The Holocaust of the Jewish Community of Corfu

As the shared case study of Who Owns Memory? Democratic Participation in Digital Public History, the Holocaust of the Jewish community of Corfu provides a common framework through which participants explore testimony, source criticism, place, ethics, representation and digital approaches to difficult histories.

On 19 October 2026, Dr Marina Bantiou, Scientific Lead and Project Coordinator of Who Owns Memory?, will present her research on this case in an online lecture hosted by the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History at the University of Luxembourg.

The presentation, “The Holocaust of the Jewish Community of Corfu: Oral Testimonies, Place and Digital Approaches to Public History,” focuses on the Holocaust of the Jewish community of Corfu during 1943–1944 through the interrelated perspectives of oral testimony, place and digital public history.

It presents the development of interactive digital mapping that connects survivors’ testimonies with places of memory, archival material and short historical narratives. Designed also for educational use, these maps invite students and wider publics to engage with local history through testimony, spatial exploration and historical evidence.

Particular attention is given to how digital mapping can bring personal memory and local history into dialogue, while making less visible aspects of Corfu’s Jewish past accessible to wider audiences. The presentation also reflects on the possibilities and responsibilities of digital public history when documenting, interpreting and communicating difficult pasts.

These questions are closely connected to the wider work of Who Owns Memory?. The Corfu case is used as a shared methodological example through which participants consider how to formulate a public-history question, work critically with testimonies and archival sources, identify absent or marginalised voices, address questions of trauma and representation, and translate research into accessible digital forms. Participants then apply these approaches to their own local, national, family, community or transnational histories.

Event details

19 October 2026 | 15:00–16:00 Luxembourg time (CEST) / 16:00–17:00 Greece time (EEST)
Speaker: Dr Marina Bantiou
Format: Online via Webex
Host: Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History, University of Luxembourg

About the speaker

Dr Marina Bantiou is a historian based in Greece and a Postdoctoral Researcher at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Her current research focuses on the memory of the Holocaust of the Jewish community of Corfu, with particular emphasis on oral testimonies, digital tools and Public History approaches in education. She was a Visiting Researcher at the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History at the University of Luxembourg and is a Non-Residential Fellow at the USC Shoah Foundation. 

Full event information and online access: https://www.uni.lu/c2dh-en/events/the-holocaust-of-the-jewish-community-of-corfu/