Traveling Seminar: Places of Memory: Holocaust in (pop) Culture

Dates: 11^th – 13^th of June 2025

ERUA, New Bulgarian University (NBU) in partnership with SWPS are announcing a travelling seminar “Places of Memory: Holocaust in (pop) Culture” that will take place between the 11^th and the 13^th of June 2025.

The seminar is part of what is now becoming an annual “Places of Memory” campaign. The travelling seminar is part of a series of study visits to (traumatic) places of memory in Europe. It is dedicated to learning about the memory of the Holocaust and includes visits to Krakow and Auschwitz. During the seminar, students will not only visit sites of remembrance. Still, they will also have meetings with Holocaust survivors from the Krakow Jewish community and a series of lectures on the representation of the Holocaust in art, pop culture and movies.

The Travelling Seminar offers an innovative look at the challenging topic of traumatic memory in Europe. It builds on the year-long Places of Memory campaign, which engages students from different programmes in conversation about the topic. The specific input to the theme in Krakow/Auschwitz is how memory is constructed through (pop) art and culture.

Ten students from different programs at New Bulgarian University have won the right to participate in the travelling seminar after participating with their own work in the Places of Memory campaign. Prior to the trip to Krakow/Auschwitz, they will take part in study trips to Skopje and Plovdiv, which are dedicated to the memory of the Second World War in Bulgaria and Macedonia.

The students that have been selected are:

1. Ralitsa Goleva, BA Public Relations
2. Maya Angelova, BA Civil and Corporate Security
3. Emiliya Taseva, BA Civil and Corporate Security
4. Andrea Dryankova, BA Interior Design
5. Ralitsa Yankova, BA Journalism
6. Marinela Vaskova, BA Civil and Corporate Security
7. Atina Tomova, BA Political Science
8. Martin Vachkov, BA Networking Technologies in English
9. Emila-Liliya Petrova, BA International Politics
10. Mihaela Panayotova, BA Public Relations
11. Alexandra Nedelcheva, BA Civil and Corporate Security

The program

10.07.2025

Travel in the late afternoon

11.07.2025

10:00 – 11:00 Visiting Krakow and lecture about the Jewish History of Krakow

11:00 – 12:00 Visiting the Jewish Getto and lecture about the Deportations

12:30 – 13:00 Visiting the Synagogue

13:00 – 14:00 Lunch

14:30 -17:00 Meeting with Survivors at the Local Jewish Community

12.07.2025

Auschwitz visit – 08.00 – 18:00

Debrief 18:00 – 19:00

13.07.2025

10:00 – 12: 00 – Lecture about Holocaust Representation in Art

12:00 – 13:00 – Lunch

13:00 – 15:00 – Lecture about the Holocaust in Pop Culture and Films

Departure

Congratulations to the participants. We are looking forward to share your experience.

Stay tuned for more such opportunities!