Genocide: Forms, Causes, Consequences

Berlin, January 13-15, 2005.

Invitation, Announcement and Call for Posters

European Network of Genocide Scholars [ENOGS]: Foundational
Meeting (Berlin, January 13-15, 2005)

Without doubt, genocide is one of the most horrific crimes
in the history of humankind. In the twentieth century, the
Holocaust proved the destructive potential of a utopian
biopolitics that aimed at an ethnically or racially
homogeneous "societas perfecta". Unfortunately, it was not
the first genocide of the last century, as in 1904 the
Herero and Nama people had been slaughtered by the imperial
German army, and ten years later during World War I, more
than 800,000 Armenians were deported and killed by the Young
Turks. Nor was the Holocaust the last. Despite the United
Nations Genocide Convention of 1948, genocides took place in
Cambodia and Rwanda to name just a few.These enormities, and current crises such as the situation
in Darfur (Sudan), make international and interdisciplinary
research on genocidal processes all the more important.
While genocide research has become an established academic
discipline in the USA since the 1970s, its institutional
recognition is still in its infancy in many European
countries. Whereas in the United States conferences,
journals, and publication series attest to a vibrant
community of genocide scholars, such a scholarly
infrastructure is less well developed in Europe. With the
foundation of an "European Network of Genocide Scholars"
[ENOGS], we attempt to foster scholarly exchange between
individuals and institutions worldwide. It will be open to
researchers from all academic disciplines working on
genocide and mass violence from within and outside Europe.
Its focus is historical and comparative. A webpage and a
discussion-list as a forum for academic announcements and
discussions are planned, as well as the publication of a
journal or a yearbook. We attempt to cooperate with
existing organisations wherever possible.

When the Polish-Jewish lawyer and historian Raphael Lemkin
coined the term "genocide" in 1944, he was referring to Nazi
policies in Europe, but was first prompted by the Armenian
case to conceptualize and criminalize genocide. Lemkin
himself wrote extensively on colonial genocides. The 100th
anniversary of the genocide in former German Southwest
Africa (now Namibia) is therefore an appropriate occasion
for the foundation of an “European Network of Genocide
Scholars” during the international conference, "Genocides:
Forms, Causes, Consequences. The Namibian War (1904-1908) in
Historical Perspective,” in Berlin between 13-15 January
2005 at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, (the programme is
available online: here). We invite all
interested parties to our foundational meeting in Berlin.

Please share with interested colleagues.

From August on, updated information on ENOGS and its
foundation will also be available on our website: ENOGS

Please do not hesitate to ask for further information:

The preparation committee:

Dr. Juergen Zimmerer Dominik J. Schaller

(CEIS 20, Univ. Coimbra)

Rua Alves Torgo 25, 1° esq David Hess-Weg 10

P-5000-679 Vila Real 8038 Zürich

Portugal Schweiz

juergenzimmerer@freenet.de
rickscafe@bluemail.ch

Dr. Juergen Zimmerer

(CEIS 20, Univ. Coimbra)

Rua Alves Torgo 25, 1° esq.

P-5000-679 Vila Real

Portugal

namibian-war@freenet.de