2024 Memorial Lecture
From Treblinka and Trawniki: Forensic Archaeological Investigations at Sites of Nazi Persecution
In this lecture, Professor Caroline Sturdy Colls demonstrated how forensic archaeological approaches have revealed new information about the mechanisms of mass murder at Treblinka and, in particular, how new understandings of the fates and experiences of the victims have emerged from the analysis of the material traces that they left behind. She also briefly discussed how her work at Treblinka led her to investigate the camp at Trawniki, where the “foot soldiers” who assisted the SS were trained.
2023 Memorial Lecture
In the Haunted Present: Jews in a Non-Jewish World with Dara Horn
Author and podcaster Dara Horn explored a pointed question in this lecture: Why do far too many people seem to love dead Jews, but ignore the living ones? Her talk was based in part off her best-selling book, People Love Dead Jews.
2022 Memorial Lecture
The U.S. and the Holocaust: A Conversation with Ken Burns and Sarah Botstein
This lecture featured filmmakers Ken Burns and Sarah Botstein, who discussed their new three-part documentary film, The U.S. and the Holocaust. The film had debuted on PBS that same week in September 2022.
2022 International Holocaust Remembrance Day Lecture
MEMENTO MORI: Preserving Archives & Memory with Rodney Obien, associate professor and Head of Special Collections and Archives, Mason Library
The United Nations General Assembly designated January 27—the anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau—as International Holocaust remembrance Day. On this day of commemoration, the UN urges every member of state to honor the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust and millions of other victims of Nazism and to develop educational programs to help prevent further genocides.
2021 Memorial Lecture
Growing up German: My Father, The Wehrmacht, and “Ordinary” Antisemitism with Dr. Bjorn Krondorfer
2020 Memorial Lecture
Is the Rule of Law Still Important? with Ben Ferencz
Ben Ferencz, the last surviving prosecutor of the Nuremberg trials in a pre-recorded interview. His work has focused on issues of international criminal justice and world peace.
Previous Holocaust Memorial Lectures
| Lecture # | Year | Guest |
|---|---|---|
| 22nd | 2019 | Ronald Leopold |
| 21st | 2018 | Debórah Dwork |
| 20th | 2017 | Jennifer Teege |
| 19th | 2016 | “Voices of Terezin: Music and Witness” |
| 18th | 2015 | Wendy Lower |
| 17th | 2014 | Eva Hoffman |
| 16th | 2013 | Professor Daniel Mendelsohn |
| 15th | 2012 | Dr. Timothy Snyder |
| 14th | 2011 | Father Patrick Desbois |
| 13th | 2010 | Dr. Samson Munn |
| 12th | 2009 | Gerda Weissmann Klein |
| 11th | 2008 | Professor Christopher Browning |
| 10th | 2007 | Ernest W. Michel and Hubert Locke |
| 9th | 2006 | Wolf Kahn |
| 8th | 2005 | Dr. Peter F. Hayes |
| 7th | 2004 | Nechama Tec |
| 6th | 2003 | John Roth |
| 5th | 2002 | Lore Segal |
| 4th | 2001 | Theodore “Zev” Weiss |
| 3rd | 2000 | Yaffa Eliach |
| 2nd | 1999 | Dr. Richard Breitman |
| 1st | 1998 | David Faber |
