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2017 Lemkin Lecturer Robert P. EricksenRobert P. Ericksen, Kurt Mayer Chair in Holocaust Studies Emeritus, joined the PLU History Department in 1999 as successor to Christopher Browning. In 2007 he helped found the endowed Holocaust Studies Program at PLU, including the Kurt Mayer Chair and the Powell and Heller Annual Holocaust Conference. He also helped establish the Holocaust and Genocide Studies Program in 2013, which now offers a minor. Ericksen, a graduate of PLU, completed his Ph.D. in

Past Powell-Heller Holocaust Conferences 2016 Powell-Heller Conference for Holocaust EducationThe Ninth Annual Powell-Heller Conference for Holocaust Education “Women and the Holocaust” took place Oct. 17-19. Why study women and their experiences in the Holocaust. It was not until the 1980s that historians such as Joan Ringelheim and other academics began to ask the question “Where are the women?” in the story of the Holocaust. This conference is not an attempt to create a competition of

Past Powell-Heller Holocaust Conferences 2019 Powell-Heller Conference for Holocaust Education“Jews went like sheep to the slaughter,” is often heard in popular accounts of how the Holocaust unfolded. “Why didn’t Jews fight back, resist?” “If death was a certainty, why didn’t they rise up?” These are some of the most often repeated questions students ask educators when addressing the image of Jewish passivity in the face of Nazi persecution. These types of questions, while completely

Past Powell-Heller Holocaust Conferences 2017 Powell-Heller Conference for Holocaust EducationThe 10th annual Powell-Heller Conference for Holocaust Education “Synagogue & Church” took place November 1-3. The conference dove into the controversial role of the Roman Catholic Church and its relationship to the events of the Holocaust. The speakers presented on the heated debate about the role of Pope Pius XII, examined the role of Catholic antisemitism, inaction by many Church leaders, and

Past Powell-Heller Holocaust Conferences 2018 Powell-Heller Conference for Holocaust EducationThe 2018 Powell-Heller Conference for Holocaust Education, in its 11th year at Pacific Lutheran University, was dedicated to exploring the role of medical science and the Holocaust. In the last decades, historical research on Nazi Germany has focused on sites of terror- especially concentration camps and extermination camps. Despite a multitude of works exploring these places of terror, comparatively

Past Powell-Heller Holocaust Conferences 2016 Powell-Heller Conference for Holocaust EducationThe Ninth Annual Powell-Heller Conference for Holocaust Education “Women and the Holocaust” took place Oct. 17-19. In the words of historian Myrna Goldenberg, both sexes experienced “different horrors, but the same hell.” Our conference scholars will present their latest research on women in the Holocaust — not as just victims, but as survivors, rescuers, collaborators and even as perpetrators. John

filmmaker Moderator: Robert P. Ericksen, Mayer Chair of Holocaust Studies, Emeritus, PLU Refreshments in lobby following filmThursday, October 24th9:00 a.m. – Registration (Grey Area/lobby, AUC) 10:00 - 11:35 a.m. – Ghettos and Resistance Work (Regency Room, AUC) Panel sponsored by Steve Baral“Telling Their Own Stories: Jewish Victim Diaries and Archives in the Warsaw and Vilna Ghettos” – Amy Simon This presentation explores the ways in which Yiddish diarists writing in the Warsaw and Vilna ghettos