The “Holocaust and Genocide Studies” Chair of Excellence at the University of Caen/MRSH/ERLIS welcomes two historians, Alexandre Bande and Alban Perrin, for a roundtable on “Auschwitz, 1945: Traces, Narratives, and Testimonies.” The roundtable will be followed by a Q&A session and a book signing of the following works:

• Alexandre Bande, Auschwitz 1945, Passés composés, 2025
• Alter Fajnzylberg, What I Saw at Auschwitz: The Notebooks of Alter, Seuil, 2025, presented by Roger Fajnzylberg and Alban Perrin. Preface by Serge Klarsfeld.

On the occasion of the publication of Auschwitz 1945 (Passés composés) and What I Saw at Auschwitz: The Notebooks of Alter (Seuil), historians Alexandre Bande and Alban Perrin come together for a joint reflection on the pivotal moment of Auschwitz’s “liberation.” They provide an overview of the situation at this concentration and extermination complex in January 1945, as well as the urgency of writing and bearing witness. By combining historical analysis with the editorial work of previously unpublished sources, the two specialists examine the possible forms of narrative in the face of genocidal crime: what can be said about Auschwitz in 1945, what do witnesses like Alter Fajnzylberg—immersed in the horrors of the Sonderkommandos—tell us, and what can historians do with these traces?