SU and U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Hold International Conference on Campus, April 11-13
UPDATED: 2010 Holocaust Conference adds Live Video Stream for Tuesday's Keynote Speaker
UPDATE | Monday, April 12
Available via live streaming video on Tuesday, April 13: keynote address by Deborah Lipstadt at http://www.stretchinternet.com/shenandoah/video.php
Shenandoah University and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum will host an international conference, Bearing Witness: Memory, Representation, and Pedagogy in the post-Holocaust Age. The three-day conference, on April 11-13, will explore the challenges scholars and teachers face as the Holocaust becomes more distant in history and eyewitness voices begin to fade.
“The personal connection to the Holocaust is disappearing,” said Petra Schweitzer, Assistant Professor of Foreign Languages and Holocaust Studies at Shenandoah University and one of the organizers of the conference, “In a few years, students will no longer be able to hear about the Holocaust from survivors themselves. This is going to have a huge impact on how students learn about the Holocaust.”
“There is a tremendous amount of archival material about the Holocaust currently available, as well as more and more films and books coming out almost every day,” said Robert M. Ehrenreich, Director of University Programs at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, “The question is how this vast material—literature, film, archives, and survivor testimonies—can and should be used to teach the Holocaust effectively, responsibly, and rigorously on the college level.”
Deborah Lipstadt (Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies at Emory University) will deliver the keynote address, entitled Holocaust Denial in the 21st Century: Historical Sideshow or Clear and Present Danger? The keynote will take place on Tuesday, April 13, at 1 p.m. at the Harry F. Byrd, Jr. School of Business and will be available via live streaming video at http://www.stretchinternet.com/shenandoah/video.php
These questions are becoming even more urgent with the rise of antisemitism and Holocaust denial on college campuses in the United States. Deborah Lipstadt (Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies at Emory University) will deliver the keynote address, entitled Holocaust Denial in the 21st Century: Historical Sideshow or Clear and Present Danger? The keynote will take place on Tuesday, April 13, at 1 p.m. at the Harry F. Byrd, Jr. School of Business, Shenandoah University.
A living memorial to the Holocaust, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum inspires citizens and leaders worldwide to promote human dignity, confront hatred and prevent genocide. Federal support guarantees the Museum’s permanent place on the National Mall, and its far-reaching educational programs and global impact are made possible by the generosity of donors nationwide.
Shenandoah University is a comprehensive private university with an enrollment of more than 3,300 students in six schools: College of Arts & Sciences, Harry F. Byrd, Jr. School of Business, Shenandoah Conservatory, Bernard J. Dunn School of Pharmacy, School of Health Professions (Athletic Training, Nursing and Respiratory Care, Occupational Therapy, Physician Assistant Studies and Physical Therapy) and the School of Education & Human Development. The university offers nearly 90 programs of study at the undergraduate, graduate and doctoral levels.
The conference begins at Shenandoah University on Sunday, April 11, at 7:30 p.m. with a Yom Ha’Shoah Program at Goodson Chapel featuring the Audubon Quartet and continues Monday, April 12, at 9 a.m. at the Brandt Student Center. The program concludes with a performance entitled Against Forgetting by the faculty and graduate students of the Shenandoah Conservatory on Tuesday, April 13, at 7:30 p.m. in Armstrong Concert Hall. For more details and a full schedule, visit: http://www.ushmm.org/research/center/presentations/discussions/ or http://www.su.edu/2010holocaustconference.