In 2007 the Department of History, Political Science and International Studies instituted its History and Political Science Symposium, then simply called a seminar, with a program on the Holocaust.
Given the contemporary world environment in which the leaders of important states in extremely volatile areas of the world actively deny the historical fact that the Holocaust occurred, the Department felt this was a particularly appropriate time to address and discuss this topic. The fact that with every passing day there are fewer survivors of and witnesses to the Holocaust to testify to its reality we foresaw a day when there would be none left to give the testimony: "I was there, I saw." That is why we believed it important to bring together scholars to remind both students and the public of the persecution and systematic destruction of more than six million human beings.
Speakers for that initial program included Dr. Jonathan Goldstein of the University of West Georgia, Dr. Brian Nedvin of Shorter College and Dr. Russell Lemmons of Jacksonville State University. Dr. Lemmons spoke on the topic of "Resistance in Buchenwald Concentration Camp" followed by Dr. Nedvin presenting "Song Literature of the Holocaust" and finally Dr. Goldstein's presentation on "The Jews of Manilla in the Philippines and the Rescue from the Holocaust."
HISTORY AND POLITICAL SCIENCE
SYMPOSIUM 2007
HOLOCAUST
A Public Program Sponsor by
The Department of History, Political Science and International Studies,
Eta Pi Sigma, and Shorter College
8:00 pm Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Brookes Chapel
on the campus of Shorter College
Featured Speakers
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Dr. Russel W. Lemmons
Professor of History, Jacksonville State University
"Resistance in Buchenwald Concentration Camp"
Professor Russel Lemmons has taught at Jacksonville State University since 1993 and been recognized with the College of Letters and Sciences' Distinguished Research and Teaching Awards. His career has focused on the history of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust.
In 1988 he received a Fulbright-Hays grant to study with Professor Wolfgang Wippermann, a leading specialist on Twentieth-Century German History, at the Freie Universität in Berlin Germany. His work with Professor Wippermann contributed to his first book, Goebbels and Der Angriff. He has received too many other awards for study and research into aspects of the Holocaust to list them all and has served on Jacksonville State University's Holocaust Commemoration Committee since 1995 and as its Chair from 1998 to 1999.
He has widely published on the Holocaust including a 60,000 word contribution to the book Holocaust Chronicle and four entries in Richard S. Levy's, Antisemitism: A Historical Encyclopedia of Prejudice and Persecution. He has presented papers on the Holocaust entitled "Buchenwald and the Politics of Memory in the DDR," "Hans Schweitzer's Anti-Semitic Caricatures: The Weimar Years, 1926-1933," and "Confronting Holocaust Denial: Practical Advice" at scholarly conferences. His current research project is tentatively titled "Germany's Eternal Son: the Ernst Thälmann Myth, 1925-1989."
Read the presentation "Resistance in Buchenwald Concentration Camp" |
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Dr. Brian Nedvin
Assistant Professor of Music, Shorter College
"Song Literature of the Holocaust"
Professor Brian Nedvin is an Assistant Professor of Voice and Assistant Chair of the Music Department at Shorter College. He is also an avid student of the Holocaust and is working to develop a program to take Shorter Students on an educational tour of Holocaust sites in 2009.
An operatic tenor Dr. Nedvin has previously performed and lectured on Holocaust music in a "Lecture Recital on Holocaust Song Literature" at the University of North Texas, College of Music.
Read full bio |
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Dr. Jonathan Goldstein
Professor of History, University of West Georgia
"The Jews of Manila and Holocaust Rescue"
Dr. Jonathan Goldstein is a Professor of East Asian History at the University of West Georgia, where he also teaches courses on The Holocaust and the history of Modern Israel. His research specialities are East Asian international relations and the Jewish communities of East, Southeast, and South Asia.
In 1992 he organized and chaired the National Endowment for the Humanities research conference on "Jewish Diasporas in China" at Harvard University Dr. Goldstein's books include The Jews of China [vol. one 1999, vol. two 2000] , and another volume on China and Israel, 1948-1998 [1999].
His current research projects include a comparison of the Jewish communities of Bangkok, Harbin, Manila, Rangoon, Singapore and Surabaja and one on Chinese Consul General Feng Shan Ho as a Holocaust rescuer in Vienna in 1938.
Read the presentation "Shaping Zionist Identity: The Jews of Manila as a Case Study"
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