Prof. Altman is a Russian historian and co-founder, as well as co-chairman of the Russian Research and Educational Holocaust Center in Moscow. Prof. Altman is also teaching at the Russian State University for the Humanities in Moscow, which is a partner university of the University of Innsbruck.
Furthermore, he is the author of over 300 publications on the history of the Holocaust and the Eastern Front. Many of these have been published in the United States, Israel and Western Europe. Moreover, Ilya Altman is a member of the International Council of the Austrian Service Abroad.
In his talk, Prof. Altman discussed the Holocaust research in Russia in general and how the theme of the Shoah is currently taught in Russian schools. He also talked about the international cooperation in the field of Holocaust research and its future perspectives, taking Austria as an example. Prof. Altman encouraged the audience to visit the exhibition "Holocaust: Extermination, Liberation, Rescue", which is shown at the University of Innsbruck (Bruno-Sander-Haus, Innrain 52f, EG, Innsbruck) from April 6 until May 3, 2019. This travelling exhibition was previously shown in Russia, Argentina, Germany, France, Israel, the Czech Republic, Uruguay and the USA. Recently it was also shown at the United Nations headquarters, the UNESCO, the Council of Europe, and at the Austrian Parliament.
Prof. Altman’s visit to the University of Innsbruck was organized by the Department of History and European Ethnology of the University of Innsbruck, in cooperation with the Department of Contemporary History, the Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek of Tyrol, the Russlandzentrum of the University of Innsbruck and AIANI.