Holocaust Living History Workshop, Fall 2014 Series

Holocaust Living History Workshop, Fall 2014 Series: “Hidden Stories: Legacy of Pain” Themes
This year’s Holocaust Living History Workshop Series, a collaboration between the UC San Diego Library and the University’swomen with Swastikas Judaic Studies Program, will explore the themes of “Hidden Stories: Legacy of Pain” as they represent survivor experiences.

For nearly 70 years, historians, sociologists, literary theorists, and other academics have tried to make sense of the Holocaust, one of the 20th century’s most disturbing and enigmatic calamities. Despite the massive amount of scholarship that has been generated, some stories and experiences remain lost, neglected or forgotten outright. As part of its mission to educate and raise awareness, the Holocaust Living History Workshop focuses on both well-known and less familiar stories and narratives of the Shoah. This fall’s lecture series sheds light on those lost, forgotten, or poorly documented stories and experiences from the past, to promote a richer understanding of the Holocaust’s myriad dimensions.
Interested members of the public and campus community are invited to attend the events and hear local Holocaust survivors, witnesses, relatives, and scholars share their stories. Participants can also learn about the Visual History Archive, the world’s largest database of Holocaust testimony. All sessions, free and open to the public, will be held in Geisel Library’s Seuss Room, from 5 to 7 p.m. Refreshments will be served.

Oct. 22: Getting Here: An Odyssey through WW II /Ruth Hohberg           gulag_460x276
Born in Bielsko, Poland, Ruth Weiss Hohberg fled eastward during WWII. Her parents were forced into a Siberian labor camp and then relocated to Uzbekistan, where Ruth attended school. At war’s end, she returned to her hometown, only to find the population unwilling to accept returning Jews. After an interlude in Sweden, she arrived in the United States. Her long ordeal depicts an experience that is less familiar to scholars of the Holocaust, yet it is in urgent need of exposure. Hohberg is an artist and writer and lives in Rancho Bernardo.

Nov. 13: Hitler’s Furies: Ordinary Women? /Wendy Lower
Nazi womenAward-winning historian Wendy Lower delves into the lives and experiences of German women in the Nazi killing fields. Her research chillingly debunks the age-old myth of the German woman as mother and breeder, removed from the tough, male-dominated world of politics and war. The women Lower labels “furies” humiliated their victims, plundered their goods, and often killed them. And, like many of their male counterparts, they got away with murder. Lower is the John K. Roth Professor of History at Claremont McKenna University and has published widely on the Shoah in Eastern Europe.

To find out more about UC San Diego’s Holocaust Living History Workshop, contact Susanne Hillman, the program coordinator at hlhw@ucsd.edu or go to: http://libraries.ucsd.edu/hlhw. Training in the use of the Visual History Archive is available for individuals and groups upon appointment.