24 August @ 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Join us for a roundtable discussion as an archaeologist, a historian, a curator, and a writer for a conversation on how Holocaust history is represented in the 21st century. As societies look back at the past and confront new social, political, and technological realities, how do we create museums, memorials, exhibitions, artworks, and narratives that remain relevant, inclusive, and meaningful? This panel explores the challenges and responsibilities of interpreting Holocaust history in 2026 and beyond.
You are warmly invited to Issy’s Coffee & Gift Shop for an early lunch beforehand. The session itself will begin at 1pm.
The speakers
Dr Aleksandra (Ola) Janus works at the intersection of academia, art, and activism. She holds a PhD in Anthropology from the Jagiellonian University in Kraków and is Director of ESHEM: European Sites of Holocaust Memory, President of the Zapomniane Foundation, and co-founder of the Engaged Memory Consortium.
She is the author of Hideouts. Architecture of Survival (Hatje Cantz, 2024) and co-editor of a two-volume Polish-language study of “non-sites of memory.” Her curatorial work includes Natalia Romik’s Hideouts. Architecture of Survival (Warsaw and Szczecin, 2022; Frankfurt, 2024), Landscape Archive (Brussels and Mechelen, 2025), and Miła: The State of Things (Warsaw, 2026).
Dr. Shay Pilnik is the Director of the Emil A. and Jenny Fish Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, which he founded in 2020, having previously served as Executive Director of the Nathan and Esther Pelz Holocaust Education Resource Center (HERC) in Milwaukee.
He earned his BA at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, his MA in Jewish Studies at McGill University, and his PhD in Modern Jewish Studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary. He is the author of The Ravine of Memory: Babyn Yar between the Holocaust and the Great Patriotic War (Purdue University Press, 2025).
He is the grandson of Holocaust survivors who immigrated to Israel from the USSR about a decade after its founding.
Dr. Yoram Haimi is an archaeologist with approximately 25 years of experience at the Israel Antiquities Authority, where he served for around 20 years as archaeologist for the Southern Negev Region and now manages the logistics of the National Treasures Department, overseeing facilities that hold over 1.7 million artefacts.
Between 2007 and 2020, he co-directed the groundbreaking excavation of the Sobibór extermination camp in Poland. The project uncovered the camp’s structural layout, the foundations of the gas chambers, and numerous personal artifacts, contributing significantly to the reconstruction of its physical design and historical record.
He holds a PhD in Archaeology from Tel Aviv University and Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
The discussion will be chaired by Tali Nates, who is the Founder and Executive Director of the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre (JHGC) and Chair of the South African Holocaust & Genocide Foundation. Born to a family of Holocaust survivors – her father and uncle were rescued by Oskar Schindler – she lectures internationally on Holocaust and genocide education, memory, reconciliation, and human rights, and leads the Centre’s strategic vision.
As chief historian of the JHGC, she directed the curatorial team for its permanent exhibition and has contributed to numerous documentary films, curated exhibitions, and publications in the field. She serves on international advisory and academic boards, and her work has been recognised with awards including the Goethe Medal (2022), the U.S. Secretary of State’s International Religious Freedom Award (2023), the International Network of Genocide Scholars’ Impact Award (2024), and Austria’s Decoration of Honour in Gold (2025).