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The University of Haifa's new Master's Program in Holocaust Studies to open in the fall of 2012, will be offering students the opportunity to research one of the world's most formative modern historical events from a multidisciplinary perspective. Students will be encouraged to take a multidisciplinary approach to many questions that remain unanswered, accessing and studying material from various archives in Israel and other locations around the world, including the newly opened archives in Eastern Europe. The program is intended for students from around the world, the courses being given in English.

Holocaust Studies has emerged as a central field of scholarship in the humanities and social sciences as Holocaust memory has become a global phenomenon. This is the first comprehensive program in Holocaust studies in Israel designed to train Holocaust scholars skilled in diverse research methodologies and possessing wide knowledge of the humanities and the social sciences and the necessary languages. "This new program seeks to provide an answer to the decline in the number of university students who choose to specialize in Holocaust studies and pursue an academic career in the field," adds Prof. Arieh J. Kochavi who heads the new program.

Many questions in Holocaust Studies still remain unanswered. In light of the recent opening of archives in Eastern Europe, newly uncovered documents await a new generation of scholars to shed light on the events and meanings of the Holocaust period. "Our new Multidisciplinary Master's Program in Holocaust Studies is aiming to attract students from around the world by offering scholarships, recruiting up-and-coming academics in the field and giving students an opportunity to study the Holocaust from a unique Israeli perspective," says Prof. Kochavi.

Students from Western Europe and the United States will be exposed to Holocaust archives in Israel, among the largest in the field, and will receive training in relevant languages. Students from the former Soviet Union, where the opening of archives once under Soviet control has sparked interest in Holocaust research, will be provided with training and guidance in research methodologies and with support in their attempt to enter the field.

A unique feature of the program will be collaboration with museums and archives of the Holocaust period - such as the Ghetto Fighters' House museum, Yad Vashem and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. The program will also enrich the students' knowledge on the Holocaust with two study trips to Germany and Poland in partnership with local institutes, such as the Center for Research on Anti-Semitism at the Technical University of Berlin (ZFA), the Polish Academy and the Center for Holocaust Research at the Jagiellonian University of Krakow, Poland.