Family members say goodbye to a child through a fence at the central prison within the Łódź ghetto, where children, the sick, and the elderly were held before deportation to the Chełmno killing center during the "Gehsperre" Aktion, September 1942. Jewish photographer Mendel Grossman, who was also confined to the ghetto, took this picture. US Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Moshe Zilbar
The Vocabulary of Holocaust Victimhood: Small Words, Big Questions
We live in a paradoxical moment for Holocaust memory. On the one hand, we encounter Holocaust analogies in the media and online nearly every day. And yet, public understanding of Holocaust history is at a low. One way to reengage with the experiences of torment and survival under the Nazis is to study language—the words and phrases that victims used to describe their own plight, in real time. Together, we will delve into the stories behind key terms that Yiddish speakers invented during the Holocaust. Bringing us deep inside daily life in ghettos and camps, these words also help us grapple with contemporary ethical questions.
Opening Remarks
Sara J. Bloomfield, Director, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Dr. Janice Weinman Shorenstein, NY, New York
Speaker
Dr. Hannah Pollin-Galay, Pen Tishkach Chair of Holocaust Studies and Director of the Institute for Holocaust, Genocide, and Memory Studies, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Moderator
Dr. Lisa M. Leff, Director, Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies
During the lecture, we will share reflections on the field of Holocaust Studies submitted by past speakers, including Dr. Mehnaz Afridi (Manhattan University), Dr. Norman J. W. Goda (University of Florida), and others.
This program is free and open to the public, but registration is required. For more information, please contact campusoutreach@ushmm.org.
The Monna and Otto Weinmann Annual Lecture honors Holocaust survivors and their fates, experiences, and accomplishments. Monna Steinbach Weinmann (1906–1991), born in Poland and raised in Austria, fled to England in autumn 1938. Otto Weinmann (1903–1993), born in Vienna and raised in Czechoslovakia, served in the Czechoslovak, French, and British armies; was wounded at Normandy; and received the Croix de Guerre for his valiant contributions during the war. Monna Steinbach and Otto Weinmann married in London in 1941 and immigrated to the United States in 1948.
The Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center’s mission is to ensure the long-term growth and vitality of Holocaust studies. To do that, it is essential to provide opportunities for new generations of scholars. The vitality and the integrity of Holocaust studies require openness, independence, and free inquiry, so that new ideas are generated and tested through peer review and public debate. The opinions of scholars expressed before, during the course of, or after their activities with the Mandel Center do not represent and are not endorsed by the Museum or its Mandel Center.