Holocaust Memorial Week slate of events begins today at OSU

CORVALLIS, Ore. — Monday, April 25 marks the start of the 35th annual observance of Holocaust Memorial Week at Oregon State University, which will run through May 3 and include seven free community events.

All events will be online via Zoom and YouTube, and three of them will have an in-person option on the Corvallis campus. For more information and event registration, visit https://holocaust.oregonstate.edu/. 

 Events:

• Monday, April 25, at 7 p.m. via Zoom: “How Masculinity and Alcohol Fed Mass Murder.” Lecture by Edward B. Westermann, Regents Professor of History at Texas A&M University. He has published extensively on World War II and the Holocaust. This talk will be based on his book, “Drunk on Genocide: Alcoholism and Mass Murder in Nazi Germany.” Registration required.
   
• Tuesday, April 26, at 7 p.m. via Zoom: “Escaping the Holocaust – A Survivor Story.” Talk by Joe Hess, who was taken from Germany to Britain with his sister in the 1939 children’s evacuation. Hess is a frequent speaker at the Holocaust Museum in Los Angeles, as well as in schools. This talk will focus on his early life in Germany, his journey on the Kindertransport and his wartime experiences as a refugee in Britain. Registration required. 
   
• Wednesday, April 27, at 7 p.m. in the Horizon Room (Room 39) of the Memorial Union; livestream also available: “Stalin and Mao, and Two Cataclysms They Engineered.” Lecture by Hua-yu Li, OSU School of Public Policy. Li will discuss the role that Stalin’s brand of socialism played in Mao’s thinking and why, in Stalin’s Terror and the Cultural Revolution initiated by Mao, both leaders promoted catastrophe. 
   
• Thursday, April 28, at 7 p.m. in the Horizon Room of the Memorial Union; livestream also available: “Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.” Talk by Luhui Whitebear of OSU’s School of Language, Culture and Society, and center director of the Kaku-Ixt Mana Ina Haws at OSU. In 2016, the National Crime and Information Center reported 5,712 Indigenous women and girls were missing. Whitebear will discuss the disparity between the considerable scope of the problem and its relatively scarce coverage in American media.
   
• Friday, April 29, from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. via Zoom. Registration is required. Sixth Holocaust Memorial Week Social Justice Student Conference: “The Return of History? The Continuous Challenge to Democracy and Universal Human Rights.” This international conference offers perspectives based on current student research regarding comparative genocide, war and peace studies, and history, as well as political, cultural, social and educational theory and practice with regards to civil and human rights. Seven students will present.
   
• Monday, May 2, at 7 p.m. in the Horizon Room of the Memorial Union and livestreamed: “Why Hannelore Klein Did Not Suffer the Same Fate as Her Childhood Friend Anne Frank – The Story of a Righteous German Official During the Holocaust.” Talk by Laureen Nussbaum, who was born Hannelore Klein, in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1927. The Kleins and the Franks knew each other and resumed their friendship in Amsterdam, where they sought refuge after the Nazis came to power in Germany. While Anne, Margot, and their mother would perish in the Holocaust, the Kleins were saved by a German official, Hans Calmeyer, who claimed they were not Jewish and should not be deported to the camps. Nussbaum will discuss him and her relationship with the Frank sisters. Signed copies of her book, “Shedding Our Stars: The Story of Hans Calmeyer and How He Saved Thousands of Families Like Mine” will be available for purchase after the talk. In-person seating is limited and free tickets are required.
   
• Tuesday, May 3, at 7 p.m. via Zoom: “Teaching the Holocaust Through Film to Children, Tweens and Teenagers.” Talk by Lawrence Baron, retired professor of Jewish History at San Diego State University. He is known for his writings on the Holocaust in film and for his book, “Projecting the Holocaust into the Present: The Changing Focus of Contemporary Holocaust Cinema.” Baron will discuss and share film clips of Holocaust movies that are intended for children. Registration required.
   

The Holocaust Memorial Program provides free admission year after year because of its regular donors, which include the Center for the Humanities; the College of Liberal Arts; the School of History, Philosophy and Religion; the Provost's Fund for Excellence; the City of Corvallis and Beit Am, as well as donations to the OSU Foundation's Holocaust Memorial Fund.