption='Tour of Jewish Wrocław' height='400' alt='T'}]
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[{Image src='Tour of Jewish Wrocław Synagogue.jpg' caption='Wrocław Synagogue' height='400' alt=''}]
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[{Image src='Synagogue.jpg' caption='Wrocław Synagogue' height='400' alt=''}]
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An important component of the School was a session led by Ms Renata Masna of the French NGO Yahad–In Unum. Her presentation introduced participants to the spatial and material dimensions of the Holocaust by bullets, drawing on the archaeological and documentary research conducted by Father Patrick Desbois and his team. The session also examined the organisation’s educational and commemorative work and highlighted the importance of local communities and bystanders in reconstructing the history of mass shootings. In this way, the discussion extended the topographical perspective beyond the physical sites of killing to encompass the social and local environments in which the Holocaust took place and was subsequently remembered.
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The Summer School also included a substantial programme of regional and place-based education. Participants explored the history and material heritage of Jewish Wrocław and Lower Silesia through a guided tour of Jewish sites in the city and a visit to the Old Jewish Cemetery. A full-day study visit to the former German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Gross-Rosen in Rogoźnica provided an opportunity to consider the relationship between historical knowledge, landscape, material remains, and contemporary commemoration. Informal activities, including a shared dinner, further encouraged discussion and exchange among participants and lecturers, creating opportunities for new professional and personal connections within the international community of Holocaust researchers.
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[{Image src='Gross-Rosen.jpg' caption='Visit to the Gross-Rosen concentration camp' height='400' alt='' align='center'}]
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Beyond its immediate educational objectives, the Summer School contributed to the internationalisation of the University of Wrocław and strengthened its profile as a centre for Holocaust research and teaching. The event provided a forum for exchanging research methodologies and establishing new academic connections, while also laying the foundations for future international collaborations. Discussions are currently underway concerning an edited volume arising from the School, to be prepared by the organisers and participating scholars, with submission to a leading academic publisher under consideration. In the longer term, the experience gained through the Summer School may also contribute to the development of an English-language MA programme in Holocaust Studies at the University of Wrocław.
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[{Image src='IMG-20260911-WA0049.jpg' caption='Participants of the Summer School in Holocaust Literature and Film' height='500' alt='' align='center'}]
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The success of the 2026 Summer School was reflected in the extensive positive feedback received from participants following the event. Their responses highlighted not only the academic quality of the programme but also the value of its interdisciplinary and international character. The School demonstrated the importance of creating spaces in which emerging and established scholars can engage with Holocaust studies across disciplinary and national boundaries. With the generous support of __Academia Europaea__ and its other partners, the University of Wrocław was able to provide such a forum in 2026, while establishing a strong basis for further international cooperation in Holocaust scholarship and education.
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[{Image src='Kolacja w Idzie.jpg' caption='Shared dinner' height='500' alt='' align='center'}]
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Posted  23%%sup rd/% September 2026 by Academia Europaea.\\
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