Symposium ‘Identifying and Countering Holocaust Distortion:
Lessons for and from Southeast Asia’

Program

23-26 November 2021

This symposium is part of the project Identifying and countering Holocaust distortion: Lessons for and from Southeast Asia implemented by the NEVER AGAIN Association, and supported by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance and Heinrich Böll Stiftung Cambodia. The symposium is organised in cooperation with American University of Phnom Penh (AUPP) in Cambodia and BALAC program at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand. The project’s objective is to identify narratives around the Holocaust, develop counter-arguments and strategies against its distortion in Southeast Asia, and inspire critical memory discourses about local instances of conflict and genocide. The event will be held in English, with simultaneous translation of selected sessions in Burmese, Khmer, and Thai languages.

Keynote speakers: Prof. Yehuda Bauer, Professor Emeritus of History and Holocaust Studies, Honorary Chairman to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA); Prof. Ben Kiernan; Professor of International and Area Studies; Director of the Genocide Studies Program at Yale University and founding Director of the Cambodian Genocide Program; Prof. Teun van Dijk, founder of the Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and distinguished professor at the Universitat Pompeu, Fabra; Barcelona.

កម្មវិធីជាភាសាខ្មែរ

23 November 2021

play video

Time ICT (Bangkok/Phnom Penh) and CET (Warsaw)	Sessions	Speakers
17:30-17:45 ICT/11:30-11:45 CET	Opening remarks, introducing the project	Prof. Rafal Pankowski, co-founder, NEVER AGAIN Association, Warsaw, Poland
17:45-18:00 ICT/11:45-12:00 CET	Opening remarks	Dr. Kunnaya Wimooktanon, BALAC, Program Director, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
18:00-19:30 ICT/12:00-13:30 CET	Critical Discourse Analysis approach to study anti-minority discourses, racism, and genocide denial This lecture is co-organised and sponsored by BALAC program, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand	Prof. Teun van Dijk, professor at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain Moderator: Dr. Verita Sriratana, Department of English, Faculty of Arts at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand, Research Fellow at Raoul Wallenberg Institute, Lund University, Sweden

24 November 2021

play video 1 play video 2 play video 3

Time ICT (Bangkok/Phnom Penh) and CET (Warsaw)	Sessions	Speakers
17:00-17:10 ICT/11:00-11:10 CET	Welcome, introducing the project	Natalia Sineaeva, NEVER AGAIN Association, Warsaw, Poland
17:10-17:20 ICT/11:10-11:20 CET	Opening remarks	Ray Leos, acting Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs, American University of Phnom Penh, Cambodia
17:20-17:30 ICT/11:20-11:30 CET	An overview of the problem of Holocaust distortion and how it relates to antisemitism	Dr. Robert Williams, Deputy Director, International Affairs, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, chair of the Committee on Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial at the IHRA, Washington DC, USA
17:30-18:00 ICT/11:30-12:00 CET	Keynote talk about the meaning of the Holocaust, its legacy, and challenges for its commemoration	Prof. Yehuda Bauer, IHRA Honorary Chair, Professor Emeritus of History and Holocaust Studies at the Avraham Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Academic Advisor to Yad Vashem, Israel
18:00-18:20 ICT/12:00-12:20 CET	Discussion, reflections	Session Chair: Prof. Dina Porat, Chief Historian of Yad Vashem, Tel-Aviv, Israel
18:20-18:30 ICT/12:20-12:30 CET	Break: Mindfulness meditation	Venerable Lablu Barua (Thirasattho), Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University, Thailand
18:30-18:45 ICT/12:30-12:45 CET	Globalisation of genocide denial. The case of genocide multi-deniers	Prof. Rafal Pankowski, NEVER AGAIN Association, Warsaw, Poland
18:45-19:00 ICT/12:45-13:00 CET	Dealing with the past in Cambodia in the context of genocide distortion	Sayana Ser, Peace Institute, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
19:00-19:15 ICT/13:00-13:15 CET	Bophana Center’s work against the denial and distortion of Khmer Rouge atrocities	Sopheap Chea, Executive Director at Bophana Audiovisual Resource Center, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
19:15-19:40 ICT/13:15-13:40 CET	Discussion, reflections	Moderator: Visal Sorn, Civil Peace Service/forumZFD International, Battambang, Cambodia
19:40-20:00 ICT/13:40-14:00 CET	Break: "The Ghettos": educational video of Yad Vashem, focusing on the history of the Lodz Ghetto in Poland
20:00-20:30 ICT/14:00-14:30 CET	Keynote talk about genocide distortion and denial in Southeast Asia and worldwide	Prof. Ben Kiernan, Professor of International and Area Studies, Director of the Genocide Studies Program at Yale University , USA
20:30-21:00 ICT/14:30-15:00 CET	Discussion, reflections, the end of the day	Discussant: Dr Theresa de Langis, Director of the Center of Southeast Asian Studies, American University of Phnom Penh, Cambodia Moderator: Prof. Rafal Pankowski, NEVER AGAIN Association, Warsaw, Poland

25 November 2021

play video 1 play video 2 play video 3 play video 4 play video 5

Time ICT (Bangkok/Phnom Penh) and CET (Warsaw)	Sessions	Speakers
16:00-16:10 ICT/10:00-10:10 CET	Welcome, introduction	Sayana Ser, Peace Institute, Phnom Penh, Cambodia Natalia Sineaeva, NEVER AGAIN Association, Warsaw, Poland
16:10-16:40 ICT/10:10-10:40 CET	Countering Holocaust distortion within the framework of interfaith dialogue in Southeast Asia	Jeremy Jones, Director of International and of Community Affairs for the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council and Senior Contributing Editor for the Australia Israel Review, Sydney, Australia Chief Rabbi of Poland Michael Schudrich, Warsaw, Poland
16:40-16:50 ICT/10:40-10:50 CET	Discussion, reflections	Moderator: Venerable Lablu Barua (Thirasattho), Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University, Bangkok, Thailand
16:50-17:20 ICT/10:50-11:20 CET	The Land of Smiles, Nazi Chic and Communist Cool: Personality Cult and “Democide & Holocaust Indifference” in Thailand	Dr Verita Sriratana, Associate Professor, Department of English, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand, Research Fellow at Raoul Wallenberg Institute, Lund University, Sweden
17:20-17:35 ICT/11:20-11:35 CET	Discussion, reflections	Moderator: Dr. David M. Malitz, German Institute for Japanese Studies, Tokyo, Japan
17:35-18:05 ICT/11:35-12:05 CET	How techniques of denial and distortion were weaponised to enable the genocide of Myanmar’s Rohingya, and why education about the Holocaust and its denial must be part of a democratic Myanmar’s future	Dr Ronan Lee, Visiting Scholar at Queen Mary University of London’s School of Law and the International State Crime Initiative and author of ‘Myanmar’s Rohingya Genocide: Identity, History and Hate Speech’, London, UK
18:05-18:15 ICT/12:05-12:15 CET	Discussion, reflections	Moderator: Foysal Shahriar Ratul, Jahangirnagar University, Center for the Study of Genocide and Justice, Liberation War Museum, Dhaka, Bangladesh
18:15-18:45 ICT/12:15-12:45 CET	Burmese Jews as part of pluralist society in Myanmar	Sammy Samuels, Leader of Jewish Community, Yangon, Myanmar
18:45-18:55 ICT/12:45-12:55 CET	Discussion, reflections	Moderator: Dr Michał Lubina, Institute of the Middle and Far East, Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland
18:55-19:00 ICT/12:55-13:00 CET	Break
19:00-20:30 ICT/ 13:00-14:30 CET	Discussion ‘Challenging Genocide Distortion’	Konstanty Gebert, journalist, writer and educator, Warsaw, Poland Barbara Thimm, CPS-advisor GIZ at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, Phnom Penh, Cambodia Mofidul Hoque, founder trustee of the Bangladesh Liberation War Museum, Center for the Study of Genocide and Justice of the Museum, Dhaka Nickey Diamond, Ph.D. candidate in political and legal anthropology at the University of Konstanz, Germany, Burmese human rights activist and an advisor to Fortify Rights, Konstanz, Germany Moderator: Prof. Rafal Pankowski, co-founder, NEVER AGAIN Association, Warsaw, Poland

26 November 2021

Outlining Discussions

play video 1 play video 2

Time ICT (Bangkok/Phnom Penh) and CET (Warsaw)	Sessions	Speakers
17:00-18:00 ICT/11:00-12:00 CET	Presentation of two museum initiatives in Thailand and discussion of 6 October Museum Project: Documentation, Archives, and Patani Art Space in Thailand's conflict zone, in the ‘Deep South’	Patporn (Aor) Phoothong, researcher who is focused on museums and archives of past political violence and ongoing violent conflicts, Bangkok, Thailand Arjan Jehabdulloh Jehorhoh, the founder and director of Patani Art Space, Patani, Thailand Moderator: Dr Verita Sriratana, Associate Professor, Department of English, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand, Research Fellow at Raoul Wallenberg Institute, Lund University, Sweden
18:00-18:15 ICT/12:00-12:15	From Auschwitz to Myanmar	Dr. Maung Zarni, exiled Burmese activist, adviser to the Genocide Watch & research fellow, Genocide Documentation Center Cambodia (DC-Cam), Cambodia, UK
18:15-18:45 ICT/11:15-12:45 CET	Closing remarks	Rapporteurs: Alena Fomenko, Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center, Moscow, Russia and Alina Scheitza, Research Center RISK, Universität der Bundeswehr München, Neubiberg, Germany

Symposium ‘Identifying and Countering Holocaust Distortion: Lessons for and from Southeast Asia’