On 9 and 10 March 2017, the Jewish Museum of Belgium in collaboration with CegeSoma organizes  an international colloquium at the Royal Library of Belgium (Brussels). The violence perpetrated against minorities is one key issue, while their legal protection, is another. The conference tackles the period from 1912 to 1923. Lectures by historians from Europe, North America and the Middle East will be alternated with discussions. Attention will also be given to contemporary issues related to these questions.

Speakers

• Erez Manela (Harvard University),
• Carole Fink (Ohio State University),
• Dominiek Dendooven (In Flanders Fields/University of Antwerp),
• Jaclyn Granick (Oxford University),
• Machteld Venken (University of Vienna),
• Panikos Panayi (De Montfort University),
• Gershon Bacon (Bar Ilan University),
• Mehmet Polatel (Boğaziçi University),
• Hamit Bozarslan (EHESS),
• Maciej Górny (Imre Kertész Kolleg Jena, DE),
• Pieter Lagrou (ULB),
• Yasmina Zian (Technische Universität Berlin),
• Corinne Triolet (ULB)

Practical information

The colloquium will be entirely in English. Questions in French or Dutch may be accepted, depending on the language skills of the session chairs and the speakers

Audience members must register online on the webpage or via email (at georgia@mjb-jmb.org) to attend

Free entrance

Venue : Royal Library of Belgium, Mont des Arts – 1000 Brussels

Information and registration: georgia@mjb-jmb.org

Organisers

Julie Balériaux is a Curator at the Jewish Museum of Belgium since 2016 as well as a Scientific Collaborator at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. She holds a PhD in ancient History from the University of Oxford (2016), a Master of Arts in Classics from Stanford University, where she was a Hoover Fellow of the Belgian American Educational Foundation, and a Master of Arts in History from the Université Libre de Bruxelles.

Pascale Falek Alhadeff is a Curator at the Jewish Museum of Belgium since 2014. She obtained a PhD in History and Civilization at the European University Institute in Florence (2011), a Master of Arts in European Studies at the College of Europe in Warsaw, a Master of Studies in Jewish Studies at Oxford University and a Master of Arts in contemporary history at the Université Libre de Bruxelles.

Nico Wouters coordinates the Academic Activities Section of CEGESOMA. He holds a PhD in contemporary history (University of Gent). He is a guest lecturer at the Brussels School of International Studies (Kent University) and at the University of Antwerp, as well as a steering member of the Institute for Public History (University of Ghent) and of the Belgian Association for Contemporary History.

Scientific committee

• Bruno Benvindo (CegeSoma – State Archives of Belgium)
• Dominiek Dendooven (In Flanders Fields Museum – University of Antwerp)
• Peter Gatrell (Manchester University)
• Chantal Kesteloot (CegeSoma – State Archives of Belgium)
• Martin Kohlrausch (Catholic University of Leuven)
• Pieter Lagrou (Université Libre de Bruxelles)
• Pierre-Alain Tallier (State Archives of Belgium)
• Antoon Vrints (University of Ghent)
• Laurence Van Ypersele (Université Catholique de Louvain)

Contacts for the press

Chouna Lomponda, Head of Communication and Spokeswoman at the Jewish Museum of Belgium

0032 (0)2 500 88 35

lchouna@mjb-jmb.org

Isabelle Delvaux, Assistant Public History & Academic Activities at CegeSoma – State Archives of Belgium

0032 (0)2 556 92 57

isabelle.delvaux@cegesoma.be

Provisional programme

Thursday 09/03

KBR, Royal Sky Room 1

• 9.00 Registration
• 9.15 Welcome address

9.30 session 1: Minority groups on the international stage

Chair: Peter Gatrell (University of Manchester, UK)

• 9h.30 : Carole Fink (Ohio State University, USA), Ethnic violence and International politics 
• 10.00 : Panikos Panayi (De Montfort University, UK) A Culture of Complaining? Germans Internees and US and Swiss Consular Visitors in the British Empire, 1914-1919
• 10.30 Dominiek Dendooven (In Flanders Fields Museum/University of Antwerp, BE) White, or not quite? The issue of skin colour in the British armies on the western front, 1914-1920

11.00 coffee break

11.20 Session 2 : Legacies

Chair: Laurence Van Ypersele (Université Catholique de Louvain, BE)

• 11.20 Corinne Triolet (Université Libre de Bruxelles, BE) History and evolution of minority rights until the First World War 
• 11.50 Hamit Bozarslan (Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, FR) War and minorities in the former Ottoman Empire : 1914-1922
• 12.20 Pieter Lagrou (Université Libre de Bruxelles, BE) Learning from failure: reappraisals of minority protection, 1933-1948

12.50 Lunch break

14.00 Session 3 : Legal protection and minority rights

Chair: Pieter Lagrou (Université Libre de Bruxelles, BE)

• 14.00 Gershon Bacon (Bar-Ilan University, IL) Great Achievement, Toxic Heritage: the Minorities Treaties and Polish-Jewish Relations, 1919-1939
• 14.30 Machteld Venken (University of Vienna, AT) Language Learning policies in Interwar European Borderlands (1919-1925)
• 15.00 Jaclyn Granick (University of Oxford, UK) Jews under Nansen, or the Incompatibility of the Interwar Minority and Refugee Regimes

15.30 Coffee break

16.00 Keynote lecture

• 16.00 Erez Manela (Harvard University, USA) Empires, Nation-States, and the Problem of Difference in International Society circa World War I

17.00 End of the first day

Friday 10/03

KBR, Royal Sky Room 1

9.00 Venue opens

9.30 Session 4: Cultures of violence

Chair: Antoon Vrints (University of Ghent, BE)

• 9.30 Mehmet Polatel (Boğaziçi University, TK) Engineering Majority: Mass Violence, Territoriality and Nationality in the Context of the Armenian Genocide
• 10.00 Yasmina Zian (Technische Universität Berlin, DE – Université Libre de Bruxelles, BE) Violence towards Jewish foreigners in the post-World War I period in Belgium
• 10.30 Maciej Górny (Imre Kertész Kolleg Jena, DE) Being minority in theory and practice: East Central Europe, 1914-1923

11.00 Coffee break 

11.20-12.20 Plenary discussion

12.20-12.45 Closing remarks