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About Kurt's Life Kurt Mayer was born January 14, 1930 in Mainz, Germany to Joe and Emmy Mayer. By the time Kurt was school age, Hitler had come to power, and laws which stripped Jews of their civil rights had been implemented. Forbidden to attend public school, Kurt went to a school which had been created in the synagogue near the family home. In 1938, the Mayers moved to Wiesbaden and Kurt was enrolled in a boarding school at Bad Nauheim. On the morning of November 9, at the age of 8, Kurt

Holocaust Studies Professorship turns into Holocaust ChairNew gifts in 2010 in support of the Kurt Mayer Professorship in Holocaust Studies have pushed that endowment total beyond $2 million, making it the third endowed chair at PLU. The Kurt Mayer Chair in Holocaust Studies again secures the university’s position as one of the premier centers for Holocaust studies in the nation. Holocaust studies is not a new idea at PLU. It is an area of academic distinction and excellence that has been built

About Raphael LemkinThis lecture is named in honor of Raphael Lemkin, a Polish-born Jew who escaped from Nazi-controlled Poland during the war. After many perilous adventures across Europe at war, Lemkin made it to the United States. He obtained a position teaching international law at Duke University. While at Duke he was asked to serve on the U.S. Board of Economic Warfare and later he became a special advisor on foreign affairs at the War Department. Lemkin was a tireless fighter for human

Genocide: Stories in the First PersonThis year’s Powell-Heller Holocaust Conference will focus on genocide, and personal stories of those who have register survived conflicts around the world, from Rwanda to the Congo. To start off the conference on Thursday, co-directors of The Last Survivor will talk about the making of the documentary. Discussion of the film will be led by directors Michael Pertnoy and Michael Kleiman and the young survivor from the Congo, Justin Semahoro Kimenyerwa.The Last

Holocaust Conference looks at art thefts, complicity of church, university leaders during WWIIThe fifth annual Powell and Heller Holocaust Conference at PLU will focus March 8 on the Nazi plunder of Jewish valuables, along with belated efforts at restitution. There will also be a session on German churches and universities, with speakers discussing Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Catholic Church, and postwar denazification. Sessions on March 9 will focus on education. Holocaust research keeps the

Sixth Annual Powell-Heller Conference for Holocaust Education: March 13-15, 2013, Anderson University CenterScholar Deborah Lipstadt; Author Cara De Silva; PLU Dean of the School of Arts and Communication and pianist Dr. Cameron Bennett; PLU professor and art historian Heather Mathews and others join to present “Empowerment” a three-day conference. The Powell-Heller Conference seeks to give educators, students and community members a way to use the lessons of the Holocaust to empower themselves

Seventh Annual Powell-Heller Conference for Holocaust Education March 12-14, 2014 This year’s 2014 Powell-Heller Conference for Holocaust Education has concluded. The conference highlighted the newly-approved Holocaust/Genocide Minor at PLU, Washington State Holocaust Education Resource Center teacher training and talks by Holocaust survivors. The theme for this conference was “Survivors and Rescuers.” Scholars Dr. Susannah Heschel, Dr. Hartmut Lehmann and Dr. Christopher Browning presented

2015 Holocaust ConferenceThe theme of the 8th Annual Powell-Heller Conference on Holocaust Education, March 4-6, 2015, was titled “Children’s Voices, The Holocaust and Beyond.” Children of the past, present and future were the focus of the conference.  Beth Kraig, faculty planning co-coordinator explained, “The conference should remind and inform audiences of the past destruction and abuse of children in the Holocaust, while provoking us all to realize that children are still heavily targeted

2018 Lemkin Lecturer – Father Charles R. Gallagher, S.J. Father Charles R. Gallagher, S.J. Violence, Espionage, & Anti-Semitism: British & Soviet Spy Ops Against Boston’s Christian Front Organization, 1940-19457 p.m. | Tuesday, April 3 | Anderson University Center – Scandinavian Cultural CenterFather Charles R. Gallagher, S.J., of the history department at Boston College will speak about his explorations of a heretofore unknown set of intelligence relationships involving Nazi, British, and

About Raphael LemkinThis lecture is named in honor of Raphael Lemkin, a Polish-born Jew who escaped from Nazi-controlled Poland during the war. After many perilous adventures across Europe at war, Lemkin made it to the United States. He obtained a position teaching international law at Duke University. While at Duke he was asked to serve on the U.S. Board of Economic Warfare and later he became a special advisor on foreign affairs at the War Department. Lemkin was a tireless fighter for human