Talk:Holocaust studies

Latest comment: 8 years ago by Mathglot in topic Multiple problems - lots of work needed

i’m not sure how I should start this. Back in 1989. I acquired a lamp from a woman coming from Argentina. She stated that she used to work as Elsa Koch‘s assistant at Boukan by Germany. I have since had the lamp tested for proteins the only protein present in the lamps specimen was human. I don’t know where to turn to get help in researching the lamp. If you have any suggestions as to where I can do this or talk to someone about it, I would truly appreciate it. I could also send you the documents and pictures of the lamp if you would like . Thank you and have a good day.

Holocaust Education on college campus

edit

Would articles about classes for university students by Chabad fit under Holocaust studies?

For example

http://thealternativepress.com/towns/madison/articles/beyond-never-again-new-course-to-explore-modern

http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/04/bernikow_jcc_to_offer_6-week_h.html

http://www.chabad.org/search/results.aspx?searchWord=%20Course%20looks%20at%20effects%20of%20Holocaust

Adamreinman (talk) 21:54, 29 September 2014 (UTC)Reply

Multiple problems - lots of work needed

edit

The topic is definitely one that should be covered by a good article in Wikipedia, but the current state of the article has multiple problems and needs a great deal of improvement. A complete rewrite from scratch would probably be a good idea, possibly holding some of the existing references aside for possible reuse. Some of the major problems include overall structure, improper use of references, original research, improper use of lists, and undue weight of relatively minor sources cited based on personal experience with professors at university.

For starters, the entire structure of the article is wrong, and should have an intro, body, and optional footer sections following MOS:LAYOUT. There should be a few intro paragraphs summarizing material appearing in more detail in the main body of the article, set off in appropriately labeled Sections.

Additionally, usage of references is all wrong. A good-faith effort was made to add some references, unfortunately by someone who didn't understand how references work, so for example, every one of the footnotes has the number "1" since they are all in different ref groups. Or they were, anyway; I've started to fix these.

Rather worse, the references don't actually support the text. For example, the very first paragraph in the summary, which attempts to gives a definition of Holocaust Studies has a footnote. There, one would expect to find a source talking about what Holocaust studies is. But instead, it's a reference to a book by Alan Berger, talking about Elie Wiesel and his wife, and what being a Holocaust survivor is all about[n 1]. The citation would be fine, especially if the article text was talking about Holocaust survivors and refugees, but unfortunately has zero to do with what Holocaust Studies actually means. Unfortunately, most of the other references seem to be similar. I will be tagging them with {{Failed verification}} and eventually may remove them entirely (copying them here to preserve the good ones for future use in other contexts, as improvements warrant).

There also appears to be a lot of undue weight given to professors at Florida Atlantic University, as this series of edits might imply, probably by a well-intentioned student there, with undue-weight given to refs from that institution and from Florida generally, most especially to professor Alan L. Berger who teaches Holocaust studies there, but who shows up as #67 in a google search for 'Professor of Holocaust Studies', behind many others in the field such as Raul Hilberg (#1 in the search results), Debórah Dwork, David Patterson, Peter Hayes, Antony Polonsky, Richard Breitman, David Engel, Deborah Lipstadt, Steven Katz and dozens of other well known professors and leaders in Holocaust studies none of whom are cited, although Hilberg is listed in a list. There's nothing wrong with including Berger per se, but in particular references are badly needed documenting Holocaust Studies historiography itself as a topic, rather than specific topics within Holocaust Studies, such as Wiesel and so on.

This leaves the intro section of the article without valid references, and consisting of apparently original research.

The whole article is taken up by two lists, one of institutions that teach the discipline, and another of some scholars, with no attempt to create a narrative: when did Holocaust Studies begin as a discipline? Where? Did it come from academic universities, private research foundations, individulas? Did it start out as a subspecialty under History, Religious Studies, Ethics, Philosophy or something else? How widely is the term accepted, and where is it used and practiced? How has it evolved over time? Is there a historiography of Holocaust Studies? What journals are devoted to it? What are some of the major schools of thought within Holocaust Studies, or aren't there any? What trends are there, points of agreement, conflicts, or controversies? (Good place to mention Goldhagen/Harvard, etc.)

There are other structural and specific problems with the article, but these will become clearer once some of the main issues have been addressed. Meanwhile, if someone wants to consider a complete rewrite please use a Sandbox and link it here. Mathglot (talk) 21:50, 6 April 2016 (UTC)Reply

Also, the article introduces numerous dubious red links such as Holocaust Trauma, Holocaust Memory, Holocaust Survivor, Jewish identity in the post-Holocaust world, and more. Are these really terms in use that could each be the basis for a separate article? I don't think I need an article to explain what a 'Holocaust Survivor' is; even wiktionary doesn't have an entry for this. Perhaps for some of these cases, a 'List' type article (such as List of Holocaust survivors) could be linked, or added to a See also section. Mathglot (talk) 22:10, 6 April 2016 (UTC)Reply

edit

Starting to fix up some of the redlinks. Some are done already; the article had wikilinked the wrong text (e.g., Auschwitz Trial (1965) instead of Frankfurt Auschwitz trials).


References for this section

  1. ^ Berger, Alan L. (1991). Bearing Witness to the Holocaust, 1939-1989. Philadelphia: Edwin Mellen Press. p. 20. ISBN 0773496440.
  2. ^ Kellermann, Natan P.F. (2009). "1. Holocaust Trauma". Holocaust Trauma: Psychological Effects and Treatment. Bloomington, Indiana: iUniverse. p. 13. ISBN 978-1440148859. OCLC 455214085. Retrieved 6 April 2016.
  3. ^ Kristel, Conny (August 31, 2015). "EHRI Project Information". European Holocaust Research Infrastructure. Archived from the original on 2016-02-23. Retrieved 2016-04-07.