October 20–22, 2025
WHISC – Women in the Holocaust International Study Center / Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade
Venue: The Palace of Science / Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory
10:00–11:00 – Reception and Registration (The Palace of Science)
11:00–11:30 – Conference Opening
Welcoming speeches: Lily Halpert Zamir, Dragana Stojanović, Israeli Ambassador Avivit Bar-Ilan, Milovan Pisarri (Research Fellow, Claims Conference University Partnership in Holocaust Studies Lecturer)
11:30–12:15 – Keynote Lecture
Milovan Pisarri – The Liberation of Belgrade (The Palace of Science)
12:15–12:30 – Walk to the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory
12:30–12:45 – Coffee Break
Chair: Batya Brutin
Lily Halpert Zamir (David Yellin College, Israel, WHISC) – Enemy or Ally? The Female Body: Gendered Violence – From Scripture to the Holocaust and October Seventh
Larissa-Marie Lömpel (University of Haifa, Israel) – Gendered Dimensions of Sexualized Violence in Auschwitz: A Comparative Analysis of Male and Female Experiences
Jovana Savić (University of Belgrade, Serbia) – The Voice of Silence: The Novels of Aleksandar Tišma as Testimonies to the Trauma of Forced Prostitution during the Holocaust
14:15–14:30 – Coffee Break
Chair: Dragana Stojanović
Naomi Kojen (Moshe David Gaon Center for Ladino Culture, Belgrade, Serbia) – Honor the Doctor for Her Service: Life and Legacy of Dr. Roza Papo
Victoria Van Orden Martínez (Lund University, Sweden) – “Being a physician was my gun against the Germans” – Three Jewish Women Doctors During the Holocaust
Yoel Yaari (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel) – A Doctor in Hell: Enna Weiss and the Ethics of Survival in Auschwitz
16:00–16:15 – Coffee Break
Speakers:
Yaakov Asher – Co-founder of WHISC
Dr. Krinka Vidaković Petrov – Director of Memorial Center “Staro Sajmište”, Professor, Former Ambassador of Yugoslavia to Israel
Martha Suki John (Texas Christian University, USA) – Dancing the Shoah
09:30–10:00 – Coffee / Registration
Chair: Lily Halpert Zamir
Francis-Romeo Behnemann (Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Germany) – Noemi Munkacsi – An Educator Dedicated to the Survival of Jewish Cultures
Tamir Hod (Tel-Hi University on A Rise, Israel) – Miriam Radiwker and the Israeli Police Unit for Investigating Nazi Crimes
Katarzyna Taczyńska (Institute of Slavic Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland) – “Why is this night different from all other nights?” Miriam Steiner Aviezer Between Yugoslavia and Israel
11:30–12:00 – Coffee Break
Chair: Verena Meier
Marija Ratkovic (Independent Researcher, Belgrade, Serbia) – Écriture Féminine as a Strategy for Speaking the Unspeakable: Zeugin aus der Hölle and Gorke trave by Frida Filipović
Natalija Perišić (University of Belgrade, Serbia) – Olga Alkalaj – Screams and Whispers of a Jewish Woman’s Resistance
Gideon Greif (Ono Academic Center, Israel / ECPD Belgrade, Serbia) – “Francesca” – A Courageous Woman
13:30–15:00 – Lunch Break
Chair: Krinka Vidaković Petrov
Avisag Ben Shalom (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel) – Between Identity and Memory: World War II, Two Sephardic Women in the Resistance Movement and Two Nations Remembering Them – The Cases of Olga Alkalaj and Rena Abarbanel
Verena Meier (University of Heidelberg, Germany) – Letters to the Nazi-Regime Between Resistance and “Madness”
Alessandro Matta (Association Memorial of the Shoah, Sardegna) – Sardinian Saviors’ Women During the Holocaust, Between Resistance and Genocide
Galyna Kutsovska (Uppsala University, Sweden) – Endurance, Defiance, Resilience, or Resistance: Survival Strategies of Jewish Women During the Holocaust in Kharkiv
Miri Nahari (Independent Researcher, Israel) – Women Trailblazers in the Bricha Movement
17:00 – Free Evening
09:00–09:30 – Registration (for those who did not do it previously)
09:30–10:00 – Bus transportation to the Memorial Center Sajmište
10:00–11:45 – Visit at the Memorial Center Sajmište
11:45–12:30 – Bus transportation back to the University and Coffee Break
Chair: Andrija Mihajlov
Boris Czerny (University of Caen, France) – Jewish Women in Brest-Litovsk: An Attempt to Reconstruct Daily Life in the Ghetto (1941–1942)
Eileen Groth Lyon (State University of New York, Fredonia, USA) – Lives Lived in Honor of Jehovah’s Witnesses at Ravensbrück
Michelle Damm (Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen, Germany) – Researching Forced Labor in the Ziegenhain Women’s Prison: A Preliminary Report
14:00–16:30 – Lunch Break
Chair: Milica Damjanović
Batya Brutin (Beit Berl Academic College and WHISC) – Female Artists Depict Women and Femininity in the Holocaust
Yvonne Kozlovsky Golan (University of Haifa, Israel) – Screening Trauma: Representations of Young Female Sexual Abuse during the Holocaust in Israeli Media Culture between Reality and Myth
Ivana Drenjanin Soppe (Akademy Ateneum Gdansk, Poland) – Remembering the Holocaust through a Girl’s Eyes: Narratives by Frank, Frankel, and Ligocka or Women’s and Girls’ Voices in Literature
Dragana Stojanović (University of Belgrade, Serbia) – (Un)covering Women’s Lives in Holocaust Memorial Monuments in Serbia: an (In)visible Heritage
18:15–18:45 – Farewell and Final Words