Institution: Global and European Studies Institute, University of Leipzig, Germany
Date: September 23-29, 2012, Chişinău, Moldova, and Odessa, Ukraine
Deadline: June 24, 2012

International Forum 2012

The Global and European Studies Institute at the University of Leipzig and the Foundation
”Remembrance, Responsibility and Future“ will provide up to 25 travel grants for participation
in the International Forum 2012 of GESCHICHTSWERKSTATT EUROPA on
“TRANSNISTRIA—THE FORGOTTEN HOLOCAUST, 1941 TO 1944“.

The International Forum is part of the programme GESCHICHTSWERKSTATT EUROPA
initiated by the German Federal Foundation ”Remembrance, Responsibility and Future“
(EVZ). It will take place in Chişinău, Moldova, and Odessa, Ukraine, from September 23 to
29, 2012. The Forum looks at the conflicting recollections of the contemporary history of
Europe and at recent debates and research on the collective and cultural memory of the
Europeans. It will be led by the Leipzig historians Matthias Middell and Stefan Troebst.
Transnistria, the region between rivers Dniester (Nistru) and Bug, is still a white spot on the
map of the Holocaust. Today mostly part of Ukraine with a small strip belonging to Moldova’s
separatist eastern edge, the self-proclaimed ‘Dniester Moldovan Republic’, it was from the
summer of 1941 to the spring of 1944 under Romanian civilian administration. In the Treaty
of Tighina of 30 August 1941, the German Reich had handed over this formerly Soviet
territory to its Romanian ally while still maintaining a military presence there. Between
September 1941 and October 1942, some 100,000 Jews from Romania including the
regained provinces of Northern Bukovina and Bessarabia were deported beyond river
Dniester. In the regional capital Odessa and in concentration camps like Bogdanovka,
Domanovka, Akmetchetka or Vapniarka mass shootings of Jews took place, while others
were put to death by hunger or diseases. An estimated number of up to 300,000 Romanian
and Ukrainian Jews fell victim to the Holocaust in Transnistria. Perpetrators were Romanian
officials, military personnel and civilians as well as German military units and administrative
staff, also members of the regional German community, i.e., Schwarzmeerdeutsche.
Probably only 100,000 Jews survived. There is, however, also an additional dimension to the
Holocaust in Transnistria: In the summer and fall of 1942, also some 25.000 Romanian
Roma were deported to the region. Here approximately 11.000 died of cold, hunger or illness
and some were shot, while the others could return to Romania in 1944.

During this one-week event seminars and lectures will be delivered. Furthermore, visits to
museums like the Museum of the History of the Jews of Odessa and excursions to the site of
the concentration camp Bogdanovka will take place. Scholars from various fields of study
and different parts of Europe will lecture on the events of 1941 to 1944 and on their place in
Moldovan, Romanian and Ukrainian cultures of remembrance.

English will be the language spoken in lectures, seminars and during the excursions. Thus,
active knowledge of English is a precondition. Lectures in Moldovan and Romanian will be
translated into English.

Grants and Requirements
Travel grants cover costs for travel and accommodation (in shared rooms) and include a
daily allowance. In accordance with the statutory purpose of the Foundation, travel grants
are primarily given to applicants from Central and Eastern Europe. Applicants should be
between 18 and 35 years of age. The exact amount of travel reimbursement depends on the actual costs of participation and on statutory regulations for travel grants in Saxony.

We expect a letter of motivation in English with 600 to 1000 words maximum expressing
personal interest in this year's topic of the International Forum and giving details of
experience and knowledge in the field.

Please send your applications by e-mail together with a letter of motivation and a curriculum
vitae to the coordination office of the International Forum. Closing date for applications will be
June 24, 2012. Applications will be reviewed by June 30, 2012, and applicants will be notified
immediately thereafter.

Contact:
Coordinator Ulrike Breitsprecher
International Forum | GESCHICHTSWERKSTATT EUROPA
Address: Universität Leipzig
Global and European Studies Institute
Internationales Forum | GESCHICHTSWERKSTATT EUROPA
Emil-Fuchs-Strasse 1
04105 Leipzig
Germany
Phone: +49 (0)341 973 34 93
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Web: www.geschichtswerkstatt-europa.org

GESCHICHTSWERKSTATT EUROPA is a programme of the Foundation “Remembrance,
Responsibility and Future” addressing the issue of European remembrance. The institute for
Applied History coordinates the funding of projects in cooperation with the European
University Viadrina in Frankfurt/Oder. The International Forum is organised by the Global and
European Studies Institute of the University of Leipzig.