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Graduate Colloquium Series: Ryan Abt (HIST) 9/17/19

“Holocaust Lessons: Representations of the Murder of Europe’s Jews in American Education, 1933-1945” Tuesday, September 17, 2019, 4-5 p.m. Location: 311 Glasscock Building Ryan Abt Ph.D. candidate| Department of History, 2019-2020 Glasscock Graduate Research Fellow Abstract: Scholars have often treated American Holocaust memory as having begun in the 1960s. Works considering the ways that Americans […]

“Holocaust Lessons: Representations of the Murder of Europe’s Jews in American Education, 1933-1945”

Tuesday, September 17, 2019, 4-5 p.m.
Location: 311 Glasscock Building

Ryan Abt
Ph.D. candidate| Department of History, 2019-2020 Glasscock Graduate Research Fellow

Abstract:
Scholars have often treated American Holocaust memory as having begun in the 1960s. Works considering the ways that Americans understood the murder of Europe’s Jews during the period immediately after WWII have remained limited. This study demonstrates that American educators actively engaged in discourse about the plight of Europe’s Jews even prior to the end of the war.

This work underscores the different language used by American educators in their discussions of what later became known as the Holocaust. They emphasized the place of Nazi anti-Semitism in the context of other Nazi beliefs and actions. The educators of the pre-war and WWII years saw the assault on the Jews as a failing of totalitarian government. As a consequence, they turned to democracy as the answer to the problems of prejudice, injustice, and genocide.


The Graduate Colloquium offers graduate students an opportunity to discuss a work-in-progress with faculty and graduate students from different disciplines. By long-standing practice, colloquium presenters provide a draft of their current research, which is made available to members of the Glasscock Center listserv. Each colloquium begins with the presenter’s short (10-15 minute) exposition of the project, after which the floor is open for comments and queries. The format is by design informal, conversational, and interdisciplinary.

The Glasscock Center extends a warm invitation to faculty and students to join in a discussion of Ryan’s work-in-progress. The paper is available to members of the Center’s listserv, or by contacting the Glasscock Center by phone at (979) 845-8328 or by e-mail at glasscock@tamu.edu.

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