New Cohen Center Addition Dedicated

“To Remember … and to Teach.” Founder Charles Hildebrandt’s charge to the Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies is the first thing visitors see when they enter the Center’s new home, a spacious two-story addition to Mason Library at the heart of the Keene State campus.

The new Cohen Center, which also houses the Holocaust and Genocide Studies Department, was formally dedicated October 20. The ceremony included a tribute to Hildebrandt, who started the Holocaust Resource Center 36 years ago, and acknowledgment of the significant and ongoing support of donors Jan and Rick Cohen.

Guests were treated to mini lectures by Professors Dana Smith and Ashley Greene, exhibits from the Mason Library Archives’ special collection of Holocaust material, and remarks from students, faculty, Cohen Center Interim Co-Directors Celia Rabinowitz and Paul Vincent, and Keene State College President Melinda Treadwell.

Jan Cohen presented the Center with a large photo commissioned from Argentinian artist Marcelo Brodsky showing the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, and other civil rights leaders. The photo is displayed in the Center’s Gallery and given in honor of the work of retired Cohen Center Director Dr. Hank Knight.

The dedication was a one of several events held over the course of a week that explored the Holocaust. Keene State’s Redfern Arts Center featured the first public presentation of Otto Frank, a solo performance piece by Roger Guenveur Smith; Guenveur Smith was also on hand for a class, Art and th Holocaust, where he talked with students and community members about the process of creating the performance. The day after the Cohen Center dedication, the annual Holocaust Memorial Lecture featured Ronald Leopold, executive director of the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam.

Check out the Holocaust and Genocide Studies academic department and the Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies.