Holocaust Awareness Series

Schedule of Events

We hope you can join us for these events. For more information, contact Associate Professor of History Vincent Patarino, PhD. Please note all events are subject to change.

• April 2

  Field of Flags Set Up 1pm • Field South of The Plaza | Construction of this year's Field of Flags by CMU faculty, staff and students.
• April 3

  Field of Flags - Moment of Silence Dedication 10:50am • Field South of The Plaza | Sponsored by the Social and Behavioral Sciences Department of Colorado Mesa University and constructed by many volunteers, the Field of Flags display on the campus green southwest of the University Center presents over 2,000 flags representing the major groups targeted by the Nazis during World War II, including Jews, Poles, Soviet citizens, homosexuals, communists/socialists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Freemasons, Roma, Sinti, and the disabled. Each flag represents 5,000 individuals and the colors match the various known color schemes used by the Nazis. Flags will be displayed the entire week, from Monday, April 3 through Saturday, April 8. Grand Junction Pipe and Supply generously donated the flags. Members of the Genders and Sexuality Alliance originally created the posted signs with details about the Field of Flags.
• April 3

  Antisemitism, The Holocaust, and Today's Jew-Hatred: Historic and Current Manifestations and How to Respond 6:30-8pm • Houston Hall 139 | Presented by Scott Levin, Director of the Anti-Defamation League Mountain States Regional Office. It has been a challenging time for the Jewish community around the United States and in Colorado as we are witnessing antisemitic incidents surge to their highest levels in decades. Why is this happening and what can we do about it? How do historic expressions of antisemitism throughout the centuries, including prior to and during the Holocaust, inform our understanding of contemporary manifestations of Jew-hatred, including Holocaust denial and minimization? This 90-minute session led by Scott Levin, Director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Mountain States Regional Office, will provide information and insights about the recent spate of antisemitic incidents, how to understand them, and how to respond. Q&A will follow the presentation.
• April 4
  The Last Laugh - Film screening and discussion with Filmmaker Ferne Pearlstein 6pm, Doors open 5pm • The Avalon Theatre, Downtown Grand Junction | Ferne Pearlstein is a critically acclaimed filmmaker and prize-winning cinematographer. A member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and a 2018 inductee into Brooklyn Jewish Hall of Fame, she has produced and/or directed dozens of films. Among them was The Last Laugh, which was released theatrically in over 25 cities and screened at over 100 film festivals including London, Munich, Jerusalem, and Rome. This 2016 documentary dares to ask: “Are we allowed to joke about the Holocaust?” Following the screening of the film, CMU Trustee David Foster and President John Marshall will moderate a Q&A with director Ferne Pearlstein. Students, faculty, staff, and community members can ask questions and engage in conversation about the film, examining uncomfortable questions made more relevant by the rise of antisemitism and the normalization of hate. The Keynote is sponsored by CMU Civic Forum and the GJ Avalon Theater.
• April 5

  Negotiating the Meaning of Genocide 4:30pm • Houston Hall 139 | Presented by Cecilia Battauz, Assistant Professor of Spanish. In 1948, the United Nations adopted the definition of genocide that is still in use. However, it differs from the one proposed two years earlier which considered political motivations as part of the definition. Historian Anton Weiss-Wendt blames the Soviet Union, which at the time was trying to annex the Baltic States, for opposing the inclusion of political groups as victims of genocide, and for limiting in that way the efficacy of the treaty. This presentation will introduce sociologist Daniel Feierstein’s views on genocide as a social practice and discuss the implications that this new perspective would have in our understanding of the phenomenon. Comparing the Nazi regime with Argentina’s Military Juntas (1976-1983), Feierstein observes similarities in the repressive polices used by both states and concludes that genocide has served the ultimate goal of reorganizing and disciplining society at different levels, including the symbolic. Discussion will follow.
• April 5

  Hotel Rwanda - Film screening 6:30pm • Houston Hall 139 | This session will focus on the 1994 Rwandan genocide through a screening and discussion of the 2004 film, Hotel Rwanda. Nominated for multiple awards, this film depicts the efforts of Paul Rusesabagina to save over 1,000 refugees in a besieged hotel during the Rwandan genocide. Occurring nearly 50 years after the Holocaust, the murder of hundreds of thousands of Tutsi and moderate Hutu reminds us that genocide does not just occur in the distant past. A brief introduction will address the historical events depicted in the film in addition to introducing a number of questions to consider. The subsequent discussion will center on the cinematic depiction of the genocide and Africans more generally, as well as the film’s role in post-genocide reconciliation. Presented by the CMU Chapter of Phi Alpha Theta.
• April 6

  My Italian Secret: The Forgotten Heroes of the Holocaust – Film screening and panel discussion 6:30pm • Tomlinson Library Event Space | Presented by the CMU Library staff. Would you risk your life to save a stranger? The 2014 documentary, My Italian Secret: The Forgotten Heroes, recounts how Italian citizens helped to rescue Jews, partisans, and refugees in Nazi-occupied Italy. One of these stories involves Gino Bartali, a Tour de France-winning cyclist, who helped to transfer documentation for hidden Jews in the frame of his bicycle while pretending to train for a competition. Another story centers on Dr. Giovanni Borromeo, who invented a fictitious disease to scare the SS away from the hospital where he was hiding Jews. An interdisciplinary panel discussion will follow the screening of this documentary film.