The Holocaust and Its Memory

The Nazis in Germany committed the worst crimes against humanity in world history. The Holocaust will remain in our collective memory and reminds us constantly of the profound dangers that threaten modern society.  Democracy is a fragile construct. This presentation analyzes the causes and conditions for the rise of the Nazis in Germany, and traces the horrible history of the Holocaust through maps, images, and texts, focusing also on the culture practiced today in Germany in a most moving way.  There is probably no other lesson from the twentieth century more important to keep in mind today than what we know about the Holocaust.

Dr. Albrecht Classen is a university distinguished professor of German Studies at the University of Arizona – where he teaches and researches the European Middle Ages, the early modern age, and modern German-speaking lands, focusing on literature, the visual arts, politics, philosophy, and religion. He has published more than 90 scholarly books, such as on the forest in medieval literature (2015). He has given lectures all over the state of Arizona, the nation, and globally. Over the last 30 years, he has received numerous teaching, research, and service awards, and has been repeatedly nominated for the Dan Shilling Public Humanities Scholar Award.