The Nazi occupation of Krakow during World War II had a surprising impact on architecture and the built environment. This presentation looks at the intersection of perpetrator interests and victim experiences in building, from high-profile architectural projects like the Wawel to the urban interventions of ghettoization. Building in general and the construction industry in particular have been vastly overlooked as subjects that allows us to get at this intersecting history of the Holocaust. This presentation argues that digital methods that extend the premises and arguments of social art history offer a way forward for a more complex and critical analysis of the political history of architecture in this period.
Paul Jaskot is Professor of Art History and German Studies in the Department of Art, Art History & Visual Studies at Duke University. His work focuses on Nazi cultural policy and its post-war impact as well as broad topics in the social history of art. He is also the Co-Director of the Digital Art History & Visual Culture Research Lab.
Organised by Dr Stephen Whiteman (The Courtauld) and Dr Austin Nevin (The Courtauld) as part of their Frank Davis Memorial Lecture series titled ‘Art History Futures: At the Junction of the Digital and Material Turns’.
