Ep. 50- Digital Humanities and the Holocaust with Todd Presner

Send us a textThe concept of genocide is one of the few ideas created from scratch in the 20th century.  As a result, it can be incredibly complicated to interpret, both legally and historically.  Indeed, the definition itself has often made it difficult to prosecute.In this episode, I talk with Benjamin Meiches about the evolution of the concept genocide, the role of the Holocaust in its creation, and the challenges the debate over definitions raise today. Benjamin Meiches is an associate professor at the University of Washington-Tacoma. Meiches, Benjamin.  The Politics of Annihilation: A Genealogy of Genocide (2019)Follow on Twitter @holocaustpod.Email the podcast at [email protected] Holocaust History Podcast homepage is hereYou can find a complete reading list with books by our guests and also their suggestions here.

Send us a textWhen the Nazis carried out their infanous and well-documented book burning on the Opernplatz in May 1933, the literal fuel for that fire came from Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld's Institute for Sexual Science, an institution that both studied and provided treatment for LGBTQ Germans.In this episode, I talked with Brandy Schillace about Hirschfeld, the struggle for gay rights in Weimar Germany, and the Nazi assault on the gay community as well as the connections between this homophobia and antisemitism and genocide.Brandy Schillace, PhD is an independent historian and journalist.Schillace, Brandy. The Intermediaries: A Weimar Story (2025)Follow on Twitter @holocaustpod.Email the podcast at [email protected] Holocaust History Podcast homepage is hereYou can find a complete reading list with books by our guests and also their suggestions here.

Send us a textThe story of Bulgaria and the Holocaust is often a narrative about how Bulgaria protected its Jews from the Nazis. But is this really case?  Certainly not in the case of Thrace and Macedonia. In this episode, I talked with Nadege Ragaru about the history of the complex Holocaust in Bulgaria and its attempts to come to terms with this past. Nadège Ragaru is a research professor at the Center for International Studies at Sciences Po Paris. Ragaru, Nadége.  Bulgaria, the Jews, and the Holocaust: On the Origins of a Heroic Narrative (2023)Follow on Twitter @holocaustpod.Email the podcast at [email protected] Holocaust History Podcast homepage is hereYou can find a complete reading list with books by our guests and also their suggestions here.

Send us a textIn December 1941,  an SS man took a series of 12 photographs of an Einsatzgruppen killing in Latvia.  The negatives were stolen by a survivor who had copies made and retrieved them after the war.In today’s episode, we explore what we can learn about the Holocaust from these photographs and, indeed, from photographs in general.  I talk with Hillary Earl and Valerie Hébert who have written in depth about these images.Hilary Earl is a professor of history at Nipissing University.Valerie Hébert is a professor of history and interdisciplinary studies at Lakehead University.Hébert, Valerie (ed). Framing the Holocaust (2025)Follow on Twitter @holocaustpod.Email the podcast at [email protected] Holocaust History Podcast homepage is hereYou can find a complete reading list with books by our guests and also their suggestions here.

Send us a textWhen did the Holocaust start?  How soon after Hitler took power did anti-Jewish violence begin?  These are some of the important questions we explore in this episode as I talk with Hermann Beck and the surge in antisemitic violence in the wake of the Nazi rise to power in 1933. In his pathbreaking book, Hermann Beck has documented an explosion of serious violence including murders in the immediate wake of Hitler’s appointment as chancellor in January 1933.   Importantly, we also talk about what institutions could have done at this early stage (and why they failed to act.) Hermann Beck a professor of history at the University of Miami. Beck, Hermann. Before the Holocaust: Antisemitic Violence and the Reaction of German Elites and Institutions during the Nazi Takeover (2022)Follow on Twitter @holocaustpod.Email the podcast at [email protected] Holocaust History Podcast homepage is hereYou can find a complete reading list with books by our guests and also their suggestions here.

Send us a textAmong the books that many people talk about but few have read, certainly Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf is one.  But it IS a difficult read.  How do we interpret this book?  How significant is it?  And what does it tell us about the Holocaust?  These are some of the questions we tackled in this episode with the editors of a new volume on the subject.In this episode, I talked with Michael S. Bryant and John J. Michalcayk about this important book and how to understand it.Michalczyk, John J, Michael S. Bryant, and Susan A. Michalzyk. Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf’ and the Holocaust: A Prelude to Genocide(2022)Follow on Twitter @holocaustpod.Email the podcast at [email protected] Holocaust History Podcast homepage is hereYou can find a complete reading list with books by our guests and also their suggestions here.

Send us a textMany Nazis including Josef Mengele, Adolf Eichmann, Franz Stangl, and Klaus Barbie escaped Europe and fled to South America in an attempt to evade prosecution for their crimes.  We know quite a bit about their lives and crimes during the Holocaust but much less about the network of people that supported them in their new lives in South America.I spoke with Betina Anton about her work researching the people who helped Josef Mengele and her personal connection to this case.Note: You may want to listen to Ep. 26- Josef Mengele with David Marwell for a more in-depth biography of Mengele.Betina Anton is a journalist and international news editor at Globo TV.Anton, Betina.  Hiding Mengele: How a Nazi Network Harbored the Angel of Death (2025)Follow on Twitter @holocaustpod.Email the podcast at [email protected] Holocaust History Podcast homepage is hereYou can find a complete reading list with books by our guests and also their suggestions here.

Send us a textKlaus Barbie, the Butcher of Lyon, led a terrible and fascinating life, from Nazi torturer to advisor to brutal South American dictatorships.  However, unlike many, he was eventually brought to justice for his crimes.  In this episode, I talk with Richard J. Golsan about the sensational trial of Klaus Barbie and its effect on the memory of the Holocaust in France. Richard J. Golsan is University Distinguished Professor and Director of the French Institute at Texas A&M University.Golsan, Richard J. Justice in Lyon: Klaus Barbie and France's First Trial for Crimes against Humanity (2022)Follow on Twitter @holocaustpod.Email the podcast at [email protected] Holocaust History Podcast homepage is hereYou can find a complete reading list with books by our guests and also their suggestions here.

Send us a textHow can the digital humanities address and explore the Holocaust? In these days of Chat GPT, we may be rightly wary about the use of computers to analyze the past.  However, today’s episode shows how an ethical approach to using computational methods can expand our understanding of the past often by showing us new questions that we hadn’t considered before. In this episode, I talk with Todd Presner about his fascinating and impressive work with the “big data” of recorded Holocaust testimony. Todd Presner is Chair of UCLA’s Department of European Languages and Transcultural Studies at UCLA. Presner, Todd. Ethics of the Algorithm: Digital Humanities and Holocaust Memory (2024)Follow on Twitter @holocaustpod.Email the podcast at [email protected] Holocaust History Podcast homepage is hereYou can find a complete reading list with books by our guests and also their suggestions here.

Send us a textMany of us have seen or listened to recorded Holocaust survivor testimony.  But have we thought about HOW that testimony was created?  And what role that process of eliciting testimony might play in the kinds of things survivors talk about it? In this episode, I talked with Noah Shenker about how three different archives approached gathering testimony but also about what this means for our understanding of the Holocaust and the ways that survivors remember and recount their experiences. Noah Shenker is an Associate Professor of Jewish Studies and Film and Media Studies at Colgate University. Shenker, Noah. Reframing Holocaust Testimony (2015)Follow on Twitter @holocaustpod.Email the podcast at [email protected] Holocaust History Podcast homepage is hereYou can find a complete reading list with books by our guests and also their suggestions here.