Historian to give presentation on 20th Century prison camps

By Elliot Novess
Western Herald

Western Michigan University will play host to historian Rudolf Mrazek as he gives his presentation entitled, “Penal Colonies and Nazi Camp Culture,” about the work of intellectuals in prison camps, their motivations and how their contemporaries regard them today.

The presentation, offered by the Western Michigan University Graduate College, will take place Monday, Feb. 1 from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the Fetzer Center’s Putney Auditorium and is a free of charge.

Each semester, the Graduate College finds scholars to talk about research that would appeal to students across many departments.

“Every year we bring in eight to 10 speakers,” Lewis Pyenson, dean of the Graduate College, said.

“We see these offerings of scholarly topics in relation to fundamental topics of today.”

The topic of Mrazek’s work will appeal to students of history, anthropology and sociology.

Two mid-20th Century prison camps will be examined. The first camp examined by Mrazek is located on Buru Island; when under Dutch Colonial rule, Indonesian nationalists were imprisoned there.  The second is Terazin, where the Nazis imprisoned many intellectuals.

“The 20th Century was horrible but intellectual advancements took place,” Pyenson said.

Pyenson recalls a pattern of social control throughout the 20th Century, that helping people is not foremost in our minds.

Even in horrific conditions, intellectuals continued their work.  Looking back at the work of the intellectuals in Mrazek’s talk may help society change today.
“History never changes,” Pyenson said.  “We can learn deeper and deeper how humans handled themselves in the past.”

Mrazek received his bachelor’s degree in 1964 from Charles University in the Czech Republic, and also his master’s in 1980.

At the Czechoslovak Academy in Prague, Mrazek was awarded his doctorate.
Today Mrazek is a history professor at the University of Michigan where he teaches courses involving technology, exile and modern life in Southeast Asia.

He has authored several books about politics and exile in Southeast Asia.

He is considered to be an expert on Indonesia and is currently completing a study of late colonial urbanity called “Jakarta Promenades: Postcolonial Metropolis 1911- 2000.”

Short URL: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=14301

Posted by HeraldAdmin on Jan 31 2010. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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