Alejandro Baer to Present at USHMM Symposium

Alejandro Baer, CHGS will participate in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's Symposium, Sephardic Jewry and the Holocaust: The Future of the Field
April 28-30, 2013
University of Washington, Seattle



The symposium is part of the year long commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the opening of the Museum. Co-organized through the Sephardic Studies Initiative of the University of Washington's Samuel & Althea Stroum Jewish Studies Program and the Museum's Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, this symposium explores the unique history of Sephardic Jewry and the Holocaust.

Professor Baer will present The Voids of the Sephard: the Memory of the Holocaust in Spain.



Abstract of Dr. Baer's Paper:
The Holocaust did not take place within Spain's borders. Isolated and detached from the tragedy that consumed the rest of the European continent, Spain at that time was essentially submerged in the trauma of her own Civil War and its aftermath. When Spain finally emerged from the grip of Franco's dictatorship, the country's democracy was rebuilt on the margins of the prevailing European value system, in which the memory of Auschwitz and its ilk occupy a central place. It is only in the last decade, as a consequence of both institutional initiatives and the effects of cultural and educational transnationalization, that Spain has been progressively absorbed into the wider European debate about history, culture, and memory. As a result, discussions about the Holocaust have gained a more significant presence in Spanish public life. The process is an arduous one because it requires Spain to liberate itself from the shackles of its own past, specifically from the mantle of ignorance and prejudice that, until very recently, has covered everything related to Jews.
More information on the symposium can be found by clicking here.

CHGS to Host Symposium on the University During the Third Reich

Betrayal of the Humanities: The University During the Third Reich
Symposium
Sunday April 15 & Monday April 16
Mondale Hall, Law School

Public Program: "Is There an Anti-Jewish Bias in Today's University?"
Alvin Rosenfeld,Irving M. Glazer Chair in Jewish Studies; Director, Institute for the Study of Contemporary Anti-Semitism (Indiana University)

Sunday, April 15, 2012
7:30 p.m.
Cowles Auditorium
Humphrey School of Public Affairs



Under National Socialism in Germany (1933-1945), the universities and the academic disciplines themselves became in many cases all-too-eager accomplices in the perpetration of Nazi ideology. Not only did the normal administrative structure of the university become corrupted, but learning itself betrayed its own mission as prestigious disciplines propagated Nazi racial science and beliefs.
In order to investigate the process whereby critical thought was replaced by blind obedience, the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies will host a symposium to examine the moral role of the university in today's society. The symposium, co-organized by Bernard Levinson, Berman Family Chair in Jewish Studies and Hebrew Bible, and Bruno Chaouat, director of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, will explore the mutation of academic ideals under National Socialism, when the German university system promoted Nazi ideology and helped the state eliminate its diverse community. Thirteen scholars from across the U.S. and abroad will examine core academic disciplines, including anthropology, philosophy, classics, Assyriology, theology, law, and music.
In his public address, "Is There an Anti-Jewish Bias in Today's University?," Professor Alvin Rosenfeld will discuss how many of our campuses have become hospitable to certain political and ideological currents of thought that issue in actions and statements inimical to many Jewish students and professors. A review of contemporary debates about two issues of particular concern to Jews--the Holocaust and the State of Israel--suggests that we may be witnessing the emergence of some new versions of the "Jewish Question."
The symposium and Alvin Rosenfeld talk are free and open to the public. For more information please contact chgs@umn.edu or 612-624-0265.
For the complete symposium schedule, list of scholars and further information please visit the Betrayal of the Humanities website here.
To RSVP for the Symposium please click here.
Symposium flier: Symfin312.pdf
Rosenfeld flier: Rosen312fin.pdf
Sponsors: Imagine Fund Special Events Programs, Wexler Education Fund, Berman Family Chair in Jewish Studies & Hebrew Bible, International Travel Grant from the Global Programs & Strategy Alliance, Institute for Advanced Study, Center for Austrian Studies, Checkpoint Charlie Stiftung, Center for Jewish Studies, Center for German & European Studies, Department of History, Institute for International Legal & Security Studies, Department of Classical & Near Eastern Studies, Department of French & Italian, Department of Political Science, Religious Studies, Department of Art History, Department of Anthropology, Department of German, Scandinavian & Dutch, Department of Philosophy, Legal History Workshop, Human Rights Center, Jonathan Paradise Hebrew Language Fund.
Co-sponsors: Humphrey School of Public Affairs, Law School, Institute for Law and Rationality