Conversations on Genocide

Genocide Watch
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Welcome to Conversations on Genocide, Genocide Watch's official podcast, where we unravel the untold stories of survival, resilience, and the unwavering pursuit of justice in the face of history’s darkest chapters. Learning from academics and professionals, genocide survivors, and descendants of survivors, each episode in the podcast will delve into the detailed history behind contemporary and historical cases of genocide while also shedding light on theoretical topics that are often overlooked. We hope you can join us to expand your understanding of genocide.

  1. 3d ago

    The Human Rights Implications of Afghan Deportations by Pakistan and Iran

    The mass deportation of Afghan refugees from Iran and Pakistan in 2025 has created a significant human rights crisis, raising concerns about violations of international protection standards and the safety of people returning to Afghanistan under Taliban rule. Afghanistan now faces one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with the majority of the population dependent on aid and millions experiencing food insecurity. In this episode, Genocide Watch staffer Juliana Girotto discusses her recent report Afghan Deportations by Pakistan and Iran and the human rights implications.

    15 min

  2. Apr 21

    Voices of Resistance: War, Patriarchy, and the Power of Kurdish Women – A Conversation with Bjeen Alhassan

    In this episode of Conversations on Genocide, host Franzie sits down with Bjeen Alhassan, founder of the NGO Transfer of Knowledge (TOK), to explore the intersections of gender, genocide, and diaspora through the lens of Kurdish women in Northeast Syria. Bjeen shares her personal journey — from surviving the Assad regime and the Syrian war, to navigating discrimination and a landmark legal battle in Germany, to being detained in Turkey for speaking out about Kurdish rights. Together, they discuss what empowerment truly means for women in conflict zones, the challenges of building grassroots organizations without institutional support, and the resilience required to fight for recognition and justice when the world looks away. This conversation is a powerful testament to the enduring strength of Kurdish women and the importance of refusing silence in the face of oppression. Bjeen Alhassan, born in 1992 in Qamishli, Rojava in northeastern Syria. She studied economics in Damascus. In 2014, she fled the Syrian war and came to Germany with her family. She completed a master's degree in 2019. Bjeen established the Facebook group "Lernen mit Bijin," in which she helps refugee women find their way in Germany. In 2020, she received the German Integration Award from chancellor Angela Merkel for her commitment. https://www.facebook.com/groups/533614240656505   Despite discrimination, war, loss, racism and sexism in her life she has never given up. She has not stopped fighting for independence, self-determination and justice for women. In 2021, Bjeen founded transfer of Knowledge TOK e.V. An NGO that empowers Women in the economic and social spheres.  TOK e.V. is a team of young, talented, diverse and educated members, who all participate for society in different sectors but with the same goal: to share knowledge and enable disadvantaged people to gain fair access to Information. "Because we don’t take information for granted."  As a former refugee, Bjeen aspires to be a role model for refugee women. She seeks to provide them with a safe space that empowers them to express themselves and their pain, and to tell their stories. To be a person they can look up to, yet shares the same background as them.

    1h 12m

  3. Mar 30

    Genocide Alert: Future Consequences of the War in Iran

    In this episode of Conversations on Genocide, Beth is joined by Michał Jagielski, Senior Iran and Central Asia Team Leader at Genocide Watch, to discuss his recent published Genocide Alert: Future Consequences of the War in Iran. Michał provides updates on the contradictory messaging from US officials about the war's objectives and analyzes three possible outcomes: an IRGC military takeover, complete regime change, or regime survival. All scenarios present significant dangers to the civilian population through increased executions, sanctions, displacement, and humanitarian crisis. The conversation highlights how the US, Israel, Iran, and all U.N. member states have the responsibility to protect Iranian civilians and do everything possible to end this war--and how you can take action. Michał Jagielski Central Asia Team Leader Sudan and North-Central Africa Team Co-Leader Alliance Division   Michał Jagielski is a recent graduate of Lund University in Sweden, where he majored in Middle Eastern Studies, defending his master’s thesis on the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood’s framing strategies in exile. Previously he received his bachelor's degree in Iranian Studies from the University of Warsaw, Poland. Michał has experience working for NGOs and INGOs where he participated in projects focusing on humanitarian aid, advocacy and human rights protection. ​ At Genocide Watch he is co-leader of the Sudan and North-Central Africa Team and leader of the Central Asia Team. He is also a member of the Research Division and Alliance Division and the Middle East and North Africa, and Central Africa Teams. ​ His current research interests include the remnants of colonial mentality in international law and geo-politics, political persecution, state building and resolving generational traumas and prejudices.

    19 min

  4. Feb 24

    FR. Quatre ans de guerre en Ukraine : des mythes de masse à la violence de masse. Entretien avec Katerina Sviderska

    Quatre ans après le début de l’invasion russe à grande échelle de l’Ukraine, quelle est la réalité des Ukrainiens qui ont décidé de rester ? Les crimes de masse perpétrés par la Russie à l’encontre de la population civile ukrainienne sont-ils constitutifs d’un génocide ? Comment les autorités russes justifient-elles ces actes de violence ?Pour répondre à ces questions, le podcast « Conversations on Genocide » a l’honneur de recevoir Katerina Sviderska, chercheuse émergente à l'Université de Cambridge, au Royaume-Uni. Ensemble, nous évoquons le quotidien des habitants de Kherson, où vivent encore quelques-uns de ses proches. Puis nous analysons les mythes historiques russes (mythe du nazisme et mythe de l'unité des Russes et des Ukrainiens) repris dans les discours officiels russes pour construire les frontières symboliques avec les Ukrainiens, permettant le passage à l’acte de violence.Katerina Sviderska est une doctorante ukraino-canadienne. Son mémoire de maîtrise intitulé « Mythes de masse à violence de masse : historiographie en Russie et génocide en Ukraine » (2024) a été récompensé par le prix Jenson-Pétry de la Société québécoise de science politique. Ses recherches doctorales au sein de l’Université de Cambridge portent désormais sur la construction identitaire ukrainienne et son intégration européenne.

    40 min

  5. Feb 15

    From Lost Girl to Advocate: Rebecca Deng on Surviving War, Displacement, and Gender-Based Violence

    In this episode of Conversations on Genocide, Brenda and Bhaswati speak with Rebecca Deng, a South Sudanese American author and human rights advocate who survived war, displacement, and gender-based violence as one of the 89 Lost Girls of Sudan. Rebecca shares her journey from a peaceful childhood in South Sudan through life in Kakuma refugee camp to becoming a powerful voice for women and refugees worldwide. We explore the unique challenges children face in refugee camps, the devastating impact of gender-based violence in conflict zones, and Rebecca's path to healing through storytelling and advocacy. She discusses her memoir "What They Meant For Evil," the importance of forgiveness, and why survivor voices must be centered in policy-making. A moving conversation about resilience, hope, and the power of using your voice for justice. https://www.genocidewatch.com/donate

    54 min

  6. Jan 23

    FR. Comment les trois quarts des Juifs en France ont-ils survécu entre 1940 et 1944 ? Entretien avec Jacques Semelin.

    [English below]. Comment 75% des Juifs en France ont-ils échappé à la déportation ? Pour son premier épisode en français, le podcast « Conversations on Genocide » accueille l’historien et politologue Jacques Semelin. Encouragé par Simone Veil, Jacques Semelin commence en 2008 une décennie de recherches consacrées à la survie des Juifs en France entre 1940 et 1944. Dans cet épisode, il partage les résultats de ses travaux pionniers, dont voici l’une des principales conclusions : puisque 4000 « Justes » en France n’ont pas pu sauver 200 000 Juifs, les Juifs doivent être reconsidérés comme les premiers acteurs de leur survie. Vous souhaitez en apprendre plus sur cette « énigme française » ? Vous êtes au bon endroit ! Pour plus de détails, n’hésitez pas à consulter l’ouvrage de référence de Jacques Semelin : « La survie des Juifs en France (1940-1944) » (CNRS Éditions, 2018).  Jacques Semelin est historien et psychologue de formation, aujourd’hui directeur de recherche émérite au CNRS et professeur à Sciences Po Paris. Ses travaux portent principalement sur la résistance civile, les génocides et violences extrêmes, la survie et le sauvetage en situation génocidaire. Son livre « Purifier et détruire » (Le Seuil, 2005) demeure une référence internationale dans le domaine des études sur le génocide. Il a également fondé et dirigé l’Encyclopédie en ligne sur les violences de masse.  English-speaking listeners, stay tuned: the English transcript of this episode will soon be available on Genocide Watch's website!Jacques Semelin est professeur émérite d'histoire et de sciences politiques à Sciences Po, CERI, CNRS, Paris. Ses recherches portent sur l'Holocauste et les violences de masse, ainsi que sur la résistance civile et les opérations de sauvetage. Il est l'auteur de l'ouvrage de référence *Désarmés contre Hitler : la résistance civile en Europe, 1939-1945* et de *Purifier et détruire : les usages politiques du massacre et du génocide* .

    50 min

  7. Jan 19

    Prof. Amos Goldberg on Holocaust Memory, Genocide, and Moral Responsibility

    Dr. Amos Goldberg, Holocaust scholar at Hebrew University, discusses why he publicly called Gaza a genocide—and the moral responsibility that comes with expertise in genocide studies. He explains how Holocaust memory is being misused to justify violence, why analogies to past genocides matter, and the personal cost of speaking truth in Israel today. This conversation explores the intersection of scholarship and conscience, examining how "never again" became selectively applied and what lessons the world continues to ignore. Dr. Amos Goldberg is Professor of Holocaust History at the Department of Jewish History and Contemporary Jewry at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel). Each of his academic degrees, including his PhD, were earned at the Hebrew University. Dr. Goldberg also served as a post-doc visiting scholar at Cornell University and Ben Gurion University of the Negev (Israel). As the J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Senior Scholar-in-Residence at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, Dr. Goldberg will be conducting research for his project, “The Cultural History of the Jews in Warsaw under Nazi Occupation - September 1939-July 1942.”Dr. Goldberg chaired the Department of Jewish History and Contemporary Jewry at The Hebrew University (2016 – 2018) and established the "The Hebrew University Research Forum of Holocaust, Genocide and Mass Violence," which co-hosted the 2016 bi-annual INoGS (International Network of Genocide Scholars) conference. Between 2007 -2014, Dr. Goldberg served as a co-editor of the journal Dapim: Studies on the Holocaust (in English and Hebrew), for whose editorial board he still serves. He also serves as a member of the editorial board for Theory and Criticism, and as a fellow at The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute.Dr. Goldberg is a cultural historian whose work is interdisciplinary in nature, part of which focuses on the history of the Jews in the Holocaust while other on Holocaust memory and historiography. He led the project in which he was also a co-writer of the four-volume series Years Wherein We Have Seen Evil: Selected Aspects in the History of Religious Jewry during the Holocaust (Yad Vashem); and co-edited, together with Bashir Bashir, two books on Jewish and Palestinian traumatic memories (Van Leer, 2015 [Hebrew]; Columbia University Press, 2018 [English]). Among his other publications is Trauma in First Person: Diary Writing during the Holocaust (2012 [Hebrew]; 2017 [English]), which won the 2012 Israeli Egit prize for Holocaust research and literature; and his co-edited volume with Haim Hazan Marking, Evil: Holocaust Memory in the Global Age (2015) . Dr. Goldberg is now working on two book projects: one on the cultural history of the Jews in Warsaw during the Holocaust, and the other, Critical Thoughts on Holocaust Historiography (Resling Publications, forthcoming in 2019 [Hebrew]).

    1h 16m

  8. Jan 19

    Exploring Genocide: From Ukraine to Gaza

    In this episode of Conversations on Genocide, Emily delves into the complex topic of genocide with special guest William Schabas, a leading scholar on genocide and international human rights law. They discuss the legal definitions and interpretations of genocide, particularly in relation to Ukraine and Gaza, and the ongoing debates among scholars and professionals. They also explore the new special tribunal for the crime of aggression in Ukraine, its jurisdictional basis, potential challenge. Professor William A. Schabas is professor of international law at Middlesex University in London. He joined the Middlesex University faculty in 2011 after a distinguished career as a practising lawyer (member of the Québec bar) and academic, have previously been professor of law at the Université du Québec à Montréal and the University of Galway.Professor Schabas is also emeritus professor at Leiden University and the University of Galway, honorary chairman of the Irish Centre for Human Rights, and invited visiting scholar at the Paris School of International Affairs (Sciences Po). Prof. Schabas is a ‘door tenant’ at the chambers of 9 Bedford Row, in London.He has appeared as counsel before several international and national courts and tribunals including the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights and the Supreme Court of Canada. Professor Schabas was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2006. He was elected a member of the Royal Irish Academy in 2007. He has been awarded the Vespasian V. Pella Medal for International Criminal Justice of the Association internationale de droit pénal, the Gold Medal in the Social Sciences of the Royal Irish Academy, and he holds several honorary doctorates.Professor Schabas served as one of the commissioners of the Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission, from 2002 to 2004. In 2014, he was appointed by the president of the United Nations Human Rights Council as chairman of the International commission of inquiry to investigate all violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, particularly in the occupied Gaza Strip, in the context of the military operations conducted since 13 June 2014. From 2009 to 2011, he was Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation in the Field of Human Rights.Professor Schabas has prepared the quinquennial reports of the Secretary-General of the United Nations on the status of capital punishment for 2010, 2015 and 2020.

    1h 11m
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Welcome to Conversations on Genocide, Genocide Watch's official podcast, where we unravel the untold stories of survival, resilience, and the unwavering pursuit of justice in the face of history’s darkest chapters. Learning from academics and professionals, genocide survivors, and descendants of survivors, each episode in the podcast will delve into the detailed history behind contemporary and historical cases of genocide while also shedding light on theoretical topics that are often overlooked. We hope you can join us to expand your understanding of genocide.

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