Americans and the Holocaust
The Holocaust was the systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. Holocaust history raises important questions about what the international community, including the United States, could have done to stop the rise of Nazism in Germany and its assault on Europe’s Jews. Questions include: What did Americans know? How did Americans respond? What more could have been done?
Americans and the Holocaust looks closely at America’s role in this history. The United States alone could not have prevented the Holocaust, but more could have been done to save some of the six million Jews that were killed. This exhibition examines the motives, pressures, and fears that shaped Americans’ responses to Nazism, war, and genocide.
Please Note: The following programs are subject to change at this time until the speakers are finalized. Additional programming may also be added.
Opening Event: America and the Holocaust
Barbara Burstin, University of Pittsburgh
Dr. Burstin is an expert on America and the Holocaust as well as Jewish history in Western Pennsylvania. She will speak from her scholarship about how Americans viewed the Holocaust and make connections to the history of Western Pennsylvania. This program was made possible with support from Portage Learning.
Beaver County and the Holocaust
Eric Lidji, Heinz History Center
Mr. Lidji is an expert on Jewish history in Western Pennsylvania. His presentation will focus on connections between Holocaust history and the history of Western Pennsylvania. This program was made possible with support from the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, in association with Beth Samuel Jewish Center.
Generations Speaker
Deborah Stueber is the daughter of two Holocaust survivors, Kurt and Edith Leuchter. As hidden children, their paths crossed briefly in a French orphanage. This is just a part of their story, separately and together: surviving the Holocaust, fighting Nazis in the French Resistance, and making a new life in America. Ms. Stueber will make a presentation of her parents’ experience after which they join virtually for a Q & A time. Ms. Stueber is part of the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh’s Generations Speakers Bureau.
“Repairing the World: Stories from the Tree of Life”
October 27 program/REACH
This panel presentation and documentary screening will focus on the experiences of survivors and families of those who were killed at the shooting against three congregations at the Tree of Life synagogue on October 27, 2018, in Pittsburgh and the problem of antisemitism in American society. Connections will be made to the exhibit through the inclusion of information about the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society which assisted with the resettlement of Holocaust victims.
Support for this program also comes from these community partners:
