Call for Articles

We wish to devote volume 17 of the Holocaust. Studies and Materials annual (2021) to various forms of the Holocaust’s presence in public space. What we mean is not only the Holocaust history or ways of its commemoration, but also its ideologization and instrumentalization for political purposes, as well as broadly-defined representations of the Holocaust experience in art, film, and literature, the exhibition strategies in museums and commemorative practices in public space, and, last but not least, the Holocaust’s presence in the new media, chiefly on the Internet (both educational websites, websites of official research or museum institutions, social media, and initiatives undertaken by private individuals and social organizations). Thus the editorial staff returns to the issues which constituted the core of volume 6 (2010), though in an different and expanded form. By doing this we wish to understand the reasons for the severing of the historical continuity in the comprehension of the Holocaust (as a past event of a specified structure) and its transformation into individual currently updated memory facts appropriated and taken over by individuals and entire communities. Back in 2010 we were interested in the subject matter halfway between ethics and esthetics: the Holocaust kitsch and the various abuses in the journalistic, literary, and artistic representation of the Holocaust and in the public discourse. This is a reflection relatively ingrained in the contemporary humanities (see the classic works by Tom Segev — The Seventh Million. The Israelis and the Holocaust [1991], Peter Novick — The Holocaust and Collective Memory. The American Experience [1999], Tim Cole Selling the Holocaust. From Auschwitz to Schindler. How History is Bought, Packaged, and Sold [1999], or Ruth Franklin — A Thousand Darknesses. Lies and Truth in Holocaust Fiction [2011]). It does not exhaust the subject matter of the contemporary ‘life of the Holocaust’, which, after German art historian Aby Warburg, could be called its ‘posthumous life’ (Nachleben). Now we propose to broaden the research field and the reflection on public space understood similarly to Habermas’ public space as a social and symbolic territory where various languages, discourses, narrations, and strategies of thinking/writing/presenting the Holocaust clash and where various ‘policies’ of its use or exploitation are used. The analytic observation and scholarly interpretation of the manifestations of this presence take place on the one hand in the sphere of cognitive values (truth — falsity), moral (good — evil; use — abuse), esthetic (for instance, categories of appropriateness and inappropriateness of representation), pragmatic (what pays off economically and politically). On the other hand, in the spheres of cultural production and power (Bourdieu), where the stake is detaching the Holocaust from its historical foundation and entangling it in various ideological games, disputes, the market system, and other contemporary psychoses, particularly the psychosis of capitalism.. 

Suggested subject matter:

• The Holocaust vis-a-vis the holocausts in the media/public discourse (the usefulness of making analogies between the Holocaust and the post-war social facts of a completely different character and scope, but with a very potent emotional load such as the ‘holocaust of animals’, abortion, and political, religious or other practices, plus the dangers resulting from making such analogies);
• The Righteous and the ‘Righteous’: the (contemporary) history of the figure of the Righteous, its narrative representations, the newest historical analyses, and the discourse on the Righteous gone astray;
• From popularization to banalization (in the sphere of the editing of Holocaust testimonies, popularization of knowledge on the Holocaust, and educational enterprises); From kitsch, graphomania, and curiosities through various esthetic and moral abuses (including pornographization) to commercialization (in the sphere of fiction, prose, poetry, drama, reportage, essay, memorial literature; in the sphere of visual arts, film, and theater); Historical politics, the instrumentalization of the Holocaust history for political and ideological purposes, also in school education; The necessity to teach about the Holocaust and the dangers connected with it; the challenges that Holocaust education faces today;
• Strategies of Holocaust commemoration: exhibition discourses in historical museums, commemorative practices (campaigns, installations, memorials, local initiatives), etc.
• The presence of the Holocaust on the Internet: from digitalization of documents through techniques of substituting originals with digital copies and making archives available online to abuses and offenses connected with hate speech

Text submission calendar and procedure

September 15, 2020 – deadline for sending in article proposals containing::

• an overview of the article comprising: the title, main theses, methodology, and sources; up to 1,800 characters,
• a short biographical note about the author with information about his/her academic career, current affiliation, research interests and achievements, and a list of major publications.

September 30, 2020 – deadline for the editorial staff’s decision as to which proposals are accepted and which texts are commissioned 

February 1, 2021 – deadline for sending in the texts

The Holocaust. Studies and Materials’ editorial staff follows review procedures which are in accord with the review guidelines prepared by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in the brochure “Dobre praktyki w procedurach recenzyjnych w nauce” [good practices in review procedures in science], particularly:

• The texts undergo a preliminary review by the editorial staff. The assessment criteria are the subject scope of the article sent in (whether it fits the periodical’s profile), fulfillment of the formal criteria of a scholarly text, and the author’s following the manual of style. Basing on the preliminary recommendation by at least two members of the editorial staff, the texts are either qualified for further review procedure or rejected. In either case, the author is notified about the editorial staff’s decision.

  The editorial staff applies the double-blind review principle, which means that the reviewers do not know the author’s identity and vice versa.

A full description of the review procedure and the reviewers’ list are available on our annual’s website.

Text requirements

• Studies section — up to 40,000 characters with spaces and footnotes
• remaining sections — up to 20,000 characters with spaces and footnotes,
• reviews — up to 15,000 characters with spaces and footnotes.
• Going beyond these limits is possible only in special cases and only after prior contact with the editorial staff and its consentdział „Studia” – maks. 40 000 znaków łącznie ze spacjami i przypisami

Graphic materials

• It is possible to include photographs, artwork, graphs, and maps. In the paper edition they are printed in greyscale.
• It is necessary to specify their source and provide a caption in the form compliant with the copyright holder’s requirements. The text author is also required to specify the kind of copyright and obtain it.
• Graphic materials are to be submitted in separate files in the jpg format (photographs, illustrations) or pdf format (graphs, maps) in resolution no lower than 300 dpi.

Text formatting and technical requirements

• file format – MS Word (doc or docx) / OpenOffice (odt),
• font: Times New Roman, size 12, adjusted, 1.5 interspace,
• headings and subheadings: in bold, adjusted to the left,
• margins: 2.5 centimeters,
• footnotes: continuous, font size 10, single line spacing,
• file title: surname and the first two words of the title divided by underscores (without Polish diacritic marks), for instance, Surname_First_Words.doc

• On the title page adjusted to the left:
  • full name
  • affiliation
  • ORCID
  • e-mail
  • summary of the article (up to 600 words) containing general information about the text and a description of the issues brought up, main theses, and conclusions.
  • list of up to 8 key words.
  • In case of a review below the author’s data please insert the bibliographic details of the book reviewed in this format: “Review: author or editor, title, place of publication, publisher, publication year, number of pages.”

• At the end of the text please include:
  • The bibliography of the works cited (Archival Sources, followed by Studies, and Websites). Important: both in the footnotes and in the Bibliography please insert the author’s/editor’s full name and the publisher.
  • Note about the author.
     
• Optional:
  • In the first footnote you can include information about the work’s financing from a grant within the framework of which it was written

All guidelines regarding detailed rules of formatting articles and bibliography can be found in our periodical’s manual of style.