«Images of Genocide». Lecture by Damir Šagolj

This lecture explores the power and limitations of photographic images in shaping our understanding of genocide and mass atrocities. Beginning with the legal definition of genocide established in the 1948 United Nations Convention, the talk examines how images, from the liberation of Auschwitz to the near-invisible traces of Soviet gulags and Holodomor, and the ongoing documentation of suffering in Gaza, construct narratives of violence, memory, and denial. By juxtaposing historical photographs with contemporary visual evidence, the lecture reflects on the role of photography as both witness and warning, and questions why some atrocities become universally recognized while others remain obscured. Drawing on the author’s own coverage of a number of genocides and their aftermaths, the lecture adds a personal dimension to these reflections, asking how images of suffering compel us - or fail to compel us - toward recognition, empathy, and action.