Tuesday, 15th February 2022 – Dr Waitman Wade Beorn (Northumbria) – Scales of Persecution: Digitally Mapping the Holocaust through the Janowska Camp

This seminar is 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm GMT, live on Zoom https://bit.ly/3HTpHMg (and available on YouTube after the event).

Session Chair: Mia Ridge

Scales of Persecution: Digitally Mapping the Holocaust through the Janowska Camp

Abstract: How can we apply digital spatial methods and theory to the Holocaust?  This presentation seeks to showcase some ways in which mapping and visualization have been used in the study of one concentration camp but also to highlight some (unanswered) questions that inform the use of digital techniques in analysis and presentation.  Some of these questions are centered around ethics, ambiguity, sources, and the strengths/weaknesses of various approaches.

Speaker bio: Dr. Waitman Wade Beorn is a Senior Lecturer in History at Northumbria University in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.  Dr. Beorn was previously the Director of the Virginia Holocaust Museum in Richmond, VA and the inaugural Blumkin Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.

As a member of an interdisciplinary group, Holocaust Geographies, which explores the spatial dynamics of the Holocaust, Dr. Beorn was a co-recipient of a National Science Foundation grant. This group has written an edited volume, Geographies of the Holocaust (Indiana University Press, 2018.)  This is the first book to address the analysis of Holocaust spaces with GIS. He is also active in the digital humanities. He is currently working on several DH projects including a digital reconstruction of the Janowska camp and a social network analysis of its perpetrators.

As a public-facing scholar, Dr. Beorn has published pieces in the Washington Post, The New Republic, and The Forward.  He has also appeared on CNN, Richard French Live on WRNN, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and TRT. He is an active contributor to public history and engagement on Twitter as well.