Pope Pius XII in World War II

Come and witness history at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, 23 February, in Centennial Hall in the Alumni Center. Gerhard L. Weinberg, the William Rand Kenen, Jr., Professor Emeritus of History at the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, will speak on “Pope Pius XII in World War II,” the First Annual Lecture of the Zeta Chi Rho Holocaust and Genocide Studies Honor Society.

Since escaping Germany as a young boy with his family just before World War II and joining the US Army at age 18, Dr. Weinberg has become a life-long student of Nazi Germany, the Second World War, and the Holocaust. He is the author of 10 books, including The Foreign Policy of Hitler’s Germany: Diplomatic Revolution in Europe, 1933-1936; The Foreign Policy of Hitler’s Germany: Starting World War II, 1937-1939; World in the Balance: Behind the Scenes of World War II; A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II; Germany, Hitler, and World War II; and Visions of Victory: The Hopes of Eight World War II Leaders.

At age 83, Dr. Weinberg continues to be a man of great passion about his work, traveling, writing, and lecturing. According to Professor Paul Vincent, who has known the scholar for years, “Dr. Weinberg is a powerhouse historian, who gave the opening keynote at our 2001 symposium on the Second World War at Keene … and was our Kristallnacht Remembrance speaker immediately after the symposium. No one has so impacted my understanding of Nazi Germany as has Dr. Weinberg, and I am hardly alone.”

Zeta Chi Rho (ZXP) - a name derived from the Hebrew term “Zakhor,” meaning “to remember” - is the undergraduate honors society in Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Its principal goal is to recognize superior academic work in the field of Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Dr. Weinberg’s lecture, the first of an annual series, is sponsored by Keene State College’s Alpha Chapter of Zeta Chi Rho to help promote both academic excellence and a better understanding of the Holocaust.