Antisemitism, ‘Volksgemeinschaft’ and Violence: Inclusion and Exclusion in Nazi Germany
Holocaust Memorial Day Lecture – Pears Institute for the study of Antisemitism, Birkbeck, University of London in collaboration with the Institute of Historical Research
Speaker: Professor Michael Wildt, Humboldt University, Berlin
Date: 27 January 2016
Time: 6.30-8.00pm
Venue:
Wolfson Suite, Institute of Historical Research, Senate House, Malet Street, London, WC1E 7HU
Free event open to all: Book your place
Michael Wildt is professor of Modern German History at Humboldt University, Berlin and renowned scholar on Nazi Germany. He is the author of Hitler’s Volksgemeinschaft and the Dynamics of Racial Exclusion: Violence Against Jews in Provincial Germany (Berghan, 2012).
Anthropology, Race Theory and the Jewish Connection
Pears Institute for the study of Antisemitism, Birkbeck, University of London
Speakers: Professor Dan Stone, Royal Holloway, University of London
Date: 9 February 2016
Time: 6.30-8.00pm
Venue:
Birkbeck University of London, Bloomsbury, London WC1E 7HX. Room B35, Torrington Square main entrance
Free event open to all: Book your place
In the nineteenth century, anthropologists, eager to discover the origins of and demarcations between different “races”, regularly looked to the Jews – believed to be a pure and long-existing race – to test their theories. Taking these early anthropological ideas we can see how modern race theory was constructed. This lecture will deal with notions of racial purity, racial origins and the desire of pioneer anthropologists to “sort out” different racial groups. Professor Stone will conclude by connecting the discussion with today’s attempts to discover “Jewish genes” and to develop ethnically-directed medicine.
Dan Stone is Professor of Modern History at Royal Holloway, University of London. His research interests include: the history of anthropology, the history of and interpretation of the Holocaust and comparative genocide. His most recent publications include: Goodbye to All That? The Story of Europe since 1945 (Oxford University Press, 2014) and The Liberation of the Camps: The End of the Holocaust and its Aftermath (Yale University Press, 2015).