This class, led by TBS member, retired professor, and provost, Dr. Prystowsky will meet for four sessions and will cover the following topics:

• 2/4 — Introduction to Holocaust Studies: What is the Holocaust? When did it start and end? Who is responsible for it? Were Jews the only victims? Were all of the “camps” the same? Does Christian antisemitism have anything to do with it? In this first session, we’ll attempt to answer these and other important questions as we delve into this complicated part of Jewish history. This is a good foundational session for those who are new to studying this event, and, with new material for this year’s class, it will be a good refresher class for those who have taken this class previously.
• 2/11 — Holocaust Distortion: What is “Holocaust distortion”? Is it the same as Holocaust denial? Focusing primarily on the work of Holocaust Studies scholar Jan Grabowski, this session will explore this latest iteration of what might best be described as a war on Jewish suffering and Jewish memory. Participants might consider purchasing, in advance of attending this session, Professor Grabowski’s long essay “Whitewash: Poland and the Jews,” which is published in the August 2024 issue of The Jewish Quarterly
• 2/18 — Holocaust Rescuers: In the midst of the genocidal assault on European Jewry, comparatively few persons actively helped or tried to help save the lives of Jews. Many of these heroes--the Holocaust rescuers--undertook their heroic acts at great risk to themselves and their families and for no personal gain. At Yad Vashem, in Israel, many of these courageous persons are honored as the “Righteous Among the Nations.” After exploring key points from The Altruistic Personality, Samuel and Pearl Oliner’s seminal work on Holocaust rescuers, in this session we will focus primarily on the case of Irene Updyke, whose selfless and heroic actions saved the lives of thirteen Jews, and who is honored as one of the Righteous Among the Nations.
• 2/25 — The Sinti-Roma and the Holocaust: During the Holocaust, the Nazis developed exterminationist policies--and engaged in exterminationist practices--concerning three groups: the Jews, the physically and mentally disabled, and the Sinti-Roma, otherwise known as the “Gypsies.” The Nazis’ wholesale victimization and murder of this last group, who suffered persecution prior to the Holocaust and continues being persecuted today, constitutes nothing short of an attempted genocide. In this session, we will examine this aspect of Nazi genocidal policies and practices, and we will study some Sinti-Roma survivor testimony to help us better understand this too often overlooked aspect of the Holocaust.

Please register for this FREE educational program by Tuesday, January 28.

Questions? Please contact Becca at becca@tbsohio.org