The conference seeks to highlight the complexity of Nazi policies of subjugation and mass murder in occupied Europe. The first day of the conference will be dedicated to Scandinavia. Scholars are invited to apply to present on the second day of the conference, which will focus on Different Treatment of Local Populations in Nazi Occupied Europe.

Until recently the study of the Shoah, the genocide of the European Jews, has dominated the research on Nazi policies of mass murder. Other minority groups targeted by the Nazis started getting scholarly attention from the mid-1990s onwards. By now there are several monographs dealing with the Nazi mass murder of people with disabilities, the genocide of the Roma people, the deliberate starving of Soviet POWs, the mass killing of Slav populations, and the persecution and killing of homosexuals and Jehovah’s Witnesses. An integrated perspective on the Nazi policies of mass murder is yet to appear, however. Ever since the publication of the books by Götz Aly & Susanne Heim and Michael Burleigh & Wolfgang Wippermann in 1991, scholars have explored the relationship between the Shoah and the Nazi plans for occupied Europe. Recent research firmly situates the Nazi project of mass murder within racial ideology, suggesting a connection between the destruction of the Jews and mass murder of other groups. In particular, the conference will examine the differences in treatment of various targeted population groups in West and East Europe and explore the relationship between the Nazi policies vis-à-vis the Jews and the Slavs. Indirectly, it will also address the issue of local collaboration in the Shoah, especially in Eastern Europe.

The deadline for applications is April 1, 2008. Successful applicants will be notified by April 15, 2009.