Educating about Genocide and Mass Atrocities
The history of genocide, mass atrocities, crimes against humanity and their continuing consequences stand at the core of the Strassler Center at Clark University. Home to a uniquely rich undergraduate program and a landmark doctoral program, the Strassler Center is the first and only institute of its kind. Since 1998, it has gained international standing as the foremost PhD program training students in Holocaust History, the Armenian Genocide, and other genocides perpetrated around the globe. Center faculty and students foster important scholarship and germinate significant ideas as conveners of a robust series of international symposia, workshops, and conferences that broaden the boundaries of genocide studies by introducing less known cases and novel approaches. The causes, conduct, and consequences of genocide are complex and require multifaceted approaches. The Strassler Center is committed to pushing boundaries in order to foster greater knowledge as well as to train professionals who hope to find solutions, offer healing and aid, education, and opportunities for memorialization.
Our Faculty and Expertise
Thomas Kühne, Ph.D.
Director, Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies; Strassler Colin Flug Chair in the Study of Holocaust History; Professor, Department of History
Research Highlights
Elyse Semerdjian, Ph.D.
Robert Aram and Marianne Kaloosdian and Stephen and Marian Mugar Chair of Armenian Genocide Studies; Professor, Department of History
Research Highlights
Ken MacLean, Ph.D.
Professor, Sustainability and Social Justice; Professor, Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies and Director: Genocide and Human Rights Concentration
Research Highlights
Frances Tanzer, Ph.D.
Rose Professor of Holocaust Studies and Modern Jewish History and Culture; Associate Professor, Department of History
Research Highlights
- Vanishing Vienna: Modernism, Philosemitism, and Jews in a Postwar City
- Podcast: Vanishing Vienna
- USHMM Conference – “Fleeing the Nazis: Austrian Jewish Refugees to the United States Panel II”
- “Performing the Austrian-Jewish (Negative) Symbiosis: Stella Kadmon’s Viennese Stage from Red Vienna to the Second Republic”


Land Acknowledgment
We acknowledge the long history of Nipmuc peoples and their bonds of kinship on the land where the Strassler Center community teaches, learns, and researches about genocide and mass violence.
Strassler Center in Focus
February 2025 Newsletter
Thank you for being a part of the Strassler Center community. Please enjoy this newsletter, featuring upcoming events, news about graduate and undergraduate students, and faculty updates.
Historian’s new book explores Jewish presence and absence..
In her new book, “Vanishing Vienna: Modernism, Philosemitism, and Jews in a Postwar City,” Rose Professor of Holocaust Studies and Jewish Culture Frances Tanzer examines how Austrians reimagined Vienna during and after the Nazi period.
Featured Event
Lessons and Legacies of the Holocaust: Inaugural Emerging Scholars Conference
November 6 @ 4:00 pm – November 9 @ 2:00 pm
The Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies in cooperation with The Holocaust Educational Foundation of Northwestern University (NEFNU) is pleased to host the Lessons & Legacies of the Holocaust Inaugural Emerging Scholars Conference.
Upcoming Events
Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies
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Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies
Clark University
950 Main Street
Worcester, MA 01610 - 508-793-8897
- 508-793-8827 Fax