The Holocaust and Genocide Studies program provides undergraduate and postgraduate study sequences focussed on knowledge about the Holocaust, and many other cases of genocide across the world. It explores the Holocaust as a turning point in human history, the causes and effects of modern genocides, and what is now being done to prevent genocide.
Leading international scholars contribute each year to the program culminating in an annual International Aftermath conference. Students are taught to consider the complex issues of genocidal violence, ideology, displaced persons and refugees, human rights, international law, ethics, cultural memory, and community regeneration.
Overseas internships and placement units offer professional development – students may work in NGOs, museums, courts, and memorial centres. A range of scholarships supporting placement units and research are offered by the ACJC. The Coursework Scholarships Unit and the Monash Research Graduate School have more information.
The program highlights the importance of oral history and eyewitness accounts of genocide. A key component of the program is the Shoah Visual History Archive held by Monash University, a prime resource for student engagement and scholarly research.
The program also offers several intensive overseas units in Europe and Rwanda. In 2011 students were given the opportunity to explore the theme of reconciliation in South Africa and Rwanda (Seeking Justice) and in 2012 students will follow the Final Journey of European Jews through Berlin, Prague, Krakow and Vilnius.
Prospective career pathways for our students are in humanitarian organisations, education, law and justice, museums and memorials, government, the media, and further research into the causes and effects of genocide.
This unit examines the phenomenon of genocide and mass killing in history. The twentieth century has been called ‘the century of genocide’ but genocidal violence has continued unabated into the new millennium. This unit will ask why genocide takes place and how people come to participate in mass violence. It will focus on case studies ... Read more
This unit examines the emergent histories of post-genocide and post-conflict societies. It explores the negotiation of perpetrator, victim and bystander identities after genocide through histories of return and diaspora; and considers the local initiatives that rebuild post-conflict societies, including strategies of genocide prevention. It recognizes the different experiences of women, children and men in conflict ... Read more
This unit will trace the changing contours of Holocaust memory from its inception to the present day. Topics include witnessing, survivor testimony, second-generation memoirs, representations of the Holocaust in cinema, photography, museums, literature and online, the practices of ‘death camp tourism’, the memory debates of Germany and Poland and the globalising of Holocaust memory, the ... Read more
This unit examines the Holocaust and its place in the broader phenomenon of genocide and mass killing in history. Major topics covered include antisemitism, the Nazi state, ghettos and death camps, and the responses of victims, perpetrators and bystanders. The course will reflect on the Holocaust as a symbol of the modern condition, its uniqueness ... Read more
Christopher R. Browning, pre-eminent historian of the Holocaust will be a visiting scholar at the ACJC in second semester 2013, where he will deliver a four-part lecture series. Christopher Browning is the author of eight books on Nazi Germany and the Holocaust: Remembering Survival: Inside a Nazi Slave Labor Camp (2010).The Origins of the Final Solution: ... Read more
Monash University is the first Australasian university to provide access to the Visual History Archive of the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education. With a collection of nearly 52,000 video testimonies of Holocaust survivors and other witnesses, in 32 languages and from 56 countries, this is the largest visual history archive in ... Read more
The ACJC, together with the History Program at Monash University and Warwick University will be hosting an Aftermath Conference in Holocaust and Genocide Studies on 6-7 August 2013 at Monash University. Keynote Speakers Include: Professor Hasia Diner, New York University; Professor Ben F. Kiernan, Yale University; Professor Richard Bessel, University of York. Call for Papers: The field of Holocaust and ... Read more
This intensive unit explores the modern history of European Jews before and after the Holocaust. Students will travel to the major centres of interwar Jewish life in France, Italy, Germany, Poland and Lithuania, and encounter the diverse heritage of Jewish life in each country. The unit will explore issues central to this period and the ... Read more
This intensive unit will bring together students from Monash campuses in Australia and South Africa to study the contemporary histories of post-genocide and post-conflict societies. Students will spend one week in Johannesburg and a second week in Kigali exploring public debates on memory, testimony, trauma and justice. Places to be visited include the Apartheid Museum, ... Read more
A project sponsored by the Australian Centre for the Study of Jewish Civilisation and the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany About the catalogue Index Search Advanced Search Contact us The Holocaust Autobiographies Catalogue is a database of over 180 memoirs that have been written by survivors of the Holocaust and published in Australia. These books have been written by ... Read more
The ACJC offers research internships for students who have completed our overseas study intensives. In the past, students from the Final Journey course have interned at the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw to work on a collaborative project around early children’s Holocaust testimony. Research internships in Europe, Rwanda and Israel are supported by the Peter and ... Read more
