Conference on the Aktion 1005

25.11.2008 13:50:40

In June 16-17, 2009 - International scholarly Conference in Paris on the Aktion 1005 also called "Sonderaktion 1005" or "Enterdungsaktion", was a code name for the large-scale campaign conducted in secret by Nazi Germany to erase traces and destroy all evidence of the mass extermination of European Jewry.

In June 16-17, 2009, Father's Patrick Desbois Foundation in Paris, Yahad In Unum, the Centre d'Histoire de l'Europe centrale of the University of Paris IV-Sorbonne, the Collčge des Bernardins and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies in Washington, will hold an international scholarly Conference in Paris on the Aktion 1005. This Operation, also called "Sonderaktion 1005" or "Enterdungsaktion", was a code name for the large-scale campaign conducted in secret by Nazi Germany to erase traces and destroy all evidence of the mass extermination of European Jewry.

As you know, the Aktion 1005 was initiated in mid-1942, when reports of mass genocide started to reach the Western Powers, and lasted until late 1944. SS-Standartenführer Paul Blobel was appointed head of Aktion 1005 in June 1942. The first stage was carried out in the death camps in Poland and it continued in the occupied Soviet Union where the Germans used special Sonderkommando prisoner units to remove and burn the corpses. Similar actions were performed in the parts of Poland annexed to Germany, in Ukraina, Belorussia, Baltic States and Yugoslavia.

This jointly organised Conference will highlight new archivistic resources and cutting-edge researches of the different aspects of Aktion 1005, as :
- The decision-making process ;
- The (relative) secrecy of the whole operation (bystanders, special
codes) ;
- Case-studies about the places and countries where it was carried out inside and outside the camps, such as Chelmno, Belzec, Treblinka, Sobibor, Auschwitz and other places like Babi Yar, Lvov, Kovno, etc. in the light of new archivistic materials ;
- The profile of the main perpetrators, like Paul Blobel ;
- The composition and stories of some of the 1005 Sonderkommando, also called "corpse units", mainly Jewish prisoners (including revolts, attempts to escape or sabotage);
- The technical aspects of the Aktion (used to destroy the corpes and whipe out the traces);
- Some comparative items (mass killings and cleanings of the massgraves in Bosnia, for instance);
- Other aspects linked to international justice dealing with the destruction of corpses ;
- Survivors or witnesses's statements

Applicants should be currently researching or completing a project related to the above or other themes, shedding new light on under-studied or little illuminated aspects of the Aktion 1005.

If you would like to propose a paper for this conference, kindly send a one-page abstract of your proposed paper (in english) and a curriculum vitae to :
 a.lavastine@wanadoo.fr  and j.lehr@yanadinunum.org (Yahad) edouardhusson@yahoo.fr (Sorbonne) sbrown-fleming@ushmm.org

Conference Languages will be English, French, German and Russian.

The deadline for proposals is January 15, 2009. Participants will be selected and notified no later than February 15, 2009. Untill then, please contact Alexandra Laignel-Lavastine for any kind of additional informations.

For those whose papers are accepted, the Conference organizers will fund travel and lodging expenses.