Posted March 30, 2015

Temple hosts international conference on the Holocaust

Sharon Steeley
Provost Dai, Marcia Sachs Littell and Temple Professor Richard Libowitz took part in the Annual Scholars' Conference on the Holocaust and the Churches, hosted for the first time in its 45 year history at Temple University.

For the first time in its 45 year history, the Annual Scholars’ Conference on the Holocaust and the Churches was hosted by Temple University, March 14-16. The conference was co-founded by Franklin Littell, a professor of religion for 25 years at Temple. Known as the father of modern Holocaust studies in America, Littell established many of the nation’s earliest programs in Holocaust studies, including a doctoral program at Temple.

Littell’s rich repository of speeches, lectures and manuscripts, amassed from 1940 to 2002, are preserved at Temple University Libraries’ Special Collections Research Center. Called the Franklin H. Littell Papers and the Franklin H. and Marcia Sachs Littell Library, the collection is available for scholars, teachers and students.

This year’s conference coincided with the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II and 100 years since the Armenian genocide.

“This conference was a unique opportunity for scholars to share their research and discuss the relevancy of the Holocaust to contemporary society,” said Provost Hai-Lung Dai, who served as the honorary host chairman. “Christian and Jewish scholars came together to remember and examine the lessons of these horrific events and encourage religious and ethnic tolerance and respect.”

Nearly 100 scholars, students, clergy, community leaders and Holocaust survivors from around the world attended three days of presentations and sessions moderated by world-renowned experts on the Shoah and genocide.

Several members of the Temple community were actively involved, including Professor Richard Libowitz, who was conference program chairman. Franklin Littel’s widow, Marcia Sachs Littell, EDU ’71, ’76, ’90, international scholar on the Holocaust and professor emeritus at Stockton University, served as vice president of the annual conference.

Featured at the conference was a presentation on rising anti-Semitism throughout Europe and conditions in France following the mass murders that took place there earlier this year. The presentation was delivered by Shimon Samuels, director for international relations at the Simon Wiesenthal Center, headquartered in Los Angeles.

Making its Philadelphia public premiere during the conference was Treblinka’s Last Witness, the story of the last-known living survivor of the Nazi extermination camp Treblinka. Academy Award–winning filmmaker and scholar Michael Berenbaum and Holocaust educator Miriam Klein Kassenoff led a discussion following the documentary.

The oldest of its kind in North America, the conference provided an invaluable forum for discussion on the challenge of respecting and understanding history while recognizing that the deep-seated issues of the Holocaust are still present today.

- Hedy Taub Baker
 
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