The conference will be held from October 20 to 22, 2025, in Belgrade, Serbia, at the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade (address: Kraljice Natalije 45, 11000 Beograd). The working language of the conference will be English.
The Third Annual International WHISC Conference on Women in the Holocaust, Lives Worth Living, will once again be held in East-Central European region. This region was a key site where German Nazi occupation and racial policies intersected with complex realities of competing nationalisms, shifting borders, and contested national sovereignties. The history of Nazi persecution, expulsion, flight, deportation, and murder of Jewish and Roma women – as well as women of other ethnicities – unfolded within a broader landscape of ethnic tensions, conflicts, and shifting power structures in East-Central Europe and beyond.
This conference seeks to explore how to responsibly and productively integrate the histories of occupation, antisemitism, and ethnic racism, while maintaining a research-based commitment to uncovering women’s gendered experiences during the Holocaust. Additionally, the conference encourages further research on the complexities of competing victimhood in various East-Central European countries during the Holocaust. The interwoven nature of these historical contexts, events, and processes remains challenging for researchers and a point of contention in public and scholarly debates.
Additionally, studying the intersectionality of religious, ethnic, and gender identities – and the resulting impacts, tensions, and traumas – continues to present significant scholarly challenges. This year, we particularly encourage research on the lives and experiences of women in Yugoslavia during the Holocaust, as this aspect of Holocaust history remains underrepresented in international academic discourse.
The Lives Worth Living conference seeks to promote scholarly discussion and debate on the various divides, connections, and intersections within Holocaust and Gender Studies while uncovering the lives of women in the Holocaust, lives that were indeed worth living. The Lives Worth Living conference aims to challenge disciplinary boundaries to advance multidisciplinary,
interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary approaches to studying women’s experiences during the Holocaust. The suggested conference streams invite methodological approaches and connections that explore but are not limited to, placing the Holocaust within the contexts of social, historical, cultural, and gender studies, but also memory studies, the arts, and literature.
We welcome topic proposals that challenge established and new disciplinary approaches to the study of the Holocaust. We especially encourage the participation of early-career scholars and more established and experienced scholars.
Scholars interested in participating in the Lives Worth Living conference are invited to submit their proposals by July 1, 2025.
Each proposal should include:
• Title
• Abstract (250–300 words in English)
• Short CV/Bio (maximum 150 words)
Proposals should be submitted via the online form HERE
Conference Fees
The conference participation fee is 300€, with the exceptions in following cases:
• €250 in case of early registration (dates given below)
• €100 for participants based in Western Balkan countries (as defined by Western Balkan EU policy) *
The fee includes refreshments, light meals during the conference, an additional conference program, and the publication of selected papers based on research presented at the conference.
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