"Understanding the Past: Personal and Intellectual Perspectives on the Holocaust and Genocide" is the theme of Sonoma State University's 26th annual Holocaust and Genocide lecture series held Tuesdays from 4 to 5:40 p.m. through May 12 in Ives 101 on the Rohnert Park campus.
This year's lecture series includes a special dedication of the Erna and Arthur Salm Memorial Grove at 3 p.m. on March 29. SSU's Holocaust and Genocide Center unveiled plans for this holocaust and genocide memorial grove by the lake on the east side of campus to honor those who were lost in atrocities committed throughout the world.
The Grove is being transformed by an original sculpture that will provide a compelling context. Created by Associate Professor of Sculpture Jann Nunn, the sculpture's design consists of two 40-foot-long railroad tracks embedded into the lawn. The converging steel lines emerge from a gentle slope of ground and intersect a pedestrian footpath.
The steel lines come within six inches of each other, ending with light from an internally illuminated glass column that stands ten feet tall and is inscribed at its base.
Rows of ivory colored memorial bricks will be placed in the position of railroad ties relative to the steel tracks. Each brick will be laser-inscribed with names and memorial expressions. For more information, visit http://www.sonoma.edu/holocaust/grove/index.html.
Highlights of the 2009 lecture series this semester include:
Dr. Robert Krikorian, who teaches at George Washington University and is a leading scholar of the Armenian Genocide, gives this year's Armenian Genocide Memorial Lecture on March 17.
Dr. Barbara Epstein, Professor of History of Consciousness at University of California, Santa Cruz, gives the annual Robert L. Harris Memorial Lecture on March 24 on the subject of her recently released book, "The Minsk Ghetto 1941- 1943: Jewish Resistance and Soviet Internationalism. The book discusses Communist-led resistance movements inside the Minsk Ghetto.
Dr. Viktoria Hertling, the founder and director of the Center for Holocaust, Genocide & Peace Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno, presents "The Road to Rescue: The Untold Story of Schindler's List" on May 5. Hertling is a member of the international editorial board of the Journal of Genocide Research, published in the United Kingdom and has produced three award-winning video documentaries.
Dr. Jeannette Ringold, a chair of the Bay Area Hidden Children's Group, discusses children who were hidden during the Holocaust in her lecture on May 12.
The schedule for the spring semester follows:
Feb 17: "Perspectives on International War Crimes Tribunals" -Eric Williams Ph.D., Sonoma State University
Feb 24: "From Ashes to Life: My Memories of the Holocaust" -Lucille Eichengreen
March 3: "Becoming Evil" - James Waller, Ph.D., Whitworth College
March 10: "Breaking the Silence: A Holocaust Childhood" - Paul A. Schwarzbart
March 17: "Understanding the Past: Personal and Intellectual Perspectives on the Armenian Genocide" - Robert Krikorian, Ph.D., George Washington University. Armenian Genocide Memorial Lecture
March 24: "The Minsk Ghetto 1941-1943: Jewish Resistance and Soviet Internationalism" - Barbara Epstein, Ph.D. University of California, Santa Cruz/ Robert L. Harris Memorial Lecture
3 p.m., March 29: SPECIAL EVENT: Dedication of the Erna and Arthur Salm Memorial Grove
April 7: "Genocide of the Tutsis in Rwanda" - Mathilde Mukatabana, M.A., M.S.W., Consumnes Community College and President, FORA: Friends of Rwanda Association
April 21: "We Will Remember: 2nd and 3rd Generation Survivors" - Barbara Lesch McCaffry, Ph.D., Sonoma State University, moderator in Observance of Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day)
April 28: "Our Mothers War: A Biography of a Child of the Dutch Resistance" - Christina Radich
May 5: "The Road to Rescue: The Untold Story of Schindler's List" - Viktoria Hertling, Ph.D. Director, Center for Holocaust, Genocide & Peace Studies, University of Nevada, Reno
May 12: "Hidden Children During the Holocaust" - Jeannette Ringold, Ph.D., Chair, Bay Area Hidden Children's Group
May 19: "What Have We Learned?" - Student/Faculty Panel
For those unable to attend a lecture, streaming video will be available during the lecture and afterward at http://www.sonoma.edu/holocaust/center.htm
Myrna Goodman, Director of the Center for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide at SSU, which presents the lecture series, notes that the Series was founded by a remarkable group of academic and activist visionaries who hoped to use this annual set of lectures to fulfill the Series motto: "Study the nature of hate: Prevent the escalation of prejudice into genocide."
The organizers believed that by studying the Holocaust--and other genocides--students could deepen their understanding of human nature, organized society, political leadership, democratic participation, and civilization itself.
The lecture series is supported by a University-Community partnership between the SSU's Center for the Studyof the Holocaust and Genocide and the Alliance for the Study of the Holocaust.
For further information, contact the Director of the Center for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide, Dr. Myrna Goodman, (707) 664-4076.
