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UNC remembers the Holocaust 75 years after Auschwitz’s liberation

David Engel Lecture-1.JPG
Karen Auerbach, assistant professor with the UNC Department of History, as she introduces David Engel, Professor of Holocaust Studies and of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University, in Hill Hall, Monday, January 27th, 2020. Engel went on to deliver his lecture "What Might We Remember on Holocaust Remembrance Day?".

About 200 students and community members attended the Carolina Center for Jewish Studies’ annual Holocaust Remembrance Day event Monday evening on the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

The lecture, entitled “What Might We Remember on Holocaust Remembrance Day? A Historian’s Reflections,” was delivered by David Engel, a professor of Holocaust studies at New York University. Engel is also the author of six books and dozens of articles on Jewish history and the Holocaust. 

In 2005, the General Assembly of the United Nations designated Jan. 27 as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The date was selected to coincide with the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau — the largest concentration camp established by the Germans — on Jan. 27, 1945, by the Soviet army. 

This annual day of commemoration is intended to honor the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust, along with millions of other victims of the Nazi regime and promote Holocaust education throughout the world. 

Engel began his lecture by conceding that even after decades of studying the Holocaust, the UN’s mandate of remembrance on this day leaves him confused because it is not stated what should be remembered or what lessons should be drawn.

Julia Moore, a first-year student majoring in biology who attended the event, said remembering the Holocaust is valuable, but that remembrance should be grounded in facts.

“I think a lot of it is distorted through people’s opinions and feelings, but I think it’s important to remember the actual facts,” Moore said.

Engel emphasized the value of turning to historians’ work to prevent future genocides.

“It seems to me that although history and memory are sometimes figured as opposing ways of knowing, the work of historians and other scholars who concern themselves with the past can indeed guide the work of commemoration,” Engel said. 

Engel said the mass murder of millions of Jews was not an inevitable outcome, but rather caused by a “perfect storm” of historical developments. 

He identified five key necessary historical developments that led to the Holocaust: economic scarcity, entitlement to resources, lack of another place to go, Adolf Hitler’s specific worldview and World War I. 

Engel stressed that these conditions occurred simultaneously and were connected in ways that allowed them to reinforce one another, which created a powerful, combined effect. 

“Hate by itself is hardly sufficient to create Auschwitz,” Engel said. 

Engel ended his lecture by encouraging more reflection, study and research on the Holocaust, but he said what historians have already learned can help shape a broader research and public policy agenda. 

“We should study the history in order to understand actions and conditions — why humans act in certain circumstances like this — and this gives us, hopefully, at least some tools and knowledge,” Ruth von Bernuth, director of the Carolina Center for Jewish Studies, said.

A 30-minute Q&A followed Engel’s one-hour lecture. 

Caroline Frisch, a first-year majoring in neuroscience who attended the event, said she thought the content of the lecture was meaningful. 

“He kind of took a different perspective than you often see, so I think having different people’s views on the events and how it manifested is really important,” Frisch said.

university@dailytarheel.com

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