Culture Talk: A New Swedish Holocaust Museum

2900 K street, NW,Washington DC 20007

16 May, 2022

Description

The Opening of a Swedish Holocaust Museum: A Conversation between Dr. Rebecka Katz Thor and Dr. Robert Williams. In June, the first-ever Swedish Holocaust Museum will be inaugurated in Stockholm to preserve and perpetuate the memory of the Holocaust. Please join us in House of Sweden for a conversation between Dr. Robert Williams, deputy director for international affairs at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and Dr. Rebecka Katz Thor, Swedish researcher, writer and editor. Dr. Katz Thor will discuss the focus of the new Swedish museum, what stories it will narrate, and in what ways Holocaust commemoration is part of a Swedish cultural heritage. Doors open 6:30 pm I Program starts at 7:00 pm Program Welcome by Helene Larsson Pousette, Cultural Counselor, Embassy of Sweden Opening Remarks by Ann Bernes, Chair, The Swedish Presidency of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (video)Conversation between Dr. Robert Williams and Dr. Rebecka Katz Thor Dr. Robert Williams is the Deputy Director for International Affairs at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, on the steering committee of the Global Task Force Against Holocaust Distortion, and served for four years as chair of the Committee on Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial at the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. He has played several leadership roles in international initiatives focused on Holocaust and antisemitism issues, and regularly advises international organizations and governments on these matters. In addition, Robert is currently overseeing a major program that assesses European Holocaust and genocide denial laws. Robert’s research specialties include German history, US and Russian foreign policy, propaganda and disinformation, and contemporary antisemitism. He is currently co-editing a volume for Routledge on the history of antisemitism and preparing a separate monograph on the political and cultural rehabilitation of Holocaust perpetrators. Rebecka Katz Thor is a Swedish researcher, writer and editor. She holds a PhD in Aesthetics and her research focuses on the aesthetics of commemoration, image production’s and contemporary art’s relation to historical, ethical and political claims. She has an MA from the New School for Social Research, New York (2007-2009), was a researcher at the Jan van Eyck Academie, Maastricht (2010-2012) and was editor for in-depths material and reflection at Public Art Agency Sweden (2019-2020). She leads the research project entitled Remember us To Life - Vulnerable Memories in a Prospective Monument, Memorial and Museum, funded by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond 2021-2023. The research will follow three ongoing commemorative projects in Sweden and investigate their relationship to notions of vulnerability and grievability. Her dissertation Beyond the Witness – Holocaust Representation and the Testimony of Images investigates the image-as-witness in three films made of archival materials. Together for Impact – the Swedish Presidency of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Sweden holds the Presidency of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, the IHRA, twenty plus years after the first Stockholm Forum on the Holocaust and the year after the Malmö Forum, Remember – ReAct. The Presidency, Together for Impact, began on March 1, 2022 and will continue until the end of February, 2023. Sweden assumes the Presidency at a time when the IHRA is needed more than ever; anti-democratic forces are gaining ground, spreading antisemitism, antigypsyism, disinformation and distortion, not least on social media platforms. The Presidency has two major priorities; following up on the pledges made at the Malmö Forum and focusing on further strengthening the IHRA as an institution. More about the Swedish IHRA Presidency: www.government.se/togetherforimpact Instagram: @TogetherForImpact This event is organized in cooperation with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Swedish Presidency of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance with support by the Swedish Arts Council.