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The Janowska concentration camp may well be the most important Holocaust place most people have never heard of. It was central to the Holocaust in eastern Poland, was the scene of unspeakable cruelty, but also witnessed a successful armed uprising.

In this episode hosted by the amazing Holocaust historian Doris Bergen, we talk about my work on the camp and what a study of Janowska tells us about the Holocaust.

Waitman Wade Beorn is an associate professor of history at Northumbria University in Newcastle, UK. He is also (most of the time) the host of the Holocaust History Podcast which you are now listening to.

Beorn, Waitman Wade. Between the Wires: The Janowska Camp and the Holocaust in Lviv (2024)

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Email the podcast at holocausthistorypod@gmail.com

The Holocaust History Podcast homepage is here

You can find a complete reading list with books by our guests and also their suggestions here.

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How did Nazi war criminals engage with (or deny) their giult? How was the prosecution and conviction of Nazi perpetrators dealt with in families? What was the role of religion and faith assuaging guilt?

These are some fo the fascinating questions that we cover in this episode with Katherina von Kellenbach who has engaged with this topic using a unique set of really interesting sources.

Katharina von Kellenbach is Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies from St. Mary’s College of Maryland.

von Kellenbach, Katharina. The Mark of Cain: Guilt and Denial in the Lives of Nazi Perpetrators (2013)

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Email the podcast at holocausthistorypod@gmail.com

The Holocaust History Podcast homepage is here

You can find a complete reading list with books by our guests and also their suggestions here.

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What is a concentration camp? What are the distinguishing features of these spaces? Where did they come from?

In this episode, I talk with Andrea Pitzer about the long, global history of the concentration camp and its evolution over time. We talk about what the definition is, what qualifies something as a concentration camp, and how different societies have learned from each other in their various iterations of "the camp."

Andrea Pitzer is a journalist and author.

Pitzer, Andrea. One Long Night: A Global History of Concentration Camps (2018)

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Email the podcast at holocausthistorypod@gmail.com

The Holocaust History Podcast homepage is here

You can find a complete reading list with books by our guests and also their suggestions here.

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It was the largest open shooting of the Holocaust (and perhaps in history). Yet the murder in Babi Yar of 33,000+ Jews and other victims remained for much of its postwar life, unmarked and uncommemorated, at least officially.

In this episode, I talked with VIctoria Khiterer about the fascinating history of Jews in Kyiv, before, during, and after the Holocaust. It's an insightful look into challenge of Holocaust memory from the Soviet period to modern-day Ukraine.

Victoria Khiterer is a Professor of History at Millersville University.

Khiterer, Victoria. Bitter War of Memory: The Babyn Yar Massacre, Aftermath, and Commemoration (2025)

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Email the podcast at holocausthistorypod@gmail.com

The Holocaust History Podcast homepage is here

You can find a complete reading list with books by our guests and also their suggestions here.

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How do we approach witnessing the Holocaust? Are there appropriate or inappropriate ways to do this? Does witnessing make us more empathetic or more indifferent? These are just some of the questions we addressed in this episode with Carolyn Dean.

We also talked about the role of images in teaching about the Holocaust as well as the role of empathy in bystander behavior.

Carolyn Dean is the Charles J. Stille Professor of History and French at Yale University.

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Email the podcast at holocausthistorypod@gmail.com

The Holocaust History Podcast homepage is here

You can find a complete reading list with books by our guests and also their suggestions here.

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An important part of researching the Holocaust is recovering the stories of the diverse group of victims of the Nazi genocidal project. For a very long time, queer victims have been marginalized or overlooked in this process.

In this episode, I talked with Anna Hájková about her work in queering the Holocaust, that is in writing the experience of these people into the history. We talked about the queer Jewish experience but also about the value of this kind of work for teaching us about the doing of history.

Anna Hájková is an associate professor of history at the University of Warwick.

Hájková, Anna. People without History are Dust- Queer Desire in the Holocaust (2025)

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Email the podcast at holocausthistorypod@gmail.com

The Holocaust History Podcast homepage is here

You can find a complete reading list with books by our guests and also their suggestions here.

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How did women experience the Holocaust differently from men? What do we learn from considering a gender perspective when we look at the past? How did gender play a role in survival and oppression?

For a long time, women's experiences (and a gendered approach to understanding them was absent from our study of the Holocaust. In this episode, we have a far-ranging conversation looking at many of the questions listed above.

Elissa Bemporad is the Ungar Chair in East European Jewish History and the Holocaust and is Professor of History at Queens College and the CUNY Graduate Center.

Bemporad, Elissa and Joyce W. Warren, eds. Women and Genocide: Survivors, Victims, Perpetrators (2018)

Bemporad, Elissa. Legacy of Blood: Jews, Pogroms, and Ritual Murder in the Lands of the Soviets (2020)

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Email the podcast at holocausthistorypod@gmail.com

The Holocaust History Podcast homepage is here

You can find a complete reading list with books by our guests and also their suggestions here.

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How could one be a man of God in Nazi Germany? And, especially, how can one minister to the Wehrmacht, itself an instrument of the Nazi state while professing to adhere to Christian morality? These are the questions that Doris Bergen deals with in her book on German military chaplains.

In this episode, we talk about the Nazi relationship with churches in Germany as well as about the ways in which German military chaplains became complicit in the crimes of the Third Reich.

Doris Bergen is Chancellor Rose and Ray Wolfe Chair in Holocaust Studies at the University of Toronto.

Bergen, Doris. Between God and Hitler: Military Chaplains in Nazi Germany (2025)

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Email the podcast at holocausthistorypod@gmail.com

The Holocaust History Podcast homepage is here

You can find a complete reading list with books by our guests and also their suggestions here.