Prof. Yair Auron

Updated: March 2009

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Personal

Telephone Office: +972-9-7781716
Fax Fax: +972-9-7782660
Email E-mail: [email protected]

Date of birth: 30/4/1945

Status: Married, 3 children


Education

1972 BA, Jewish History, Sociology, Tel Aviv University
1973
Teaching Diploma, Tel Aviv University
1976
MA, Contemporary Jewry, The Hebrew University
1980
PhD, Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris
Dissertation: "Les Mouvements de Jeunesse Juifs en France, le Judaïsme Contemporaine a Travers le Miroire de sa Jeunesse" [The Jewish Youth Movement in France - Contemporary Judaism through the Prism of its Youth]
Supervisor: Prof. Doris Bensimon

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Academic Positions

2005-2007 Head, Department of Sociology, Political Science and Communication, The Open University of Israel
2004
Associate Professor, The Open University of Israel
1999
Senior Lecturer, The Open University of Israel
1996-1999
Senior Lecturer, College of Yezreel, Head of the Division of Cultural Studies
1999
Senior Lecturer, Kibbutzim College of Education, Tel Aviv
1985-1998
Teacher-Lecturer, Kibbutzim College of Education, Tel Aviv
1984-1986 Academic director of European Section, The Israel Diaspora Institute, Tel Aviv University
1983-1984
Researcher, The Center for Jewish Education, Hebrew University
1983-1984

Researcher, Van Leer Institute

1980-1983
Administrative Director, The International Center for Teaching Jewish Civilization in the Universities, Jerusalem
1978-1980 Lecturer, Seminar for Jewish students (A.I.U., Paris)
1978-1980
Hebrew Teacher, Ulpanim, Paris
1974-1976
Director, Education Department, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem

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Awards and Scholarships

1974 Scholarship for MA Studies, the Hebrew University
1975 Tabenkin Foundation for MA Research
1976 MA "Excellence"
1978 Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture
1994 Scholarship for Peace Education Program, University of America, Washington
1995 Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture
2000 Candidate for Lional Gelber Prize, Toronto, Canada, for the book The Banality of Indifference

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Membership in Professional Organizations
  • Academic Board of Directors, Zoryan Institute for Armenian Research and Documentation, Cambridge, MA and Toronto
  • Associate Director and Member of the Academic Board of Directors, The Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide, Jerusalem
  • Advisory Board, The Genocide Education Project, San Francisco
  • Academic Committee, Kibbutzim College of Education
  • Pedagogical Committee, Massuha Institute for Holocaust Studies

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Fields of Research
  • Genocide Studies
  • Contemporary Jewry
  • Identities
  • Racism

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Teaching Responsibility for Open University Courses

2000-2003 The Pain of Knowledge: Holocaust and Genocide Issues in Education, Director of curriculum development and course author
2000-2004 Genocide, Director of curriculum development, course editor and co-author
2004- Racism - Educational Perspectives, Director of curriculum development and course author

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Courses Taught

1996- Kibbutzim College of Education, for B.Ed.: The Jewish World After the Holocaust; Immigration and Emigration - Ideological, Educational and Social Perspectives; Contemporary Jewish World; Holocaust and Genocide; National Jewish Values in Education (Seminar); Genocide (Seminar); The Pain of Knowledge (Seminar); Holocaust and Genocide, Jewish-Israeli Identity (Seminar)
1996-1999 College of Yezreel, for BA: Contemporary Jewish World; Israel: A Democratic Jewish Society; Sociology of the Jewish People; The Jewish World in the 20th Century; Holocaust and Genocide; Introduction to the History of the Jewish People; Jewish Israeli Identity (Seminar)

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List of Publications


Books
Jewish-Israeli Identity, Sifriat Poalim, Tel Aviv, 1993, 204 pp. (Hebrew).
The Banality of Indifference: The Attitude of the Yishuv and the Zionist Movement to the Armenian Genocide, Dvir (with Kibbutzim College of Education), Tel Aviv, 1995, 395 pp. (Hebrew).
Les Juifs d’Extrême Gauche en Mai 68, Albin Michel, Paris, 1998, 335 pp.
We are all German Jews: Jewish Radicals in France During the Sixties and Seventies, Am Oved (with Tel Aviv University and Ben-Gurion University), Tel Aviv, 1999, 288 pp. (Hebrew, translation of the French edition, with revisions).
The Banality of Indifference: Zionism and the Armenian Genocide, Transaction, Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, 2000, 405 pp. (translation of the Hebrew edition, with revisions and adaptations) [2nd ed., 2001; 3rd ed., 2003].
The Banality of Denial, Transaction, Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, 2003, 338 pp.
Denial: Israel and the Armenian Genocide, Maba, Tel Aviv, 2005 [Hebrew edition, with revisions and adaptations].
A Perfect Injustice: Genocide and Theft of Armenian Wealth (with Hrayar Karaguezian), Transaction, to be published in May 2009.
Israeli Identities (The Attitudes of Israeli Students, Jews and Arabs, to their Peoplehood, Religiosity and their State, and their Attitudes to the Holocaust and the Naqba, Maba, Tel Aviv, forthcoming.

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Edited Books
Between Paris and Jerusalem: Selected Chapters of Jewish Contemporary Thought in France, Schoken and Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv,1986, 258 pp. (Hebrew).
Racism and Genocide, Yair Auron and Isaac Lubelsky (eds.), The Roth Institute for Research of Contemporary Anti Semitism and Racism, Tel Aviv University and The Open University, to be published in 2009.

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Articles in Refereed Journals
“The Attitudes of Organized Jewish Youth in France to the Holocaust,” Contemporary Jewry, 2, 1984, pp. 209-235 (Hebrew).
“The Jewish Youth-Movement as a Contemporary Educational Factor - The Case of France,” Studies in Jewish Education, 2, 1988, pp. 57-75 (Hebrew).
“The Holocaust and the Israeli Teacher,” Holocaust and Genocide Studies, 8 (2), 1994, pp. 225-257.
“Jewish-Israeli Identity Among Israel’s Future Teachers,” Jewish Political Studies Review, 9 (1-2), 1997, pp. 105-122.
“Les Juifs du Yishouv et le génocide des Arménien pendant la Première Guerre mondiale: rapport officiels et recits de temoins,” Revue de l’histoire de la Shoa, May 2003, pp. 146-165.
“The Armenian Genocide - Not 'Armenia, Armenia',” Historia, 12, 2003, pp. 57-76 (Hebrew).
"The Holocaust in Jewish Identity and Jewish Memory in Israel," Les Temps Modernes, forthcoming.
"From War to Genocide," Moreshet, forthcoming 2009.
"The Attitudes in Israel to the Genocide in Rwanda," Revue de l'histoire de la Shoa, forthcoming.
"Israeli and French Attitudes toward the Armenian Genocide: Denial and Recognition," Genocide Studies and Prevention, forthcoming.
"The Attitudes of Israeli Students (Jews and Arabs) toward the Holocaust and the Naqba," Moreshet, submitted.

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Chapters in Refereed Books
“Jewish Education in France,” Jewish Education Worldwide, University Press of America, 1989, pp. 301-331.
“Between ‘Israeliness’ and ‘Jewishness’: The Attitude of Young Israelis to Their Jewish Israeli Identity,” Making a Difference, Jewish Identity and Education, School of Education, Tel Aviv University, 1997, pp. 157-176.
“‘The Forty Days of Musa Dagh’: Its Impacts on Jewish Youth in Palestine and Europe,” Remembrance and Denial, Wayne State University Press, 1999, pp. 147-164.
“Attitudes Among Israeli Student Teachers from Different Educational Backgrounds,” Abiding Challenges: Research Perspectives on Jewish Education, School of Education, Bar-Ilan University and Freund Publishing House, 1999, pp. 275-302.
“Attitudes du Mouvement Sioniste, du Yishuv Juive et de l’Etat d’Israël a l’égard du Génocide des Arméniens,” L’Actualité du Génocide des Arméniens, Edipol, Paris, 1999, pp. 418-428.
“Attitudes of Student Teachers toward Anti-Semitism and Racism,” New Trends in Research in Jewish Education, School of Education, Tel Aviv University and Ramot, 2000, pp. 17-57 (Hebrew).
“Attitudes of the Jewish ‘Yishuv’, the Zionist Movement and the State of Israel toward the Armenian Genocide,” God’s Name: Genocide and Religion in the 20th Century, Berghahn Books, New York, 2001, pp. 267-288.
“Judiache, zionistisch und Israelische Reaktionen auf den Völkermord an den Armeniern,” Der Völkermord an den Armeniern und die Shoah, Universität Zürich: Chronos, 2002, pp. 557-591.
“Who Is Afraid of Genocide,” Knowledge and Silence: On Mechanisms of Denial and Repression in Israeli Society, Hanna Herzog and Kinneret Lahad (eds.), Van Leer Institute, Jerusalem, 2006, pp. 25-38.
"On the Obligation of Teaching Holocaust and Genocide in Israel and in the World," Civil Courage, Naomi Kramer (ed.), Peter Lang, New York, 2007, pp. 191-210.
"The Holocaust - Main Factor in Jewish-Israeli Identity," Jewish Identity, Values and Leisure, Erik H. Cohen (ed.), The Rabbi Joseph H. Kelman Center for Jewish Education, Tel Aviv University, 2008, pp. 153-160.
"The Generation of 1968 in France between Jewishness and Universalism: Jewish Radicals in France in 1960s and 1970s," French Jewry - Past, Present, Future, Bar-Ilan University, forthcoming.
"War and Genocide," Zalman Shazar Center, Jerusalem, forthcoming 2009.
"Issues in Teaching Holocaust and Genocide in Israel," Racism and Genocide, Roth Institute, Tel Aviv University and The Open University, forthcoming.

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Open University Books
The Pain of Knowledge – Reflections on the Teaching of the Holocaust and Genocide, The Open University of Israel, Tel Aviv, 2003, 245 pp. (Hebrew) [English edition: The Pain of Knowledge - Holocaust and Genocide Issues in Education, Transaction, New Brunswick, 2005; German edition with revisions, adaptations and preface for the German reader and a new chapter: Der Schmerz des Wissens,Verlag Edition AV, Lich/Hessen, 2005; Russian edition with revisions, adaptations and a new chapter: The Pain of Knowledge, The Open University of Israel, 2005].
Reflections on the Inconceivable: Theoretical Aspects in Genocide Studies, The Open University of Israel, Raanana, 2006, 183 pp.
The Armenian Genocide: Forgetting and Denial, The Open University of Israel, Raanana, 2007.
Genocide - Can it Be Prevented, forthcoming 2009.
Head of development team and chief editor:
  • Rwanda 1994 - Genocide in the “Land of a Thousand Hills”, by Benyamin Neuberger, 2005.
  • Nazi Germany and the Gypsies, by Gilad Margalit, 2005
  • Genocide in the "Land of the Free": The Indians of North America 1776-1890, by Arnon Gutfeld, 2006.
  • Political and Ethnic Cleansing in the USSR, 1918-1953, by Alek D. Epstein, 2007.
  • Tibet 1950-2000: Destroying a Civilization, by Lydia Aran, 2007
  • Encounter and Conflict: The Extermination of Indigenous People in Spanish America, by Eitan Ginsburg, forthcoming.
  • Hurban - The extermination of the Jews by Nazi Germany, by Ariel Horowitz, forthcoming.
  • Shoa and Genocide as Human Acts - The Psychology of Committing Genocide, by Israel Charny, forthcoming.
In preparation:
  • "Genocide," BA course
  • "Racism - Educational Perspective," MA course
  • Israeli Identities - A Study on the Identity of Jewish-Israeli Students and Arab-Israeli Students

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Other Publications

Textbooks
Yom Kippur War: One Year After, Editor, Series of 5 booklets, Ministry of Education, Jerusalem, 1974, 180 pp. (Hebrew).
Jewish Vitality during the Holocaust, Educative Program, Editor, Ministry of Education, Jerusalem, 1974, 190 pp. (Hebrew).
Sensitivity to the World’s Suffering: Genocide in the 20th Century, Kibbutzim College of Education, Tel Aviv, 1994, 170 pp. and Teachers’ Guide, 36 pp. (Hebrew).

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Reports
Jewish-Israeli Identity, Kibbutzim College of Education, 1992 (Hebrew).
Attitudes of Student Teachers toward Anti-Semitism and Racism (with Gila Zelikovitz, Nili Keren), Kibbutzim College of Education, 1996, 136 pp. (Hebrew).
Anti-Semitism and Racism: An Attitude Research among High School Students in Israel (with Nili Keren, Gila Zelikovitz), Kibbutzim College of Education, Tel Aviv, and the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 1997, 118 pp. (Hebrew).

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Monographs
Israel: A Democratic Jewish Society toward the 21st Century: Conversations with the Founding Fathers, The Israel Diaspora Institute, Tel Aviv University, 1986, 86 pp. (Hebrew, English, French).
Tikkun Olam: The Phenomenon of Jewish Radicals in France During the 1960s and 1970s, Policy Forum, No. 19, Institute of World Jewish Congress, Jerusalem, 2000, 33 pp.

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Encyclopedia Entries
“Holocaust, The Responses of the Jewish Community in Palestine,” Encyclopedia of Genocide, ABC-LLI0, Santa Barbara, Oxford, 1999, pp. 327-328.

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Chapters in Books
“The Alliance of Oblivion - Israel and the Armenian Genocide,” Introduction to Taner Akcam, Dialogue across an International Divide: Essays Towards a Turkish-Armenian Dialogue, Babel, Tel Aviv, 2002, pp. 9-60 (Hebrew).

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Lectures at Refereed Conferences and Academic Forums (Partial List)

“Israeli-Jewish Identity,” Jewish Identity and Education in Israel and the Diaspora: Making a Difference, The Rabbi Joseph H. Kelman Center for Jewish Education, Tel Aviv University, 2-4 January, 1996.
“Attitudes of Jews toward the Armenian Genocide,” Genocide, Religion and Modernity, Rutgers Center for Historical Analysis, U.S. Holocaust Museum, Washington, 11-13 May, 1997.
“Jewish Identity Among Religious Student Teachers,” Judaism, Jewish Identity and Jewish Religious Education, Bar-Ilan University, 5-6 April, 1998.
“ Attitudes du mouvement sioniste, du Yishuv Juive et de l’État d’Israël à l’égard du Génocide des Arméniens,” L’Actualité du Génocide des Arméniens, Sorbonne, Paris, 17-18 April, 1998.
“Attitudes of Young Israelis toward Anti-Semitism and Racism,” The Israeli Association for Studying Jewish Education, School of Education, Tel Aviv University, 1-2 October, 1998.
“Israel: Identité, Holocauste et Génocid e,” Journée d’Etudes, “ Israël: Les dialogues de l’Histoire et de Présent,” Université Aix En Provence, 28 November, 1998.
“French Radicalism: We are all German Jews,” International Conference “Transforming Europe - Legacies of ‘68 and Changing Political Cultures,” Tel Aviv University, 9-10 February, 1999.
“The Holocaust: Israeli Society and the Jewish World in the Diaspora,” International Sociological Association Conference, Tel Aviv University, 11-15 June, 1999.
“Teaching about the Holocaust and Genocide in Israel,” The Second Scientific International Conference of the Israeli Association of Research in Jewish Education, Bar Ilan University, School of Education, 11 December 2000.
“Teaching about the Holocaust and Genocide in Israel,” Forth International Biennial Conference of the Association of Genocide Scholars, The University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, 10-12 June 2001.
“Attitudes of the Jewish ‘Yishuv’, the Zionist Movement and the State of Israel toward the Armenian Genocide,” Generations of Genocide, Institute of Contemporary History and Wiener Library, London, 26-27 January 2002.
“The Armenian Genocide,” From Ethnic Conflict to Genocide, The Historical Society of Israel, Jerusalem, 14 January 2003.
“The Banality of Denial,” Fifth Biennial Conference of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, The National University of Ireland, Galway, June 2003.
“The Sorrow of Knowledge: Holocaust and Genocide Issues in Education,” Sixth Biennial Conference of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, Boston, June 2005.
“ La sufferance du savior: réflexion sur l’enseigment de la Shoa et du génocide des Arméniens,” Congres International, Université Paul Valery, Montpéllier, France, June 2005.
“Remembering Versus Denial: No reconciliation without recognition: Armenians and Turks after the Genocide,” “What We Remember and What We Would Rather Forget,” WZB, Berlin, December 2005.
“Jewish Evidence and Eye Witness Accounts about the Genocide of the Armenians during the First World War,” New Approaches to Turkish-Armenian Relations, International Conference, Istanbul University, March 2006.
“The Generation of 1968 in France: Between Judaism and Universalism,” International Conference on "French Jews - Past, Present, Future," Bar Ilan University, May 2006.
“The Armenian Genocide - Forgetting and Denying,” Research Seminar, The Stephan Roth Institute, Tel Aviv University, 26 November 2008.
“Education and Genocide Prevention,” Colloquium on “The Genocide Convention Today,” Tel Aviv University, 4 December 2008.
“The Impact of Education in Preventing Genocide,” International Conference on Genocide Prevention, 5-6 March 2009.
“Israeli Students' Attitudes (Jews and Arabs) toward their Nationality,” Identities in Transition in Israeli Culture, The Open University of Israel and Tel Aviv University, to be held 4-5 June 2009.

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Other Invited Lectures and Colloquia (Partial list)

“The Impact of ‘The Forty Days of Musa Dagh’ on Jewish Youth and the Jewish Underground,” The Armenian Genocide, An Eighty-Year Perspective: 1915-1995, UCLA, Los-Angeles, 8-9 April, 1995.
“The Attitude Towards the ‘Other’ in Israeli Jewish Society,” The Jerusalem Spinoza Institute, Is Tolerance Possible in the Middle East?, The Jerusalem Khan Theatre, 18-20 December 1995.
“The Armenian Genocide,” Academia in Aleph (Israel National Radio). Series of 4 programs, March-April 1999.
“We are all German Jews,” Van Leer Institute, Jerusalem, 7 July, 1999.
“Zionism and the Armenian Genocide,” Shalom Collage, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, 23 April 2001.
“The Banality of Indifference – Zionism and the Armenian Genocide,” Fifth Annual Armenian Genocide commemorative lecture, commissioned by the Australian Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, University of New South Wales, 26 April 2001.
"Israel and the Armenian Genocide," International Conference on "Armenians of the World on the Verge of Centuries and Challenging Problems of International Relations," Moscow, 7-8 October 2002.
Lecture Tour, "The Banality of Indifference - Jewish Zionist and Israeli Responses to the Armenian Genocide," in conjunction with the publication of the book The Banality of Indifference: Library of Congress, Washington; California State University, Fresno (co-sponsor Department of Armenian Studies); University of California, Berkeley (co-sponsors Department of History and The Institute for Slavic and East European and Eurasian Studies); UCLA (co-sponsors Center for European and Russian Studies, Center for Modern and Contemporary Studies, Center for Jewish Studies, Department of History, AEF Chair in Modern Armenian History); Concordia University, Montreal (co-sponsors Department of History, The Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights); University of Toronto (co-sponsors Department of Jewish Studies, Armenian Students' Associations of the University of Toronto, York University and Ryerson University), 13-21 November 2000.
"Armenians - Minority in Distress," Department of History of the Middle East and Africa, Tel Aviv University, 27 March 2003.
"Israel and the Armenian Genocide," Department of Armenian Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 30 April 2003.
Course on Holocaust and Genocide in the framework of an Open University summer course, Zoryan Institute, University of Toronto, August 2002 and August 2003.
Lecture Tour, "Jewish Memory, Armenian Memory," Boston, Chicago, Detroit, 24-30 April 2003.
Lecture Tour, "The Banality of Denial," in conjunction with the publication of the book The Banality of Denial: University of Toronto, City University of New York, Rutgers University, Tufts University, Université de Montréal, McGill University, 29 November-7 December 2003.

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