The ICMEMOHRI 25th Anniversary Conference marks a milestone for ICOM’s International Committee for Memorial and Human Rights Museums. It will bring together museum professionals, scholars, human rights advocates, and memory workers to explore how sites of memory transform personal and collective remembrance into sustainable public memorialization. As first-hand witnesses fade, ethical and meaningful representation becomes ever more urgent, especially in times of shrinking civic space and rising authoritarianism. 

In Vienna, reflections will include the city’s anti-fascist struggles, Jewish exile, Roma and Sinti persecution, forced displacement, concentration camps, and Austria’s complicity in Nazi crimes. The conference will also engage with sites and institutions addressing contemporary human rights issues, including places dedicated to the documentation of state violence, alongside global examples such as the Spanish Civil War and the International Brigades. These histories remind us that memorial museums must preserve memory while actively defending human dignity and human rights today.

 

The conference is organized around a new format with visits to memorials in the morning, followed by papers, panel discussions, and/or workshops in the afternoon. Each day will be centered around a different thematic focus emerging from the conference framework and selected contributions.

 

We encourage submissions from early career researchers, practitioners, and contributors working at the intersections of scholarship, museum practice, activism, and community-based memory work.

 

To submit a paper, please send an abstract of no more than 300 words and a short biography of up to 200 words. We also welcome alternative formats. Please note that the length of presentations may be restricted due to the number of submissions. All proposals will be reviewed by the Program Committee.

 

Submissions should be sent to: secretary.icmemohri@icom.museum
Deadline: February 1
Notification of acceptance: February 25th

  

We would like to thank the Vienna Wiesenthal Institute, the Jewish Museum Vienna, the Documentation Center of Austrian Resistance, and ICOM Austria for their support.

Felicitas Heimann-Jelinek, Chair ICMEMOHRI, Conference Chair

Jane E Klinger, Chair Emerita ICMEMOHRI

Barbara Thimm, Jill Vexler, Lea Fink, Ophelia León, Program Committee