September 04, 2009

Holocaust Historian to launch new book

On Thursday, September 10, Deborah Dwork, Rose Professor of Holocaust History and the director of Clark University's Strassler Family Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, will discuss her new book, "Flight From the Reich: Refugee Jews, 1933-1946" (W.W. Norton & Co., April 2009), at 7:30 p.m. in Tilton Hall, 2nd floor of the Higgins University Center, 950 Main Street, Worcester.

The book--her fourth co-authored with Professor Robert Jan Van Pelt of Waterloo University-- is built around the stories of Hitler's first victims, Jews who fled Germany and Austria between 1933 and 1939. The book examines the ever-dwindling choices open to asylum seekers, and the often painful decisions of the people who dealt with them – consuls, immigration officers and other government officials, church, health and social workers, volunteers and private individuals. Government policy and individual practice, and international action and local initiatives loomed large in this chapter of Holocaust history.

Adam Kirsh of The New Republic writes, "The refugees Dwork and van Pelt write about…were largely assimilated Jews in an advanced, urban society, and their stories offer the all-too-imaginable scenario of law-abiding citizens whose government turns, gradually but inexorably, into their enemy."

Dwork told Jewish Week that "the past can offer us guideposts and points to think about," referring to current examples of economic and political refugees and how communities might prepare for the absorption of such refugees. "When I look at the way Jewish refugees have enriched communities where they settled -- in terms of human capital, not money -- I feel great about refugees coming to my community, and look forward to their participation," she said.

A reception will follow the book launch. For more information, please call 508-793-8897.

For more information on the book, visit http://www.amazon.com/Flight-Reich-Refugee-Jews-1933-1946/dp/0393062295

The mission of the Strassler Family Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies is to educate undergraduate and graduate students about genocide and the Holocaust; to host a lecture series, free of charge and open to the public; to use scholarship to address current problems stemming from the murderous past; and to participate in the public discussion about a host of issues ranging from the significance of state-sponsored denial of the Armenian genocide and well-funded denial of the Holocaust to intervention in and prevention of genocidal situations today.