Call for papers, Jewish Religious Life During the Holocaust
Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Centre for Jewish Studies, University of Manchester. This workshop will explore the understudied topic of Jewish religious life during the Holocaust from a variety of perspectives and source bases. The workshop will take place in Manchester, 18-20 May 2027. Applications are welcome from scholars at all career levels, from PhD candidates to senior faculty. Participants accepted to this project must be willing to participate in the workshop and contribute to an edited volume. The Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum will cover the cost of travel and accommodation. See the full call for applications and further information on the USHMM website.
Student travel bursaries support educational visits to Auschwitz-Birkenau
Jewish education. The Centre for Jewish Studies is delighted to report that six undergraduate students from across SALC benefited from the Auschwitz-Birkenau travel bursaries funded through the generous bequest of Professor Fanny Bogdanow.
The bursaries enabled students to undertake educational visits to the former Nazi concentration and extermination camp during Spring 2026. Visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau provided these students with a unique opportunity to engage directly with one of the most significant sites of Holocaust history, deepening their understanding of European Judaism and the wider implications of genocide, memory, and historical responsibility.
By helping students experience this important site first-hand, the bursaries contribute to the Centre's ongoing commitment to promoting informed study of Jewish history and culture, and to fostering critical reflection on the Holocaust and its enduring significance.
We are grateful that Professor Bogdanow's generosity continues to make these transformative educational opportunities possible for our students.
New papers
Jewish studies. CJS fellow George Brooke contributed a paper on "Rethinking Midrash ha-Torah (1QS8:15)" to a Symposium on Communicating Torah in Ancient Jewish Culture and Early Christianity at the University of Münster in July. He also presented a lecture on "The Dead Sea Scrolls and 'Biblical' Anthropology" to the Biblical Anthropology in Canonical Discourse workshop at the Annual meeting of EABS in Leuven at the end of July.
BIAJS Annual Conference, Birkbeck (13-15 July 2026)
Jewish studies. The annual conference of the British and Irish Association for Jewish Studies tookplace from 13 – 15 July at Birkbeck, University of London. Katja Stuerzenhofecker delivered a paper entitled ‘The dislocation of place-based ritual community’. Centre for Jewish Studies Fellow Lindsey Taylor-Guthartz co-delivered with and Martin Devereux a paper titled ‘The Limmud Archive: A New Resource for Research on the UK Jewish Community’. For further information visit the Conference webpage.
Klezmer Tune Club at Manchester Jewish Museum
Jewish music. Richard Fay and Daniel Mawson host a monthly club at Manchester Jewish Museum for musician of all levels interested in Klezmer music. The club runs on the 1st Sunday of each month and participants are encouraged to bring their instrument and join in and learn a new tune at each session in an informal and welcoming setting. See the Manchester Jewish Museum website for timings and to register.
Images de la rafle du « billet vert »
Jewish studies. Professor Jean-Marc Dreyfus has co-curated an exhibition currently displaying at Le Mémorial de la Shoah en France, displaying a new collection of propaganda photos on the first roundup of Jews in Paris, in 1941. He has published an opinion piece on The New York Times titled ‘France has a new picture of the Holocaust’. Discover the exhibition on the museum’s website. You can also hear more on an interview of Professor Dreyfus on France 24.
Abraham events, Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester and Region
Jewish studies. Professor Jean-Marc Dreyfus delivered a talk titled ‘Doctor Satan. Marcel Petiot, a killer of Jews in Occupied Paris’ as part of the Abraham events, on Friday 15 May 2026, online. The talk focused on Marcel Petiot, the most famous serial killer in modern French history. He was beheaded in April 1946 for having killed 26 people, most of them Jews, whom he had promised to smuggle out of occupied France. The talk reconsidered this gruesome story and analysed, with the eye of an historian, how it is linked to the Holocaust in France. Watch the recording of the talk or for further information visit the Abraham events webpage.
Department of History award for undergraduate student
Jewish education. Congratulations to Archie MacConnel, L3 History student, who was awarded one of the 2026 History awards, as 'most consciencious' student, for his field trip to Poland. T. In Poland, Archie visited the sites of death camps, and later wrote a report about his experience.
New publication
Jewish studies. CJS fellow Richard Fay has co-authored a paper (with Zhuomin Huang) in Intercultural Communication Education titled, ‘Intercultural musicking - portraits and narratives of klezmer ensemble experience.’ DOI: https://doi.org/10.29140/ice.v8n2.103051.
New publication
Jewish studies. CJS fellow Richard Fay has published a paper in Language and Intercultural Communication titled, ‘The practice of intercultural musicking - a ‘mirky’ business.’ DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2025.2610817