The Problems of Genocide

A Conversation with A. Dirk Moses & Katja Hoyer, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill & King's College London on November 30, 2021 | As part of the series "Transatlantic Tuesday"

How can we talk appropriately about colonial crimes without trivializing the Holocaust? This is a matter of considerable debate with historian A. Dirk Moses, who this year published his book "The Problems of Genocide: Permanent Security and the Language of Transgression": In May 2021, a debate over the relationship between the Holocaust, genocide, and freedom of expression, as well as German memory politics and culture, heated up in the feature pages of German newspapers with an essay by Moses in the Swiss journal "Geschichte der Gegenwart," titled "The Catechism of the Germans." Moses criticizes Germany's politics of remembrance, arguing, among other things, that international criminal law, which classifies genocide as the "crime of crimes," and the commemoration of genocides often obscure the strategic logic behind mass violence, which in turn has secured the West's global dominance over the past 500 years. A. Dirk Moses is Frank Porter Graham Professor of Global History of Human Rights at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The talk will be moderated by Katja Hoyer. Katja Hoyer is a German-British historian and journalist. She is a Visiting Research Fellow at King's College London and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Her essays have featured in "History Today" and "BBC History Extra." Katja writes for "The Washington Post," "The Spectator," "Die Welt" and other newspapers on current political affairs in Germany and Europe. She co-hosts the podcast "Tommies & Jerries" on British-German relations with Oliver Moody, Berlin correspondent for "The Times." Her book, "Blood and Iron - The Rise and Fall of the German Empire 1871-1918," was a bestseller in the UK and will be released in the US on 7 December 2021. Katja lives in Sussex, England.