2025 Annual Seminar on Ethics, Religion, and the Holocaust

Christianity in East Central Europe and the Holocaust

June 9—13, 2025

The 2025 Annual Faculty Seminar on Ethics, Religion, and the Holocaust will explore the role and responses of Christian communities in Central and Eastern Europe during the Holocaust and its aftermath. The regions where the most brutal aspects of the Second World War and Holocaust unfolded were predominantly Orthodox Christian and Roman Catholic. Orthodox Christians and Roman Catholics lived alongside large Jewish populations, Greek Catholics, and other minority religious groups in places like the Soviet Union, Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. This seminar will explore the complex intersection of the Holocaust, Christian-Jewish interactions, ethno-nationalism, church-state relations, religious identity, and memory within the volatile political and interreligious context of Eastern and Central Europe. 

Topics will include: 

• Interwar and wartime Christian nationalism and antisemitism; 

• How church leaders and ordinary Christians became involved in violence 

• The effects of border changes, occupation, and competing national allegiances on religious communities; 

• How Christian denominations used anti-communism and the myth of Judeo-Bolshevism;

• Cases of resistance and rescue; 

• The postwar legacy of the Holocaust in Central and Eastern European Christian communities and on Jewish-Christian relations;

• Learning about strategies and resources on how to integrate the history of Christianity in Central and Eastern Europe into teaching and research

Applications must be received electronically by March 3, 2025.

Seminar Leader

The seminar will be led by Dr. Ion Popa, Honorary Research Fellow of the Centre for Jewish Studies, University of Manchester, UK. He is the author of The Romanian Orthodox Church and the Holocaust (Indiana University Press, 2017), which was awarded the Yad Vashem 2018 Book Prize for Holocaust Research. He is a specialist in Modern and Contemporary European History, with a focus on the Holocaust, religion and politics, and inter-ethnic/interreligious relations, with particular attention to Jewish-Christian relations. Since 2022, Dr. Popa has been a Historical Consultant for the Programs on Ethics, Religion, and the Holocaust, working on projects related to the Vatican archives and making material in the USHMM’s collections related to religion more accessible to scholars.  

Guest speakers will include the Very Reverend Dr. Geoffrey Ready, Director of Orthodox Christian Studies at Trinity College Faculty of Divinity, University of Toronto; and Dr. Jonathan Huener, Leonard and Carolyn Miller Distinguished Professor of Holocaust Studies and Director of the Carolyn and Leonard Miller Center for Holocaust Studies at the University of Vermont.  

Seminar Format

The seminar will include five days on-site at the Museum: Monday, June 9 - Friday, June 13, 2025. A follow-up virtual session will be scheduled for Fall 2025. 

Participants can expect substantial assigned reading for each seminar day, supplemented by audio-visual material, pedagogical tools, and focused discussions. A full agenda and reading list will be provided one month before the start of the seminar. 

Eligibility

The seminar is designed to help faculty, instructors, and advanced doctoral students currently teaching or preparing to teach courses in higher education settings that focus on or integrate curricula material related to the Holocaust and religion, East European and Slavic Studies, theology, and/or interreligious relations. Prior knowledge of the Holocaust or Christianity in East Central Europe is not required. Applications are welcome from instructors across disciplines, including but not limited to History, Anthropology, Theology and Religious Studies, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Jewish Studies, Philosophy, Art, Political Science, and Gender Studies. Faculty based at institutions outside North America will also be considered if they meet the criteria above.

Applications from all qualified individuals will be considered without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including sexual orientation and gender identity), national origin, age, disability, genetic information, or any other protected status.

The Museum is committed to cultivating and maintaining a culture of diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion (DEAI). To learn more about the Museum’s commitment, view the Museum Statement on Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion.

Application Details

Applications must include: 

1. A short curriculum vitae; 

2. A 1-2 page statement of interest (no more than 750 words)

3. A draft syllabus or course description on a topic that could potentially incorporate any topics the seminar will address. 

In your statement of interest, please specifically address: 

• How the seminar would augment or impact the course(s) you anticipate teaching; 

• How the seminar would help to meet your institution’s needs and/or expand your institution’s curricular offerings; 

• How your perspective, experiences, and/or disciplinary approach will enhance the seminar discussions.

Applications must be received electronically by March 3, 2025.

For more information or inquiries, please contact Dr. Kathryn Julian, Program Officer: kjulian@ushmm.org.

Travel and Lodging 

For non-local participants, the Mandel Center will cover the cost of (1) direct travel to and from the participant’s home institution and Washington, DC, and (2) lodging for the seminar duration. All participants will also be provided $250 to defray the cost of meals and incidentals. 

The Programs on Ethics, Religion, and the Holocaust are supported by Lilly Endowment Inc; the Hoffberger Family Foundation; and by Joseph A. and Janeal Cannon and Family.