Education

Research Statement

Major Research Grants and Fellowships:

• Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation
• Cornell University Society for the Humanities
• American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS)
• International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX)
• Le Fonds de recherché du Québec-Société et culture (FRQ-SC)
• Fulbright International Institute for Education (IIE)
• American Councils for International Education

PUBLICATIONS (in English)

Books

Deafening Silences: Intercommunal Violence and the Challenge of Telling Human and Inhuman Histories (in progress).

Telling Histories of Violence without Borders (South Bend, IN: Nanovic Institute for European Studies; University of Notre Dame, 2020).

Violence as a Generative Force: Identity, Nationalism, and Memory in a Balkan Community (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2016).

• Winner | 2019 Laura Shannon Prize in Contemporary European Studies, Nanovic Institute, University of Notre Dame

• Winner | 2019 “A Book of the Year in Croatia” (one among fifteen fiction and non-fiction titles), Jutarnji list (Croatia)

• Winner | 2018 European Studies Book Award, Council for European Studies, Columbia University

• Winner | 2017 Herbert Baxter Adams Prize, American Historical Association

• Winner | 2017 Harriman-Rothschild Book Prize in Nationalism and Ethnic Studies, Association for the Study of Nationalities and the Harriman Institute, Columbia University

• Winner | 2017 Taylor and Francis Book Prize in Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies, Canadian Association of Slavists.

• Winner | 2017 Choice Magazine Outstanding Academic Title Award 

• Finalist | 2017 Raphael Lemkin Book Award, Institute for the Study of Genocide

Reviews: American Historical Review [featured review]; Autograf; Behar – časopis za književnost i društvena pitanja; Canadian Slavonic Papers [book roundtable – three commentaries and author response]; Choice Magazine; Contemporary European History; Danas; Defense Report; Dunjalučar – magazin za filozofiju, kulturu i umjetnost; Études internationales; EuropeNow; Express; Filozofija i društvo; Foreign Affairs; Genocide Studies and Prevention; Helšinski odbor za ljudska prava u Srbiji; H-Genocide; H-Soz-u-Kult; Humanističke studije; Intelektualno; Journal of Cold War Studies; Journal of Modern History; Journal of Regional Security; Jutarnji list;Links; Montenegrin Journal for Social Sciences; Nationalism and Ethnic Politics; Nationalities Papers [book symposium – three commentaries and author response]; Perspectives on Politics; Politeia; Prilozi; Revista Universitaria de Historia Militar; Slavic Review;Southeastern Europe; XXZ magazin; Život - časopis za književnost i kulturu

Bosnian translation in 2018 with Buybook (Sarajevo-Zagreb [second edition, 2024]) - Nasilje kao generativna sila: identitet, nacionalizam i sjećanje u jednoj balkanskoj zajednici

Chinese translation in 2023 with Imaginist (Beijing) - 何故为敌 1941年一个巴尔干小镇的族群冲突、身份认同与历史记忆

Journal Articles and Book Chapters

“Silence Enshrined: Memorializing Intercommunal Violence in a Land of Brotherhood and Unity.” History & Memory 36, no. 1 (Spring/Summer 2024): 7-44.

“On Translating History Against the Grain.” In Augusta Dimou, Theodora Dragostinova, and Veneta Ivanova, eds., Re-Imagining the Balkans: How to Think and Teach a Region. Festschrift in Honor of Maria N. Todorova (Oldenburg: De Gruyter, 2023): 311-322.

“To Kill or Not to Kill? The Challenge of Restraining Violence in a Balkan Community.” Comparative Studies in Society and History 61, no. 4 (October 2019): 954-985.

“Thinking the Nation: Reappraising Benedict Anderson’s Contribution to the Study of Nationalism.” American Historical Review 123, no. 2 (April 2018): 518-528. 

“Assumptions and Evidence in the Study of Violence: A Response to Üngör, Vujačić, and Bokovoy.” Invited Book Roundtable on Violence as a Generative Force: Identity, Nationalism, and Memory in a Balkan Community, Canadian Slavonic Papers 60, no. 1-2 (2018): 311-333.

“Evidence, Explanation, and Telling Histories of Violence: A Response to Dragojević, Braun, and Fedorowycz.” Invited Book Symposium on Violence as a Generative Force: Identity, Nationalism, and Memory in a Balkan Community, Nationalities Papers, 46, no. 6 (2018): 1146-1158. 

“‘As if nothing ever happened:’ Massacres, Missing Corpses, and Silence in a Bosnian Community.” In Élisabett Anstett and Jean-Marc Dreyfus, eds., Destruction and Human Remains. Disposal and Concealment in Genocide and Mass Violence (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2014): 15-45.

“Sudden Nationhood: The Microdynamics of Intercommunal Relations in Bosnia-Herzegovina after World War II.” American Historical Review 118, no. 3 (June 2013): 679-707.

“When All Could No Longer Be Equal in Death: A Local Community’s Struggle to Remember Its Fallen Soldiers in the Shadow of Serbia’s Civil War, 1955-1956.” The Carl Beck Papers in Russian and East European Studies. No. 2008, (November, 2010): 1-58.

“The Strange Silence: Explaining the Absence of Monuments for Muslim Civilians Killed in Bosnia During the Second World War.” East European Politics & Societies 24, no. 3 (August 2010): 408-434.

PUBLICATIONS (in Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, Montenegrin)

Books

Nasilje kao generativna sila: identitet, nacionalizam i sjećanje u jednoj balkanskoj zajednici. Trans. Senada Kreso (Sarajevo / Zagreb: Buybook, 2018 [drugo izdanje, 2024]).

• Winner | 2019 “A Book of the Year” (one among fifteen fiction and non-fiction titles), Jutarnji list (Croatia)

• Reviews: Autograf; Behar – časopis za književnost i društvena pitanja; Danas; Dunjalučar – magazin za filozofiju, kulturu i umjetnost; Express; Filozofija i društvo; Helšinski odbor za ljudska prava u Srbiji; Humanističke studije; Intelektualno; Journal of Regional Security;Jutarnji list; Links; Montenegrin Journal for Social Sciences; Politeia; Prilozi; XXZ magazin; Život - časopis za književnost i kulturu

Journal Articles and Book Chapters

“Vreme u kojem više ni svi mrtvi nisu mogli biti jednaki: borba za sećanje na pale borce u senci građanskog rata u jednom selu u Srbiji, 1955-1956.” Slovo ćirilovo, godina sedamnaesta, br. 17 (2020): 83-130.

“Naprasna nacionalnost: mikrodinamika odnosa među zajednicama u Bosni i Hercegovini nakon Drugog svjetskog rata.”  Historijski zbornik, 71, broj 2 (2018): 283-319.

“Čudna šutnja: zašto nema spomenika za muslimanske civilne žrtve ubijene u Bosni u Drugom svjetskom ratu?” Historijska traganja, broj 8, (2012): 109-147.

“Sveštenik, spomen ploča i borba za sećanje na pale borce u jednom selu u Srbiji, 1955-1956.”  U Dragana Radojičić i Aleksandra Pavićević, urednici, Spomen mesta, istorija, sećanja (Beograd: Etnografski institut SANU, 2009): 37-46.

“Među rodoljubima, kupusom, svinjama i varvarima: spomenici i grobovi NOR-a, 1947-1965 godine.” Godišnjak za društvenu istoriju godina. XIV, sveska 1-3, (Beograd, 2007): 61-82.

“Među rodoljubima, kupusom, svinjama i varvarima: spomenici i grobovi NOR-a, 1947-1965 godine.” U Husnija Kamberović, urednik., 60 godina od završetka Drugog svijetskog rata. Kako se sjećati 1945. godine? (Sarajevo: Institut za istoriju, 2006): 75-99.

Book Reviews (in English)

T.K. Wilson, Killing Strangers: How Political Violence Became Modern (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020). American Historical Review, Vol. 127, No. 3, 1487-1488.

Ümit Kurt, The Armenians of Aintab. The Economics of Genocide in an Ottoman Province (Cambridge, M.A.: Harvard University Press, 2021). Journal of the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association Vol. 8, No. 2, 349-351.

Jeffrey Kopstein and Jason Wittenberg, Intimate Violence. Anti-Jewish Pogroms on the Eve of the Holocaust (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2018). Canadian Slavonic Papers, Vol. 62, No. 3-4, 531-532.

Marie-Janine Calic, A History of Yugoslavia, trans. Dona Geyer. (West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 2019). Slavic Review, Vol. 79, No. 2, 444-445.

Rory Yeomans, ed., The Utopia of Terror: Life and Death in Wartime Croatia (Rochester, N.Y: Rochester University Press, 2015). The Canadian Slavonic Papers, Vol. 58, No. 4, 434-436.

Theodora Dragostinova, Between Two Motherlands. Nationality and Emigration among the Greeks of Bulgaria, 1900-1949(Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2011). The Canadian Journal of History, Vol. 48, No. 2, 349-351.

Davide Rodogno, Against Massacre:  Humanitarian Interventions in the Ottoman Empire, 1815-1914 (Princeton, N.J.:Princeton University Press, 2012). The Historian, Vol. 75, No. 2, 410-411.

Mark Biondich, The Balkans. War, Revolution and Political Violence since 1878 (New York:  Oxford University Press, 2011). The Canadian Slavonic Papers, Vol. 55, No. 3-4, 539-540.

Judith Armatta, Twilight of Impunity. The War Crimes Trial of Slobodan Milosevic (Durham and London:  Duke UniversityPress, 2010). The Canadian Slavonic Papers, Vol. 53, No. 2-4, 589-590.

Dennison Rusinow, Yugoslavia. Oblique Insights and Observations (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2008). The Canadian Slavonic Papers, Vol. 51, No. 4, 588-589.

Public History Writing

“On Being There.” Invited essay for the Invisible Histories project (hosted by Harvard University’s Center for History and Economics, 2021).

https://histecon.fas.harvard.edu/invisible-histories/captions/being_there/index.html

“Fieldwork on Foot: Northwest Bosnia, ca. 2012-2013.” Invited photo essay for the Invisible Histories project (hosted by Harvard University’s Center for History and Economics, 2021).

https://histecon.fas.harvard.edu/invisible-histories/essays/being_there/index.html

“U bosanskim arhivima.” Post for Peščanik, April 17, 2019.

https://pescanik.net/u-bosanskim-arhivima/

“Archives in Bosnia in Minutes and Hours.” Post for Sage House News: The Cornell University Press Blog, February 16, 2017. https://sagehouse.blog/2017/02/16/archives-in-bosnia-in-minutes-and-hours/

“World War I Conference in Sarajevo Produced no ‘Ethnic Firestorm.’” Letter to the Editor co-authored with Edin Hajdarpasic, Chronicle of Higher Education, June 30, 2014.

https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/letters/world-war-i-conference-in-sarajevo-produced-no-ethnic-firestorm/

Interviews (in English, Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, and Montenegrin)

“Intervju: Max Bergholz, povjesničar. Etnička netrpeljivost je posljedica ekstremnog nasilja.” Preporodov Journal, broj 218-219, august/septembar 2019: 52-58.

“Max Bergholz: Ustanici su ubijali iz osvete.” Novosti, August 2, 2019.

https://www.portalnovosti.com/max-bergholz-ustanici-su-ubijali-iz-osvete

“Intervju Max Bergholz: Ustaške pljače i pokolji prokrenuli su zlo odmazde.” Express, June 14, 2019.

https://www.express.hr/kultura/ndh-je-omogucio-ubojstva-i-grabez-neki-su-to-iskoristili-21893

“Nasilje kao generativna sila.” Razgovor o knjizi sa autorom i voditeljem emisije dr. sc. Josip Mihaljević, Povjesne kontroverze, na Trećem programu HRT, aired live on June 6 and 13, 2019.

https://radio.hrt.hr/ep/nasilje-kao-generativna-sila-1-dio/302456/

https://radio.hrt.hr/ep/povijesne-kontroverze/302457/

“Intervju Maks Bergholc: Istorija se često zloupotrebljava.” Novi magazin, June 1, 2019.

http://www.novimagazin.rs/vesti/intervju-maks-bergholc-istorija-se-cesto-zloupotrebljava

Reposted by Helšinski odbor za ljudska prava u Srbiji on June 1, 2019:

https://www.helsinki.org.rs/serbian/aktuelnosti_t369.html

“Maks Bergholc, istoričar.” Intervju sa novinarom Vladom Milićem, Producijska grupa Mreža, Dnevnik TV Mreža, May 27, 2019.

https://mreza.rs/dnevnik-tv-mreze-maks-bergholc-istoricar/

“O pokolju u Kulen Vakufu nije se smjelo govoriti jer su neki među ustanicima otiši u partizane.” Jutarnji list, May 19, 2019.

https://www.jutarnji.hr/magazin/povjesnicar-iz-kanade-pisuci-o-zlocinu-na-balkanu-iskopao-istinu-koja-nikome-nije-po-volji-naucio-je-i-jezik-da-bi-mogao-istraziti-povijesne-dokumente/8884940/

Reposted by Autograf on June 16, 2019.

https://www.autograf.hr/istina-koja-nikome-nije-po-volji/

“Etničko nasilje nije ekskluziv Balkana.” Oslobođenje, May 16, 2019.

https://www.oslobodjenje.ba/dosjei/intervjui/max-bergholz-etnicko-nasilje-nije-ekskluziv-balkana-457355

Reposted by Buka on May 16, 2019.

https://6yka.com/novosti/max-bergholz-etnicko-nasilje-nije-ekskluziv-balkana

“Historičar Max Bergholz objašnjava zašto je osvetničko nasilje ustanika kuluminiralo početkom septembra 1941. godine.” Aljazeera Balkans, May 6, 2019.

http://balkans.aljazeera.net/vijesti/u-kulen-vakufu-ustanici-1941-godine-pobili-2000-muslimana-i-hrvata

“Interview with Max Bergholz on CBC Radio ‘Homerun’ with Sue Smith.” Canadian Broadcasting Corporation [Montreal], aired live on March 7, 2019.

http://www.maxbergholz.com/cbchomerun

“World War II Massacres in Bosnia: How Violence Transforms Communities.” Balkan Insight, January 16, 2019 [published in English, Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, Albanian, and Macedonian]. 

http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/wwii-massacres-in-bosnia-how-violence-transforms-communities-01-11-2019

“Seconda guerra mondiale in Bosnia: come la violenza trasforma le comunità.” Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso

https://www.balcanicaucaso.org/aree/Bosnia-Erzegovina/Seconda-guerra-mondiale-in-Bosnia-come-la-violenza-trasforma-le-comunita-192314

“We have to find ways to walk in the shoes of our historical subjects, an interview with Max Bergholz.” Concordia University News, June 7, 2018

http://www.concordia.ca/cunews/artsci/2018/06/07/concordians-book-recognized-with-fourth-major-award.html

“American Historical Review Interview with Max Bergholz on his reappraisal of Benedict Anderson’s Imagined Communities.” American Historical Association, March 15, 2018.

https://soundcloud.com/aha-historians/ahr-interview-with-max-bergholz-on-his-reappraisal-of-benedict-andersons-imagined-communities

“Violence as a Generative Force. Identity, Nationalism, and Memory in a Balkan Community.” New Books Network, August 25, 2017.

https://newbooksnetwork.com/max-bergholz-violence-as-a-generative-force-identity-nationalism-and-memory-in-a-balkan-community-cornell-up-2016/

“CEERES of Voices Interview with Max Bergholz at the Seminary Co-op Bookstore in Chicago.” The Center for East European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies at the University of Chicago, February 17, 2017.

https://lucian.uchicago.edu/blogs/eastfromchicago/2017/03/09/ceeres-of-voices-interview-with-max-bergholz/

RECENT PRESENTATIONS

“Writing and the Art of Story Telling in Academia.” Invited panel discussion by the Nanovic Institute for European Studies at the University of Notre Dame, Kylemore Abbey, Ireland, August 10, 2022.

“On Violent Display and the Limits of Comparative Ethnography: Lee Ann Fujii’s Show Time.”  Book panel discussion at the Annual Convention for the Association for the Study of Nationalities. New York, May 6, 2022. 

“The Turn to Human Voices: Mila Dragojević’s Amoral Communities and Its Challenge to Political Science Research on Political Violence.” Book panel discussion at the Annual Convention for the Association for the Study of Nationalities. New York, May 8, 2021. 

“Silence Enshrined: Memorializing Intercommunal Violence in the Land of Brotherhood and Unity.” Invited presentation at the conference “Spomenici u kulturi sjećanja: svjedočanstvo vremena, mjesta sjećanja, mjesta prijepora.” Fredrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation, Banja Luka, Bosnia-Herzegovina, September 9, 2020.

“Telling Histories of Violence without Borders.” Invited lecture at the Nanovic Institute for European Studies on the occasion of receiving the Laura Shannon Prize in Contemporary European Studies, University of Notre Dame, November 21, 2019.

“Prepričavanje istorija nasilja.” Invited presentation at the Institut za noviju istoriju Srbije [Institute for the Contemporary History of Serbia], May 28, 2019.

“Nasilje kao generativna sila: identitet, nacionalizam i sjećanje u jednoj balkanskoj zajednici.” Invited presentation at the Institut za filozofiju i društvenu teoriju [Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory], University of Belgrade, May 27, 2019.

“Izazov interdisiplinarnog istraživanja o nasilju.” Invited presentation at the Institut za društvenu istraživanja u Zagrebu [Institute for Social Research in Zagreb], University of Zagreb, May 13, 2019.

“Histories of Violence Without Borders.” Invited plenary lecture at the conference ‘Mediterranean Violence,’ University of Minnesota, April 25-26, 2019.

“Communities of Peace and Violence.” Invited presentation at Carleton University, Ottawa, February 7, 2019.

“Intercommunal Killing and the Transformation of Identity: Evidence from a Bosnian Town, Summer 1941.” Invited presentation at Georgia State University, January 23, 2019.

“Microhistories of Nationalism and Violence.” Invited presentation at the Center for Slavic and East European Studies, Ohio State University, October 18, 2018.

“Local History, Ethnicity, and Intercommunal Violence.” Invited presentation at the Department of History and Civilization, European University Institute, Florence, September 27, 2018.

“Telling Histories of Violence.” Invited presentation at the Department of History, University of California, Los Angeles, March 8, 2018.

Invited presentations during 2017 about the book Violence as a Generative Force: Identity, Nationalism, and Memory in a Balkan Community (Cornell University Press, 2016).

·       University of Toronto (January 12^th)

·       University of Chicago (February 17^th)

·       Claremont Colleges (February 22^nd)

·       University of California, Los Angeles (February 23^rd)

·       Université de Montréal (March 30^th)

·       University of Washington (April 23^rd)

·       University of California, Berkeley (May 10^th)

·       Stanford University (May 11^th and 12^th)

“Violence as a Generative Force: Identity, Nationalism, and Memory in a Balkan Community.” Book panel discussion at the Annual Convention for the Association for the Study of Nationalities. New York, May 4, 2017.

“Violence and Ethnic Categories: Local Evidence from Bosnia, 1941.” Presentation at the Annual Convention of the Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies, Washington, D.C., November 19, 2016.

“Violence as a Generative Force: How Ethnic Categories Change during Ethnic Conflict [Croatia and Bosnia, 1941].” Invited presentation at the workshop Micro-Comparative Studies of Twentieth Century Conflicts. Organized by the Program on Order, Conflict, and Violence at Yale University’s MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies, April 23-24, 2016.

“Microhistory, ‘Ethnic Violence,’ and the Future of Area Studies.” Presentation at the Annual Convention of the Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies, Philadelphia, November 20, 2015.

“Violence as a Generative Force: Rethinking ‘Ethnicity’ through a Bosnian Community.” Invited presentation at the Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia, University of Wisconsin-Madison, October 15, 2015.

“To Kill or Not to Kill? The Challenge of Restraining Insurgent Violence in Bosnia, Summer 1941.” Invited presentation at the Program on Order, Conflict, and Violence at Yale University, April 20, 2015.

“Global Lessons from a Local History of Forced Migration: Northwest Bosnia, 1941.” Invited presentation at the workshop Global Conflict and Conflict Management: Israel/Palestine and Beyond, St. Anne’s College, University of Oxford, May 18, 2014.

“Intercommunal Violence in Bosnia: The Continuing Mystery of 1941.” Presentation at the Annual Convention of the Association for Study of Nationalities, New York, April 26, 2014.

“To Kill or Not to Kill? The Challenge of Restraining Insurgent Violence in Bosnia, Summer 1941.” Presentation at the Annual Convention of the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies, Boston, November 22, 2013.

“‘As If Nothing Ever Happened:’ Massacres, Missing Corpses, and Silence in Post-World War II Bosnia-Herzegovina.” Invited presentation at the conference Les cadavres et leur destruction/ Corpses and Their Destruction, Paris, France, L’Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, September 12-14, 2012.

“Masovna ubojstva u Glini tijekom 1941. godine i poslijeratna kultura sjećanja na žrtve: što znamo, a što ne?” [Mass Killing in Glina during 1941 and the Postwar Culture of Memory: What do we know and not know?”]. Invited presentation at the conference Što se uistinu dogodilo u glinskoj srpskopravoslavnoj crkvi između 29/30. srpnja i 4/5. kolovoza 1941. godine? Svjedočanstva i kultura sjećanja [What Actually Happened in Glina's Serbian Orthodox Church between July 29-30 and August 4-5, 1941? Testimonies and the Culture of Memory]. Zagreb, Croatia, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zagreb, June 28-29, 2012.

Current courses

• HIST 477  Histories of Nationalism
• HIST 498  Histories of Violence
• HIST 498  Telling History and Storytelling
• HIST 360  History of Genocide, 1945 – present
• HIST 344  Rise and Fall of Yugoslavia
• HIST 208  History of the Balkans
• HIST 200  A Late Twentieth-Century Genocide: Srebrenica, July 1995