Troy University Libraries will host a public lecture series tracing 4,000 years of Jewish history, migration and resilience from the ancient world to the present thanks to grants from The Alabama Holocaust Commission and the Alabama Humanities Alliance.
The grants, written by TROY Social Sciences Librarian Stephanie White, will allow for lectures to be held Feb. 16-19 in Dothan, Troy, Montgomery and Birmingham. The lectures are free and open to the public.
The lecture series, “4000 Years of Exile and Migration: The Story of the Jews from Canaan to the Present,” will be led by Dr. Lauren Bairnsfather, CEO of the Anne Frank Center, USA in New York.
The series places Jewish experience within a global historical context and highlights its enduring relevance today.
Lectures are scheduled for:
- Feb.16, 7 to 8:30 p.m., Temple Emanu-El, 188 N. Park Ave., Dothan
- Feb. 17, 2 to 3:30 p.m., Troy University Library, 111 International Blvd., Troy
- Feb. 18, 7 to 8:30 p.m., Temple Beth Or, 2246 Narrow Lane Road, Montgomery
- Feb. 19, 6:30 to 8 p.m., Homewood Public Library, 1721 Oxmoor Road, Birmingham.
Dr. Bairnsfather began her career at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and most recently served as Executive Director of the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh. She holds a Doctorate in History from the University of Texas at Austin and serves on the boards of the Association of Holocaust Organizations and the Council of American Jewish Museums.
The goals of the lecture are to introduce participants to the origins and definitions of antisemitism, Judaism and the Jewish Diaspora, with special emphasis on the experience of Anne Frank and the Frank family facing Nazi antisemitism, and Post-Holocaust antisemitism through the 21st Century American experience and the experiences of Mizrahi Jews in the Middle East and North Africa.
“I think it is vitally important that we keep this knowledge alive,” said Dr. Dan Puckett, TROY Professor of History and chair of the Alabama Holocaust Commission. “With what is going on today with the rise in antisemitism and the enormous amount of distortion and denial, these educational programs are more important than ever to keep this knowledge in front of the public. These programs are not only designed to reach students but the public as well. I believe it is essential that we do things like this on a more regular basis.”
Dr. Christopher Shaffer, Dean of the Troy University Libraries and a member of the Alabama Holocaust Commission, said statistical data regarding the Holocaust bears out the need for a continued emphasis on education on Jewish history.
“Twenty percent of Americans do not know what the Holocaust was. That grows to a much bigger percentage if you combine those who don’t know what it was with those who don’t think the Holocaust was real,” Dr, Shaffer said. “Holocaust education is very relevant in a modern context, and it provides starting point for other discussions such as those around the topic of civil rights.”
