from Monday, 16. October 2023 -  08:00
to Friday, 1. December 2023 - 23:59

The historical framework of the Holocaust in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) has long been known – around 30,000 Croatian and Bosnian Jews fell victim to German and Ustasha extermination policies. However, what about the details of this story? What do we know about concrete and specific events, people, groups, experiences, developments, and decisions? What do we know about everyday aspects of the Holocaust in the NDH? Unfortunately, very little. Therefore, it is time to research and depict the history of the Holocaust in the NDH through the interconnectedness of macro, meso, and micro-historical perspectives. It is time to go into micro details to explain the impact of the macro and the interplay of the meso level, thus gaining new scholarly insights and challenging some of the long-lasting explanations and narratives.

Departing from the above-stated aspects, this Special Issue addresses questions such as: What did Jews experience on the streets of their hometowns, in their jobs and among neighbours? How did the local rural or urban population behave, how did the officials in the ministries act, and what role did local professional chambers, banks and companies play in the total disenfranchisement and extermination of Croatian and Bosnian Jewry? What was everyday life and death like in one of the numerous Croatian camps? Who were the guards, and who were the perpetrators? What was the relationship between the German occupation authorities and the Ustasha organs?

These are but a few among the plethora of questions that still await scientific answers and simultaneously point to large research desiderata.

We, therefore, invite researchers to submit proposals and outlines, which – once accepted – will be published in a Special Issue of the peer-reviewed and open-access journal SIMON in 2025.

Guest-Editors:

Dr. Marija Vulesica (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Dr. Goran Miljan (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) Uppsala Universitet

We appreciate (not exclusively) the following themes and approaches:

- Geography of the Holocaust (spaces, towns, villages, districts, regions, etc.)
- Local History (communities, organisations, societies, associations, etc.)
- Biographical approaches (perpetrators, victims, “bystanders”)
- Gender Perspective
- Planers/ Profiteers of destruction and annihilation (ministries, associations, enterprises, etc.)
- History of camps/collection points
- Role of occupational authorities (Gestapo/ SS/ Wehrmacht/ ERR)

The paper selection process is as follows:

1. Submission of proposals indicating the subject, research questions, and methods (with a max. of 500 words) – Deadline 01.12.2023
2. Accepted (proposals and) Applicants will be invited to a Zoom-Meeting (Mid December 2023)
3. Submission of articles – Deadline: May 2024. (https://simon.vwi.ac.at/index.php/simon/information/authors)

Please send your proposals to:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.