By Max Dickstein
The Wagner College Holocaust Center is approaching its 10th anniversary with a packed slate of events for the community. Led by founding director Lori Weintrob since June 2014, the center empowers future generations in empathy, courage, and ethical decision-making in order to combat antisemitism, racism and all forms of prejudice.
Art Produced by Women Prisoners in Auschwitz
October 16, 2023, 1:30 p.m.
Remote via Zoom.
Bozena Karwowska, professor in the Department of Central, Eastern and Northern European Studies and chair of Modern European Studies, the University of British Columbia will discuss the official and “forbidden” art created in Auschwitz with a special focus on women as both artists and subjects, their roles, and how these are relayed through their painted, drawn and written testimonies.
Rescue in Rwanda
October 17, 2023, 1 p.m.
Manzulli Boardroom, Foundation
Co-sponsored by the Department of Anthropology
Hybrid via Zoom.
Jennie E. Burnett, director of the Institute for Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, associate professor in the Department of Anthropology at Georgia State University presents in person research from her new book, “To Save Heaven and Earth: Rescue in the Rwandan Genocide” (Cornell University Press, 2023). Joining Burnett is Providence Umugwaneza, survivor of the genocide against the Tuts and author of a 2022 memoir, “Next Couple Hours.”
Art, Exhibition And Erasure In Nazi Vienna
November 1, 2023, 1:30 p.m.
Kingsborough Community College Holocaust Center
Zoom register online.
Laura Morowitz, professor of Art History at Wagner College discusses her newly published book, Art, Exhibition and Erasure in Nazi Vienna (Routledge 2023). Her book examines three exhibitions of contemporary art held at the Vienna Künstlerhaus during National Socialist rule.
Muslims assisting Jews during the Holocaust
November 2, 2023, 1 p.m.
Wagner Union, Faculty Dining Room
Leo Ullman will present his experiences of hiding in Amsterdam as a child during the Holocaust and how a Muslim businessman helped his family, based on his book, “796 Days” and a film, “There Were Good People Doing Extraordinary Deeds: The Leo Ullman Story.” Ullman has a distinguished career as a lawyer and real estate entrepreneur and serves as chairman of the Foundation for the National Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam, Inc. Imam Tahir Kukaj will make welcome remarks focusing on BESA, the rescue of Jews by Albanian Muslims in the Holocaust. Lori Weintrob, founding director of the Wagner College Holocaust Center, will introduce the program.
Kristallnacht Commemoration with the Jewish Foundation School of Staten Island (JFS-SI)
November 8, 2023, 10 a.m.
Wagner College Holocaust Education and Action Center, Union 201. The middle school students of JFS-SI will join Wagner College students of all faiths in discussions of the importance of the “Night of Broken Glass,” November 9, 1938.
The Egon J. Salmon Commemoration of Kristallnacht and The St. Louis
November 14, 2023, 10 a.m.
Museum of Jewish Heritage, 36 Battery Place, Manhattan | In partnership with NYC Dept. of Education, District 31
Nearly 200 students in the District 31 Borough Student Advisory Committee (B-SAC), representing 11 high schools on Staten Island, will tour the exhibits “What Hate Can Do” and “Courage to Act: Rescue in Denmark.” This event with the Salmon family honors Egon J. Salmon (1924-2022), an eyewitness to Kristallnacht and a World War II veteran.
Love and Light: The Altered Book Project Against Antisemitism
November 15, 2023, 12:30 p.m.
Staten Island Museum
Led by artist Caryn Davis, this mixed-media program guides participants to incorporate recycled and new materials to represent the Jewish and Holocaust history, the diversity of Jewish communities, and the fight against antisemitism. In partnership with the Wagner College Holocaust Center, participants will transform their books into personal treasures. There will also be three public sessions at the St. George Library: October 19 and 26 from 3–6pm, and November 4 from 1–4 p.m.
Leadership Against Hate: Our 10th Anniversary
January 25, 2024, 7 p.m.
Wagner College Holocaust Education and Action Center (Union 201)
Commemoration for International Holocaust Day, featuring Upstander Awards.
Jewish Refugee Scholars at Black Colleges
February 12, 2024, 7 p.m.
Co-sponsored by the History Department
Lillie Johnson Edwards, former founding director of Pan-African Studies and director of American Studies at Drew University on the Jewish refugee scholars who fled Nazi Germany and found positions at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).
Please check back at our website for the zoom link closer to the date.
Rise Up: Young Holocaust Heroes
April 18, 2024, 10 a.m.
St. George Theater, 35 Hyatt Street
The largest youth Holocaust Remembrance in New York City, with over 1,000 students, includes awards for Holocaust Educator of the Year. Wagner College Theater students perform an original play about six Staten Island survivors, the meaning of resistance and being an upstander.
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