The 2021-22 colloquium explored the gradual and subtle processes of liberty and loss, the processes that constitute transformation from the state of incarceration to one of liberation or freedom, and the civic and pedagogical implications resulting from such an inquiry. Click here to watch the events.

What does it mean to be transformed? In what ways does internment or incarceration alter a person, and how does liberation and freedom exist within larger systems of mass incarceration? Is it possible to experience freedom when others are oppressed, and what does freedom look like? The 2021-22 KHC-NEH colloquium, Incarceration, Transformation & Paths to Liberation during the Holocaust and Beyond, included events that sought to understand the Holocaust and different forms of mass confinement through the lens of transformation, whether from interned to liberated or victim to survivor. 

The colloquium was organized by the 2021-22 KHC-NEH Faculty Fellows Dr. Azadeh Aalai, Associate Professor of Social Sciences, and Dr. Mirna Lekic, Associate Professor of Music, both from Queensborough Community College-CUNY.