By Josiah Clark
The 14th Annual Martin and Doris Rosen Summer Symposium on Remembering the Holocaust will be held July 11-17 at Appalachian State University’s Belk Library.
The symposium, which is organized by ASU’s Center for Judaic, Holocaust & Peace Studies, is free to the public and begins Saturday, July 11 at 7 p.m. with a screening of the film, “Raise the Roof,” in the I.G. Greer Auditorium. After that, the event will move to room 114 of the Belk Library.
The event was named for the symposium benefactors, the late Doris and Martin Rosen, who believed in the importance of teaching the next generation about the Holocaust, and chose to create an endowment fund for the symposium.
According to the event page, the purpose of the symposium is to provide the public “information and insights about the victims, perpetrators and consequences of the Nazi Holocaust.”
Key speakers include professors and representatives from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum who will provide approximately fifty hours of lectures, workshops, discussions, films and demonstrations.
Holocaust survivor Dr. Zev Harel will also share his personal experiences and answer questions.
“It really is quite an emotional moment for all of us,” said Dr. Simon Sibelman, a Leon Levine Distinguished Professor and former Director of the Center for Judaic, Holocaust & Peace Studies.
“After Dr. Harel speaks, the Holocaust becomes not simply a historical event, but an event that happened to an actual individual in front of us,” said Dr. Sibelman.
Although the event is open to the community, Dr. Sibelman hopes that all teachers and educators who attend will “recognize they have a moral imperative to teach their students in hopes that we can prevent future acts of genocide.”
He said, “We hope this message can be promoted to our students: that we are all humans and part of one family, that racism is a destructive human construct and we all need to work towards resolving issues peacefully.”
Thirteen speakers are scheduled to participate:
•Dr. Michael Berenbaum, founding director of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and professor of religion at the University of Judaism
•Dr. Ann Millin, historian for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
•Dr. Zev Harel, Holocaust survivor
•Dr. John Cox, associate professor at UNC Charlotte
•Dr. Gabriel Finder, director of Jewish studies at the University of Virginia
•Kathy Kacer, author of children’s books about real people living through the Holocaust
•Dr. Miriam Klein Kassenoff, director of the Holocaust Teachers’ Institute at the University of Miami
•Suzanne Lasky Gerard, screenwriter and producer
•Lydia Moss, former teacher for the N.C. Council on the Holocaust
•Lee Holder, chair of the social studies department at North Lenoir High School
•Dr. Simon P. Sibelman, former director of the Center for Judaic, Holocaust, and Peace Studies and Leon Levine Distinguished Professor
•Dr. Rennie Brantz, professor of history at ASU
•Dr. Rosemary Horowitz, professor of English at ASU
For more information about the 14th Annual Martin and Doris Rosen Summer Symposium on Remembering the Holocaust, visit the website for ASU’s Center for Judaic, Holocaust & Peace Studies, or call: 828-262-2311.
See some photos below from a previous Martin and Doris Rosen Summer Symposium on Remembering the Holocaust:
You must be logged in to post a comment.