The 54th Annual Scholars’ Conference on the Holocaust and the Churches

“There and Then, Here and Now”

March 2 through 4, 2024

Hosted by The Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies, Harry W. Bass Jr. School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology.

Saturday, March 2

Check-in and registration will be open from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.

7:30 to 9 p.m.: Opening dinner for presenters and invited guests in the Discovery Ballroom.

Dr. Nils Roemer, The University of Texas at Dallas

• Dean of the Harry W. Bass Jr. School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology
• Director of the Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies
• Arts, Humanities, and Technology Distinguished University Chair
• Stan and Barbara Rabin Distinguished Professor in Holocaust Studies

Dr. Inga H. Musselman, The University of Texas at Dallas

• Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost
• Cecil H. Green Distinguished Chair of Academic Leadership

Eternal Flame Award – Father Patrick Desbois

Presented by Dr. David Patterson, Hillel A. Feinberg Distinguished Chair of Holocaust Studies, The University of Texas at Dallas

Sunday, March 3

Check-in will be open from 8 a.m. through the end of the conference.

8 to 9 a.m.: Morning reception with coffee and light breakfast in Inspiration Hall.

• Coffee, Tea, Water, and a Pastry Assortment
• Beverage station will be open throughout the day

9 to 10:30 a.m.: Welcome and keynote in The Discovery Ballroom.

• Opening Remarks by Dr. Nils Roemer
• Michael and Elaine Jaffe Lecture presented by Marco Gonzalez, Director of Yahad-In Unum. “The Legacy of the Holocaust by Bullets in Contemporary Mass Crimes and Genocides”

10:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.: Session One.

“(In)Justice and the Holocaust”

The Apollo Room. Chaired by Dr. Zohar Segev.

Dr. Isaac Amon

• Director of Academic Research, Jewish Heritage Alliance
• “‘History holds no parallel to these horrors;’ The Holocaust and the Nuremberg Trials”

Professor Paul R. Bartrop

• Professor Emeritus of History, Florida Gulf Coast University
• “When Injustice Was Legal: Nazi Judges as Perpetrators of the Holocaust”

Ben Portugal

• PhD Student, The University of Texas at Dallas
• “Trial of the Century: Dallas Morning News Coverage of the Eichmann Trial”

“The Evolving Nebraska Digital Narrative in Holocaust Memory and Education.”

The Gemini Room. Chaired by Katie Fisher.

• Beth Dotan, Research Assistant Professor
• Ari Kohen, Director, Norman and Bernice Harris Center for Judaic Studies
• Laura Weakly, Metadata Encoding Specialist, The University of Nebraska-Lincoln

12:30 to 1:45 p.m.: Lunch

The Discovery Ballroom. Performance by the UT Dallas Chamber Singers.

2 to 3:30 p.m. Session Two.

“Victims from the Periphery.”

The Apollo Room. Chaired by Dr. Hanno Berger.

Jennifer Cantrell-Sutor

• PhD Candidate, The University of Texas at Dallas
• “Porrajmos: The Devouring of the History of the Romani Genocide”

Ernst Schneidereit

• Education Consultant and Teacher
• “A Stand for Conscience: Presenting a History of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Third Reich at the European Parliament”

“Soldiers and the Holocaust.”

The Gemini Room. Chaired by Dr. Debbie Pfister.

Jonathan Cordish

• Master of Arts in History Candidate, The Citadel
• “The Myth of the ‘Clean’ Wehrmacht: Post-War Representations of the Wehrmacht and Their Impact on Holocaust Studies”

Evelyn Loftin

• Masters Student, Liberty University
• “The Female Face of Brutality: Examining the Gruesome Acts of SSHelferinnen”

Igor Kotler

• President and Executive Director, Museum of Human Rights, Freedom, and Tolerance
• “Letters of Soviet Jewish Soldiers and Officers: Underresearched Holocaust Sources”

3:45 to 5 p.m.: Op-Ed Discussion.

“There and Then, Here and Now; Where Are You?”

The Gemini Room | Facilitated by Rev. Dr. Henry F. Knight

5:15 to 6:30 p.m.: Dinner.

The Discovery Ballroom.

6:30 to 7:15 p.m: Public reception.

Inspiration Hall.

7:15 to 8:30 p.m.: Keynote, Mitchell L. and Miriam Lewis Barnett Lecture

Presented by Dr. Charlotte Schallié.

• Professor of Germanic Studies
• Chair of the Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies
• University of Victoria

“But I Live: Three Stories of Child Survivors of the Holocaust”

Thank you

Thanks to the generous support of the Jaffe and Barnett families, the Annual Scholars’ Conference has two endowed lectures, the Michael and Elaine Jaffe Lecture and the Mitchell L. and Miriam Lewis Barnett Lecture. Both are open to the public and held annually in conjunction with the ASC.

Learn more about these lectures, including details about and recordings of previous presenters.

Monday, March 4

8 to 9 a.m.: Morning Reception and Midrash Session.

Coffee, Tea, Water, and a Parfait Bar in Inspiration Hall.

The Covenanted Way: A Still Stumbling Venture

• The Gemini Room
• Midrashic Reflections on Gen. 15 and Romans 11: A Post-Shoah Dialogue
• Rev. Dr. Henry F. Knight, Dr. Steven Leonard Jacobs, Prof. David Patterson, and Dr. Gary A. Phillips

9 to 10 a.m.: Welcome and Special Reception

The Discovery Ballroom

Beyond Numbers: Connecting Threads of Remembrance in Data from Polish Holocaust Victims

Digital Studies of the Holocaust Team, The University of Texas at Dallas

• Led by Dr. Nils Roemer, Stan and Barbara Rabin Distinguished Professor in Holocaust Studies
• Katie Fisher, Research Assistant, Belofsky Fellow
• Yannis Soonjung Kwon, Undergraduate Research Apprentice
• Siddhant Somani, MS Business Analytics
• Digvijaysinh Gohil, MS Business Analytics

10:15 a.m. to noon: Session Three.

Honoring the Past.

The Apollo Room | Chaired by Prof. Paul R. Bartrop

Dr. Daniel R. Neuspiel

• Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics, Atrium Health
• “Sanctuary and Victim: The Legacy of a Medical School that Welcomed Jewish Students and Refugees from Naziism”

Professor Zohar Segev

• Professor of Jewish History, University of Haifa
• “Remembering and Rebuilding: The World Jewish Congress and American Jewry in the 1940s and 1950s”

Dr. Darlene Cheyenne Martin

• Rebecca and Edwin Gale Distinguished Professor, The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
• “Health Professionals’ Courage in Helping Save Children and Adults with Disabilities During the Holocaust”

Matteo Hubalek

• Austrian Remembrance Servant
• The University of Texas at Dallas
• “Memory as a Responsibility: Austria’s Initiative to Deal with Its History”

Remembrance and Accountability.

The Gemini Room. Dr. Gary A Phillips

Dr. J.E. Wolfson

• State Coordinator of Education, Texas Holocaust, Genocide, and Antisemitism Advisory Commission
• “‘The Shape and Fatality of Truth’: Playing for Time Through the Disharmonies of Adaptation”

Karen Franklin

• Director of Family Research, Leo Baeck Institute
• “Restitution and Remembrance: An Ongoing Project to Connect Heirs to their Cultural Patrimony”

Juliana Taimoorazy

• PhD Student, The University of Texas at Dallas
• “Primo Levi’s ‘Shema’, a Solemn Call to Action”

John Kalkanli

• PhD student, The University of Texas at Dallas
• “Simon Wiesenthal: A Journey for Justice and Forgiveness After the Holocaust”

12:15 to 1:15 p.m.: Lunch.

1:30 to 3 p.m.: Session Four.

Creative Reflections

The Apollo Room. Chaired by Dr. Igor A. Kotler

Dr. Gary A. Phillips

• Professor of Religion Emeritus, Wabash College
• “We Need to Take Children Away: Giving Voice to Suffering through the Artwork of Samuel Bak”

Dr. Susan Miller

• Chair, Department of Family Medicine, Houston Methodist Hospital
• “How Music Survived the Third Reich”

Dr. Andrew Weinstein

• Professor of Art History, State University of New York
• “Contemporary Artists on Scientific Research Subjects in Nazi Times and the Present”

Teaching and Understanding the Holocaust

The Gemini Room. Chaired by Dr. David Patterson

Jeeah Ham

• PhD Student, The University of Texas at Dallas
• “The Detrimental Consequences of Excluding Judaism in the Pedagogy of Holocaust Literature within South Korean Higher Education”

Dr. Steven Jacobs

• Professor of Religious Studies, The University of Alabama
• “Holocaust? Genocide? Pogrom? On The Use/Misuse and Appropriation/Misappropriation of Language”

3:15 to 4:45 p.m.: Session Five

Survival and Suffering

The Apollo Room. Chaired by Dr. Steven Jacobs

Dr. Lorraine Madway

• Associate Dean for Special Collections, University of Alabama (Retired)
• “The Kasztner Controversy and the Politics and Ethics of Negotiating with Nazis to Save Jews in Hungary in 1944”

Dr. Yitzchak Kerem

• Professor of History, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
• “One People, Two Diverse Positions in the Holocaust: Rescue of Jews in Muslim Albania verse Albanian Kosovar Nazi Collaboration in Kosovo”

Masrufa Ayesha Nusrat

• PhD Student, The University of Texas at Dallas
• “Mapping a Memory of Trauma: Memorialization of Women’s War Narratives”

Precursors and Echoes of the Holocaust

The Gemini Room | Chaired by Dr. Charles Asher Small

Dr. Christine Maxwell

• Research Fellow, Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy
• “Modern Protocols: Summarizing the Original Protocols of the Elders of Zion to Gain New Perspectives on Contemporary Antisemitism”

Aaron David Fruh

• President, Israel Team Advocates
• “An Examination of the Anti-Judaism and Antisemitism Woven into the Fabric of Contemporary Christian Nationalism in the US”

Angie Simmons

• PhD Candidate, The University of Texas at Dallas
• “Violent Utopia: Searching for the Roots of Modern Violence”

5 to 6 p.m.: Special Presentation

The Apollo Room. Chaired by Rev. Dr. Henry Knight

In the Aftermath of 10/7: Historical Background and Current Antisemitism on Campus and in the Community

Dr. David Patterson

• Hillel A. Feinberg Distinguished Chair in Holocaust Studies, The University of Texas at Dallas

Dr. Charles Asher Small

• Director, The Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy

6:15 to 7:30 p.m.: Closing Dinner

The Discovery Ballroom

Thank You

We are grateful to the University and our supporters whose generosity has made the Holocaust Studies Program and what we do possible. With hundreds of students every year in our classes, and a large field of studies revolving around the topic of the Holocaust, we are achieving our critical mission of “Teaching the Past, Changing the Future.”

List of sponsors of the conference.

Keynotes

Michael and Elaine Jaffe Lecuture

Sunday, March 3 at 9 a.m.

“The Legacy of the Holocaust by Bullets in Contemporary Mass Crimes and Genocides.”

Marco Gonzalez
Yahad-In Unum

While the Jews of Western Europe were deported to extermination camps forsystematic execution, in Eastern Europe, the Einsatzgruppen units pursued a singular mission following the invasion of the Soviet Union. Their goal was to annihilate Jews and Roma residing in the smallest towns of these countries, a tragic chapter known by historians as the “Holocaust by bullets.” Unlike Auschwitz, which remains a singular historical site, the killings by bullets against innocent people endure as part of the ideology followed by perpetrators to this day. This model of mass shooting became a template for modern mass crimes and genocides post-WWII.

Marco Gonzalez is the Director of Yahad-In Unum (“Together in One”), a non-governmental organization with over twenty years of investigative expertise dedicated to discovering genocide wherever it is found around the world,providing documented proof of crimes against humanity, and serving as a voice of protest on behalf of all past and present victims of systemic hate crimes and mass murder. Working closely with the organization’s renowned president and founder, Father Patrick Desbois, Marco and his teams have scoured Eastern Europe for witnesses and corroborating evidence of Nazi war crimes perpetrated by the Einsatzgruppen.

Mitchell L. and Miriam Lewis Barnett Lecture

Sunday, Mach 3 at 7 p.m.

“But I Live”: Three Stories of Child Survivors of the Holocaust

Dr. Charlotte Schallié
University of Victoria

“But I Live”: Three Stories of Child Survivors of the Holocaust (New Jewish Press, 2022), a collection of three graphic novellas, renders oral testimonies into distinct visual narratives. For each of the three novellas, a Holocaust survivor was paired with a comics artist to co-create a graphic narrative drawing on the survivors’ lived experiences before, during, and after the Holocaust. In this presentation, Dr. Charlotte Schallié will provide insights into the process of co-creation, the notion of relational memory, and the importance of honoring reciprocity in survivor-led testimony-sharing practices.

Charlotte Schallié is a Professor of Germanic Studies and Chair of the Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies at the University of Victoria(British Columbia, Canada). Her teaching and research interests include memory studies, visual culture studies & graphic narratives, teaching and learning about the Holocaust, genocide and human rights education,community-engaged participatory research and arts-based action research.Together with Dr. Andrea Webb (UBC), she is the project co-director of a 7-year SSHRC-funded Partnership Grant entitled “Visual Storytelling and Graphic Art in Genocide and Human Rights Education.”

Eternal Flame Award

The Eternal Flame Award is given to acknowledge individuals whose words and actions have endeavored to assure that we remember the horrific past and murder of six million Jews during the Holocaust and to build a better future for all humanity.

Previous recipients of The Eternal Flame Award include: Yehuda Bauer, Michael Berenbaum, Harry James Cargas, John S. Conway, A. Roy Eckardt, Yaffa Eliach, Emil Fackenheim, Abraham H. Foxman, Gideon Hausner, Peter Hoffmann, His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan, Beate Klarsfeld, Henry F. Knight, Lawrence L. Langer, Richard Libowitz, Franklin Littell, Marcia Sachs Littell, Hubert Locke, Elisabeth Maxwell, Zsuzsanna Ozsváth, David Patterson, Nils Roemer, Richard Rubenstein, Martin Rumscheidt, Vidal Sassoon, Gotfried Wagner, Elie Wiesel, Felix Zandman*

*of blessed memory

This year’s recipient is Father Patrick Desbois, a Catholic priest, author of the book Holocaust by Bullets, and president of Yahad–In Unum, a global humanitarian organization he founded in 2004 dedicated to identifying and commemorating the sites of Jewish and Roma mass executions in Eastern Europe during World War II. Father Desbois has devoted his life to researching the Holocaust, fighting antisemitism.

In Memoriam

“This year we mourn the loss of Lawrence Langer, last year’s recipient of the Eternal Flame Award. Professor Langer was among the courageous scholars who established the field of Holocaust studies, and without his seminal contributions to the study of Holocaust literature and survivor testimony, none of us would be here today.”

Dr. David Patterson,
Hillel A. Feinberg Distinguished Chair of Holocaust Studies at UT Dallas

Special Exhibit: Women at the Frontline of Mass Violence Worldwide

In conjunction with Father Patrick Desbois’ visit to UT Dallas in February to present the Einspruch Lectures on the Holocaust as well as Marco Gonzalez’s presentation of the Michael and Elaine Jaffe Lecture at this year’s ASC, the Ackerman Center is currently displaying Yahad-In Unum’s traveling exhibit, “Women at the Frontline of Mass Violence Worldwide” featuring images and testimonies of women who were victims of mass violence. The temporary exhibition is housed at the east wing of the Edith O’Donnell Arts and Technology Bldg. (ATC) through March 8.

This unique collection of nineteen portraits and testimonies aims to give a voice to women who were victims of genocide. The installment features research and stories of mass violence survivors from various regions and periods, including:

• The extermination of Jews by Einsatzgruppen in the Nazi-occupied Soviet territories during WWII.
• The genocide of the Roma people in Eastern Europe between 1941 and 1944.
• The attacks and massacres of the indigenous communities during Guatemala’s armed conflict between 1960 and 1996.
• The Yazidi genocide in Iraq and Syria by ISIS militants in the mid-2010s

About The University of Texas at Dallas

Founded in 1969, The University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas) began as a modest collection of research stations in a North Texas cotton field. Today, UT Dallas’ footprint is vastly different, serving the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex and the State of Texas as a global leader in innovative, high quality research and education. Its mission is to:

1. produce engaged graduates who are well-prepared for life, work, and leadership;
2. advance excellent educational and research programs in the natural and social sciences, engineering and technology, business, and arts and humanities; and
3. transform ideas into actions that benefit the economic, social, and cultural lives of the people of Texas.

About the Ackerman Center

The Ackerman Center is part of the Harry W. Bass Jr. School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology, which combines the arts and humanities with the study of emerging technologies. Founded by Holocaust scholar and survivor Dr. Zsuzsanna Ozsváth in 1986 with the mission of Teaching the Past,Changing the Future, the Holocaust Studies Program at UT Dallas has earned an international reputation for excellence. The Ackerman Center has grown into a distinguished and publicly-engaged academic center that offers an in-depth view of the Holocaust, genocide, and human rights studies within a dedicated facility. Among the top tier of Holocaust research programs in the country, the Ackerman Center has five endowed faculty positions, which are complemented by additional part and full-time professors and lecturers. With the recent rise of anti-Semitism and human rights violations, the lessons of the Holocaust are more important than ever in the 21st century. By advancing a continuous engagement with the past, the Ackerman Center will be a vital part of promoting solutions to the challenges to global justice and peace in our world.

About the Conference

The Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies at The University of Texas at Dallas is proud to be the permanent home of The Annual Scholars’ Conference on the Holocaust and the Churches (ASC) since 2018.

Founded in 1970 by Franklin H. Littell* and Hubert G. Locke*, the Annual Scholars’ Conference addresses the historical significance of the Holocaust through scholarship that is interfaith, international, and interdisciplinary. The ASC provides ad invaluable forum for scholars to discuss and advance Holocaust research, ensuring the valuable lessons of the Holocaust remain relevant for today’s world.

Message from the Advisory Committee

Welcome to the 54th gathering of the Annual Scholars’ Conference on the Holocaust and the Churches. Like Franklin and Hubert before us, we are dedicated to a critical examination of the roots of the Holocaust and the still present conditions that provide the soil in which those roots grow and prosper. Our conference continues to be distinguished by its interfaith,international, and intergenerational composition along with its commitment to critical, searching looks in the confessional mirrors of who we are in relationship to those whose identities are different than our own. Welcome to this important and continuing conversation.

Rev. Dr. Henry F. Knight, Chair of the ASC Advisory Committee Professor Emeritus of Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Keene State College

Learn more about the conference and its founders.

Advisory Committee

• Dr. Victoria Aaron
• Dr. Michael Berenaum
• Dr. Pedro J. Corona Gonazlez
• Dr. Matthew Hone
• Rev. Dr. Henry F. Knight, Chair
• Prof. Richard Libowitz
• Dr. Darlene Cheyenne Martin
• Dr. Christine Malina Maxwell
• Prof. James Moore
• Dr. Joan Peterson
• Dr. Didier Pollefeyt
• Dr. Asaf Romirowsky

Past Venues

• 1970 | Wayne State University (Detroit, MI)
• 1971 | National Conference of Christians and Jews (NCCJ) (New York City)
• 1972 | NCCJ (San Jose, CA)
• 1973-80 | NCCJ (New York City)
• 1981-84 | University of Washington (Seattle, WA)
• 1985 | Anne Frank Institute/Temple University (Philadelphia, PA)
• 1986 | Chicago Theological Seminary (Evanston, IL)
• 1987-88 | U. S. Holocaust Memorial Council (Washington, DC)
• 1989 | Anne Frank Institute (Philadelphia, PA)
• 1990 | Vanderbilt University (Nashville, TN)
• 1991 | Stockton University (Galloway, NJ)
• 1992 | The University of Washington (Seattle, WA)
• 1993 | The University of Tulsa (Tulsa, OK)
• 1994 | Rider University (Lawrenceville, NJ)
  Humboldt University (Berlin, Germany)
• 1995 | Brigham Young University (Provo, UT)
• 1996 | University of St. Thomas (St. Paul, MN)
• 1997 | University of South Florida (Tampa, FL)
• 1998 | University of Washington (Seattle, WA)
• 1999 | Nassau Community College (New York , NY)
• 2000-01 | Saint Joseph’s University (Philadelphia, PA)
• 2002 | Kean University (Union, NJ)
• 2003 | Saint Joseph’s University (Philadelphia, PA)
• 2004 | Eckhart College (St. Petersburg, FL)
• 2005 | Saint Joseph’s University (Philadelphia, PA)
• 2006-07 | Case Western Reserve University (Cincinnati, OH)
• 2008 | Keene State College (Keene, NH)
• 2009 | Stockton University (Galloway, NJ)
• 2010 | Saint Joseph’s University (Philadelphia, PA)
• 2011-12 | Monroe College (Rochester, NY)
• 2013-14 | American Jewish University (Los Angeles, CA)
• 2015-17 | Temple University (Philadelphia, PA)