Two German Students Among 20 Selected Nationally for Holocaust Seminar

Brian Kelley and Maria Marley, University of Arkansas undergraduates in the German program, were among 20 fellows selected to take part in the "Exploring the Newly Opened ITS Archive" research seminar at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. from Aug. 2-10.

The German program is part of the department of world languages, literatures and cultures in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences.

The Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies organized the seminar, inviting for the first-time advanced undergraduates, master's students and doctoral candidates to submit applications. Brian Kelley, who is studying German and math, and Maria Marley, who is studying German and French, both students in Jennifer Hoyer's spring 2010 Holocaust in Literature course, were among the 20 students selected from a nationally competitive pool of candidates to take part in the seminar and pursue research for individual projects.

The seminar aimed to acquaint students with the richness of the International Tracing Service archive. The western Allies created the International Tracing Service toward the end of World War II to identify and facilitate the return of refugees. Closed for decades, the archive was reopened in 2007.

Students investigated case studies in five areas: the Nazi concentration camp system, non-Jewish victim groups, forced labor in the German war economy, displaced persons, and war criminals. The International Tracing Service currently holds between 70 and 100 million files.

The Blitzstein family generously provided the funding for this seminar, which included lodging, airfare and a $500 research stipend.