This year-long series of roundtable classes is focused on special topics raised in the Museum’s new exhibition, The Holocaust: What Hate Can Do. Each class will be moderated by Professor Judy Tydor Baumel-Schwartz, scholar at Bar-Ilan University and member of the exhibition’s curatorial team, and will feature a rotating roster of scholars and experts.
This class meets every other month on Mondays from 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM. Dates are below. Register for classes individually
Registrants will receive a recommended reading list before each class
Class schedule
Upcoming Classes
Groups Targeted by the Nazis
Monday, September 18
In addition to the Jews, there were other, non-Jewish peoples, communities, and families who were targeted, imprisoned, and murdered by the Nazis. This final roundtable discussion with Professor Dorota Glowacka, Professor Warren Rosenblum, Professor Gideon Greif and Professor Anna Hájková will describe and analyze Nazi persecution of people with disabilities and mental illnesses, LGBTQ+ people (Jewish and non-Jewish), and the fate of Sinti and Roma people during the Holocaust.
Past Classes
The Jewish World Before the Holocaust
Monday, November 7
This roundtable discussion will focus on the Jewish world prior to the Holocaust, particularly in the 1920s and 1930s. Dr. Michal Ben Ya’akov will speak about the Jews of North Africa and the Mediterranean, Professor Natalia Aleksiun will shed light on the Jews of Eastern Europe, Professor Robin Judd will discuss the experiences of Jews in Central and Western Europe, and Professor Adam Ferziger will speak about Jews in the United States.
Escape to the Soviet Union
Monday, January 9
This class will concentrate on the phenomenon of the Jews who found refuge in the Soviet Union. Professor Atina Grossmann and Professor Eliyana Adler will discuss the processes by which these Jews fled other parts of Eastern Europe to areas that were overtaken by the Soviets or escaped directly into Soviet territory. They will also focus on the lives of Jews deported inland to the Soviet Republics. Rebecca Frank, the Museum’s Curatorial Research Assistant, will present a case study of her grandmother’s family who survived the war in this way.
Women in the Ghettos
Monday, March 13
Women’s experiences in Nazi ghettos in Eastern Europe during the Second World War will be presented by Professor Dalia Ofer, who will speak about daily life of Jewish women in ghettos in Poland; Professor Lori Weintrob, who will tell stories of ghetto heroines; Professor Sara Horowitz, who studies the representation of women in ghettos in literature; and Dr. Batya Brutin, who will show art about and by women in the ghettos.
Image credit: Schwartz Family. 1946. Gift of Shlomo Schwarz. 1999.P.123
Liberation of Dachau Inmates. 1945-04-29 – 1945-05-31. Gift of Sam Schwartz, Yaffa Eliach Collection donated by the Center for Holocaust Studies. 5012.76
The Holocaust in Transnistria
Monday, May 15
This roundtable discussion will be devoted to what is often called “The Forgotten Holocaust.” Bukovina and Bessarabia, areas of Eastern Romania, were home to Jews who were deported by the Romanian authorities to Transnistria, an area conquered by the Germans and Romanians during the summer of 1941. Dr. Sylvia Herskowitz, Dr. Ana Berbulescu, and Dr. Felicia Waldman will discuss the fate of those deported to the ghettos and labor camps of Transnistria, and the efforts made to rescue Jewish orphans from those ghettos during the war.
What the World Did and Did Not Do
Monday, July 10
Focusing on what the world did and did not do in regard to the Holocaust between 1933 and 1945, Professor Michael Berenbaum and Dr. Efraim Zuroff discuss responses from the rise of Nazism to the outbreak of war, news about the persecution of the Jews and the “Final Solution” until the end of WWII.
Pricing:
– Museum Members: $18 per class (Become a member to receive this discount. If you are already a member, email membership@mjhnyc.org for registration assistance.)
– Non-members: $36 per class