Research Workshop and Consultation: Iran, the Holocaust, and World War II
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C. September 11-13, 2024
The Levine Institute for Holocaust Education at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) invites applications for a research workshop and consultation on the connections between Iran, the Holocaust, and World War II. Arash Azizi, Department of History and Geography, Clemson University, and Lior B. Sternfeld, Department of History, Penn State University, will serve as co-convenors for the program. The program will be held September 11-13, 2024, at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Applications are due June 14, 2024.
Workshop Overview
This workshop and consultation will convene scholars whose work is situated at the intersection of Iranian history and Holocaust studies in order to share their research and consult with Museum staff about its educational outreach and academic programming around Iran and Iranian studies.
Over the past decade, research on Iran during the Holocaust and World War II has experienced significant growth. Historians of Iran and Germany have addressed the complexities of the political relations between Nazi Germany and the Pahlavi dynasty, the role of propaganda in shaping Iranian attitudes toward the war, and the function of the ‘Aryan myth’ in Iranian history and self-perception. Studies of Iranian Jewry portray a complex and dynamic Middle Eastern Jewish community navigating the midcentury political and social transformations of state and society and the upheavals of Allied occupation. Holocaust scholars have focused their attention on Iran as a site of refuge for Jewish and non-Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazi assault through the Soviet Union and Central Asia. The experiences of Iranians in Europe, in turn, were diverse: Some were arrested and imprisoned by the Nazis and their collaborators due to their identity or politics, while others, such as Abdol Hossein Sardari, an Iranian diplomat in occupied Paris, aided Iranian and Central Asian Jews escape Nazi persecution. Despite these intertwined histories of persecution and rescue, studies of the stereotypes of Jews circulating in Iran illustrate the influence of Nazi propaganda, European antisemitism, and mid-century ideologies of race on postwar Iranian politics and society.
The Museum’s Initiative on Holocaust Denial and Antisemitism in collaboration with IranWire has sought to amplify this history, highlight its contemporary relevance, and counter the Islamic Republic’s state-sanctioned Holocaust denial through The Sardari Project: Iran and the Holocaust. Since launching in 2020, The Sardari Project has introduced Iranian audiences to Holocaust history through articles and videos on topics ranging from Nazi propaganda to Muslim rescuers, a Persian translation of a graphic biography about Anne Frank, fabricated texts like the “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” and original research on Iranian victims of the Nazis, Persian newspapers from the Holocaust era, Iran as a refuge to those fleeing German occupation, and more. To date, Persian-language content produced through the project has received more than 13 million views across multiple social media platforms.
As this project moves into its next phase, we seek to support research that advances these lines of inquiry—or forges new ones—in order to strengthen connections between Iranian studies and Holocaust studies. We welcome applications from scholars and researchers whose work addresses these entangled chapters of wartime history and their aftermath. Scholars who work with Persian-language sources are particularly encouraged to apply.
The program will consist of presentations of participants’ research and discussions with Museum staff about our educational programming and avenues for supporting scholarship on Iran. Participants will also visit the Museum’s David and Fela Shapell Family Collections, Conservation and Research Center to learn about the Museum’s archival resources related to the study of Iran and Central Asia during the Holocaust and World War II and to conduct research in our Library and Archives.
Museum Resources
The Museum's David M. Rubenstein National Institute for Holocaust Documentation houses an unparalleled repository of Holocaust evidence that documents the fate of victims, survivors, rescuers, liberators, and others. The Museum’s comprehensive collection contains millions of documents, artifacts, photos, films, books, and testimonies. The Museum’s Database of Holocaust Survivor and Victim Names contains records on people persecuted during World War II under the Nazi regime. In addition, the Museum possesses the holdings of the International Tracing Service (ITS), which contains more than 200 million digitized pages with information on the fates of 17.5 million people—including Iranians—who were subject to incarceration, forced labor, and displacement as a result of World War II. Many of these records have not been examined by scholars, offering unprecedented opportunities to advance the field of Holocaust and genocide studies.
The Museum’s related collections include:
Oral histories of refugees in Iran, such as Eliahu Eilam Kimel, Stanley Kiersnowski, Helena Kubowicz Knapczyk, Hedy L., Ruth L., Ada R., and Adam Szymel; European Jews assisted by Iranians in Europe, such as Frank Ullman; and Iranian Jews in Europe, such as Khosrow Banayan
Oral histories of veterans who fought in Iran, such as David Buchman and Judd Nissanov
Collections from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, the Polish government-in-exile, and the Anders Army (including photos) related to the fate of Soviet and Eastern European Jewish evacuees in Central Asia
Recordings of the Polish jazz band in exile in Iran, The Jolly Boys
Records of various refugee and immigrant aid organizations operating in Iran, such as the Alliance Israélite Universelle, the American Joint Distribution Committee, the Mossad LeAliyah (Institute for Immigration), and the Jewish Agency for Palestine, including its Istanbul Office through which a number of refugees transited en route to Iran
World Jewish Congress reports on Iran and the Iranian Jewry, 1942-1977
Records related to the status of Iranian citizens in Bulgaria, Germany, and France during and after the war
Film footage set in Iran, including outtakes from The March of Time and newsreel footage and documentary film of refugees in Iran
A number of small and mid-size personal collections of letters, memoirs, photos and personal documents, and artifacts reflecting the experiences of refugees in Iran, such as Gabriella Alter papers, the Chava Elovik collection, the Gutman, Potok, Sercarz and Norymberski families collection, the Feiga Kerzner collection, the Igo Krischer papers, the Zeev Schuss memoir, and the Yehuda Zerzy Singer papers; and the experiences of Jews aided by Iranians, such as the Dorra family, the Margosis family, the Ery Magasanik collection, and the Ullman family papers
Photos of drawings from the anti-Nazi propaganda drawn in the style of a Persian miniature by Kimon Evan Marengo
To search the Museum's collections, please visit our Collections page.
Application Details
Applications are welcome from scholars and researchers affiliated with universities, research institutions, or memorial sites and in any relevant academic discipline whose research addresses Iran during the Holocaust and World War II and their aftermath.
The Levine Institute will reimburse the costs of round-trip economy-class air tickets to/from the Washington, D.C. metro area, and related incidental expenses, up to a maximum reimbursable amount calculated by home institution location, which will be distributed 6-8 weeks after the program’s conclusion. The Levine Institute will also provide hotel accommodation for the duration of the program.
The deadline for receipt of applications is June 14, 2024. Applications must include:
An abstract of no more than 300 words outlining the applicant’s current research related to Iran and Iranians during the Holocaust and World War II
A short bio in English
A current CV
All application materials must be submitted in English via our online form.
Questions should be directed to Andrea Bertrand, Programming Manager for International Audiences, Levine Institute for Holocaust Education at abertrand@ushmm.org.
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