Holocaust Awareness Series

Schedule of Events

We hope you can join us for these events. For more information, contact Associate Professor of History Vincent Patarino, PhD. Please note all events are subject to change.

• Mon, Apr 7

  Moment of Silence Dedication for the Field of Flags Display 10:50am • Field South of the Plaza | Sponsored by the Social and Behavioral Sciences Department of Colorado Mesa University and constructed by both campus and community volunteers, the Field of Flags display on the green southwest of the University Center presents over 2,000 flags representing the major groups targeted by the Nazis during World War II, including Jews, Poles, Soviet citizens, homosexuals, communists/socialists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Freemasons, Roma, Sinti, and the disabled. Each flag represents 5,000 individuals and the colors match the various known schemes used by the Nazis.
• Mon, Apr 7

  Hannah Arendt and the Origins of Totalitarianism: Lessons for Our Times presented by Tim Casey, Professor of Political Science 6:30-8pm • Houston Hall 204 | This presentation will explore the lessons we might learn from the political philosopher, Hannah Arendt, in her seminal book, The Origins of Totalitarianism. This book, written in the aftermath of the Holocaust, attempts to understand how a modern, rational, democratic country like Germany embraced such a destructive ideology of hate. The rise of Nazi Germany, Arendt argues, was not a momentary lapse of reason, but a systematic and widespread acceptance of a set of political principles that dehumanized both perpetrators and victims of the regime. Could the signs of a resurgence of totalitarianism be the future of our own politics? Join Dr. Casey in discussing the relevance of Hannah Arendt in the contemporary political debate.
• Tue, Apr 8
  Keynote Presentation: Life that Matters, A Presentation with the Filmmakers, Holocaust Survivor Ben Lesser and his Daughter,” Organized and introduced by Kristin Heumann, Professor of Kinesiology 6:30 pm • Asteria Theatre | “It is possible to live through extreme circumstances, and choose to live a life of meaning, a life that matters.” Ben Lesser, from Krokaw, Poland, was 11 years old when the Nazis invaded. His family of seven fled but he went on to four concentration camps, two death trains, and one death march. He was liberated in Dachau in 1945. He and his older sister, Lola were the only survivors. At age 18, he came to the United States. In 2009, he started the Zachor Holocaust Remembrance Foundation. As part of his foundation, he instituted “I-SHOUT OUT,” for anyone who wants to speak out against intolerance, injustice, racism, or bullying. This special Keynote session includes the first Colorado Screening of the film; a presentation by the filmmakers, including Ann Raskin, who worked with college students to create the film; comments by Ben Lesser’s daughter Gail Lesser Gerber; and a special Zoom presentation by 97-year-old Holocaust Survivor, Ben Lesser. At the end of the presentation, there will be an opportunity for some questions from the audience. This session was made possible through the generosity of Mr. David Pilkenton, the CMU Foundation, and the CMU Civic Forum.
• Wed, Apr 9

  "Conspiracy", Bystanding & The Banality of Evil presented by Colin Carman, Assistant Professor of English 4:30-6pm • Houston Hall 204 | This presentation, consisting of three parts, demonstrates how historian and philosopher Hannah Arendt’s theory of the banality of evil can be applied to a pair of famous works from postwar America: Martin Gansberg’s “Thirty-Seven Who Saw Murder Didn’t Call the Police” (1964) and Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery” (1948). In Part 1, Carman focuses on the “bystander effect” and the murder of Kitty Genovese in New York. Also known as the “Bad Samaritan” effect, the bystander effect offers a sociological rationale for collective indifference when it comes to an individual in physical distress. Part 2 uncovers in Jackson’s horror story and fictional dramatization of scapegoating in a sleepy town in Anywhere, America, a complacent community that carries out a heinous crime with no idea what or why they did it. In his analysis, Carman contextualizes Arendt’s theory of everyday-evil through the lens of her reporting on the trial and execution of Otto Adolph Eichmann in Jerusalem. Dr. Carmen concludes with a consideration of the film Conspiracy (2001) in which the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) assemble at the Wannsee Conference (1942) to perfunctorily plan the logistics of the so-called “Final Solution.” The enduring lesson of the Holocaust is to never become a bystander. Discussion will follow.
• Wed, Apr 9

  The Holocaust - A Global History? Approaches, Prospects and Objections presented by special guest Thomas Pegalow Kaplan, Professor of History and Lewis P. Singer Endowed Chair in Jewish History at CU Boulder 6:30-8pm • Houston Hall 204 | This session examines key challenges and approaches of writing a global history of the Holocaust. Professor Pegelow Kaplan, who specializes in Holocaust Studies, modern German-Jewish history, histories of violence, language, and culture of Central Europe, and transnational history reflects analyses such as Timothy Snyder's renewed intellectual history that positions Adolf Hitler as a committed "globalist" with a coherent worldview or Gerhard Weinberg's pathbreaking evaluations of the Holocaust as an evolving global genocide of the Jews. Pegelow-Kaplan makes the case for applying and fine-tuning a range of approaches from the new global histories to illuminate the Holocaust's increasingly global dimensions. Some of his examples include North Africa under German-Italian occupation and Southeast Asia, especially the Dutch East Indies, after the Japanese invasion of 1941-42. Discussion to follow the lecture. Dr. Pegelow Kaplan is the author of The Language of Nazi Genocide (Cambridge University Press, 2009). This session was financed through a generous micro-grant from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and the sponsorship of the CMU Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences.
• Thu, Apr 10

  Korean Comfort Women: The Conflict the Raged Beyond World War II presented by James Coburn, Instructor of Anthropology 4:30-6pm • Houston Hall 204 | World War II specifically the Pacific theater was fraught with several instances of genocide that was perpetrated by the Japanese Imperial Army. In these instances, the Japanese imperial army worked to erase the cultural heritage of the colonial possessions. These include the Rape of Nanjing in mainland China, the occupation of the Joseon Dynasty and subsequent colonization period of the Korean peninsula. One of the worst cases of genocide that was perpetrated on the Korean’s was the development of the “comfort women” program instigated in 1938. During this period between 300,000 and 400,000 thousand women were subjugated and force into prostitution to “comfort” the war weary imperial army. This presentation will start with an impactful documentary entitled Silence Broken. This screening will be followed by a brief lecture and discussion.
• Thu, Apr 10

  Aestheticizing the Holocaust: Art Spiegelman’s Graphic Novel, Maus presented by Barry Laga, Professor of English 6:30-8pm • Houston Hall 204 | On one hand, there is an intense desire to document and historicize the Holocaust. On the other hand, the Holocaust becomes unknowable, beyond our conceptual reach. This presentation will address these competing desires by discussing Art Spiegelman’s Maus, a work that reminds us that aestheticizing the past is not an apolitical or benign affair. With his graphic novel, Spiegelman provides us with a kind of history that seems to move between presence and absence, asserting a tangible past while undermining its very possibility. In other words, instead of presenting Maus as an accurate record of the past, Spiegelman highlights its fictive and second-hand nature. History, even of the Holocaust, is inevitably a construct that is mediated in an infinite number of ways, with dire consequences. Spiegelman wants to show us the seams of history, the places where cause and effect are stitched together. Discussion will follow.