Jewish Studies Program Hosts Talk by Dr. Albert Giordano
May 6, 2014
CSULB’s Jewish Studies Program will host a talk by Dr. Alberto Giordano on campus today at 11 a.m. Dr. Giordano will discuss “Holocaust Geographies: Using Historical GIS (Geographic Information Science) to Research the Holocaust.” The talk will take place in the History Department Conference Room on the ground floor of FO2.Since 2009, Dr. Giordano has co-led an NSF-funded research team investigating the use of GIS in understanding the Holocaust. Their research has focused on five projects, with differing levels of scale:
(1) the evolution of the spatial system of concentration camps;
(2) an architectural and visibility study of the Auschwitz camp;
(3) a study of victim transports from Italy;
(4) a localized study of forced evacuations from Auschwitz at the end of WWII; and
(5) a detailed study of the Budapest ghetto.
While previous historical scholarship has focused on aspects of Nazi policy, particular events or locations, Giordano’s project is the first “to take a general view of the Holocaust as a multi-layered, multi-scaled event and to analyze it using GIScience methodologies.”
In this talk, Dr. Giordano will present his research as part of this wider project, much of which has focused on mapping the Holocaust in Italy, looking for patterns in the how the Germans arrested and transported prisoners, particularly families.
This talk is free and open to all students and faculty. Light refreshments will be served.