Genocide and Holocaust Studies Scholars Form Crisis Network
Genocide and Holocaust Studies scholars said their field and institutions are in crisis.
“The rise of the far-right in the United States and globally and the weaponization of Holocaust memory, accusations of antisemitism to justify genocide in Gaza and ethnic cleansing throughout Palestine require an urgent examination of our field’s frameworks, priorities, and investments, and we commit to respond to this crisis in productive collaboration,” the scholars stated.
“We work in a variety of disciplines in the field generally known as Holocaust and Genocide Studies and have expertise in histories, theories, and contemporary cases of racism, antisemitism, fascism, and political violence, and in the study of genocides and mass atrocities in different parts of the world. Members of the group have affiliations in related fields such as Human Rights, International Law, Jewish Studies, Memory Studies, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Settler Colonial Studies, Migration Studies, and Peace and Conflict Studies,” the scholars added.
They emphasized: “Our study of histories of genocide and mass atrocity gives us insight into the rise of authoritarianism and ethno-nationalism; the processes of dehumanization, ethnic cleansing, and genocide that accompany it; and the urgent need for civil society resistance. We come together in a joint commitment to mobilize our work in the interest of social justice and equality for all.”
Who Are They?
We are a network of scholars who have come together because our field and our institutions are in crisis. We work in a variety of disciplines in the field generally known as Holocaust and Genocide Studies and have expertise in histories, theories, and contemporary cases of racism, antisemitism, fascism, and political violence,
and in the study of genocides and mass atrocities in different parts of the world. Members of the group have affiliations in related fields such as Human Rights, International Law, Jewish Studies, Memory Studies, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Settler Colonial Studies, Migration Studies, and Peace and Conflict Studies.
In the United States and globally, far-right forces are dismantling the institutions of democratic life; threatening basic human rights; demonizing immigrants, racialized minorities, and queer and transgender life; and attacking freedom of speech and assembly along with academic freedom. Over the last year and a half, we have witnessed the weaponization of Holocaust memory and accusations of antisemitism to justify genocide in Gaza and ethnic cleansing throughout Palestine — not only by state actors but also by institutions and scholars in our field. In the US, this same weaponization has resulted in the violent suppression of the right to free expression and protest and now in the arrest and threatened deportation of non-citizen students. The campuses where we work are subject to extortionate demands from a government that openly advertises its intent to destroy higher education, civil rights protections, scientific inquiry, and intellectual life.
Such events require an urgent examination of our field’s frameworks, priorities, and investments, and we commit to respond to this crisis in productive collaboration. Our expertise helps us to recognize and understand the erosion of democracy and the unfolding of political violence that we see all around us. Our study of histories of genocide and mass atrocity gives us insight into the rise of authoritarianism and ethno-nationalism; the processes of dehumanization, ethnic cleansing, and genocide that accompany it; and the urgent need for civil society resistance. As we face this alarming authoritarian and nationalist turn, we come together in a joint commitment to mobilize our work in the interest of social justice and equality for all.
Academic freedom, free speech, and the right to non-violent protest at colleges and universities are essential to the defense of human rights and resistance against political violence. We vigorously support freedom of inquiry and expression in the face of a rising repression that threatens pluralistic and inclusive scholarly discourse.
Our scholarship and activism must work to counter structures and practices of racism (including but not limited to antisemitism, anti-Blackness, anti-Palestinian racism, and anti-Muslim racism), ethno-nationalism, misogyny, queer and trans exclusion, ableism, and red-baiting, among other forms of social exclusion and political authoritarianism.
It is necessary to refuse and contest the increasing instrumentalization of antisemitism accusations, including through the IHRA Working Definition, which wrongly equates critique of Israel’s policies with antisemitism. Such instrumentalization silences political dissent, enables deportations and firings, serves as a vehicle for advancing authoritarian and nationalist agendas, and exploits feelings of vulnerability. It also endangers Jews, cynically divides the Jewish community, and drives a wedge between Jews and other minority and civil society groups.
We believe historical analogy and collective memory are powerful resources for understanding and mobilizing opposition to persecution, war, forced population transfer, and genocide against anyone, yet we remain vigilant about the ways they can be deployed to justify violence and reproduce forms of ethno-nationalism and racial supremacy.
We recognize the Nakba as a mass atrocity crime that demands both scholarly attention and justice. Scholars in Holocaust and Genocide Studies should engage with Palestinian scholarship and perspectives on the Nakba, as well as broader global conversations around violence, displacement, and their legacies. As scholars and teachers, we unconditionally oppose the destruction of educational institutions, archives, cultural heritage, and memory; and we believe all who live between the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea—Palestinians, Israelis, and others—deserve justice and equality.
