Violence and Memory

How should we remember historical moments of violence and loss? What are the links between terrible events like the Holocaust, the mass casualties of World War I, the Armenian Genocide, and crises around the world today? What challenges do historians face as they examine and interpret death and war? Anika Walke and Jay Winter both face such questions and issues in their research. Here, the two historians candidly discuss the process of seeking meaning in history, as well as the personal motivations behind their work. Winter, the Charles J. Stille Professor of History Emeritus at Yale University, has published numerous books on World War I. His public history efforts include serving as co-producer and lead historian of the Emmy-winning PBS series “The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century." Walke, an assistant professor of history at Washington University in St. Louis, is author of Pioneers and Partisans: An Oral History of Nazi Genocide in Belorussia.