Face to Face with Demjanjuk: The Elusive Quest for Closure

Face to Face with Demjanjuk: The Elusive Quest for Closure – with Martin Haas
Wednesday, February 7 • 5:00 pm
Geisel Library, Seuss Room

All HLHW events are free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.

Martin Haas

On Wednesday, February 7, the Holocaust Living History Workshop series will feature UC San Diego professor emeritus Martin Haas who will share the tragic history of his family’s death and his experience in court where he came face-to-face with the man who was involved in his family’s murder.
In 2009, Haas participated as a co-plaintiff in the Bavarian Superior Court case against the Ukrainian-born Ivan Demjanjuk, a U.S. citizen who had participated in the mass-extermination of European Jews during World War II. What does it mean to come face to face with a man who was involved in the murder of one’s family? Does a belated reckoning such as the Munich trial permit true closure?

In this talk, Haas relates the tragic history of his family and shares his experience in court. Born into a Dutch-Jewish family, Haas spent WWII in hiding with a Catholic family. In 1946 he was adopted by a distant relative and emigrated to Israel where he would earn a degree in electrical engineering and serve three years in the Israeli Army. He subsequently studied biophysics at UC Berkeley and obtained his Ph.D. in biology. In 1981 Haas joined the UC San Diego faculty as professor of biology and oncology.
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