The Powell and Heller families
are committed to teaching the lessons of the Holocaust to people of all
races and religious beliefs in the Pacific Northwest to prevent its
recurrence and foster mutual understanding and respect. The conference
honors the millions who lost their lives in the Holocaust and survivors
John and Georgette Heller, parents of Harry Heller and Carol Powell
Heller.
Date: October 21, 2008
Location: Scandinavian Studies Center, University Center
Watch NowROBERT (BOB) HERSCHKOWITZ was born in Belgium in 1938. After Germany invaded in 1940, his family escaped to Vichy France. At the end of 1941, the French arrested and put them in Rivesaltes, a concentration camp. He and his pregnant mother were moved into house arrest in 1943. His father then escaped from Rivesaltes and the family fled on foot in September 1943 across the Alps to Switzerland, where they survived the war. He later served as an officer in the Belgian Navy before being recruited by Boeing in 1966 to move to Seattle and work as an engineer. |
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Watch Now| Harry Heller will represent his parents, John and Georgette, Holocaust survivors who reside in New York. | |
Watch Now | Kurt Mayer, former PLU Board of Regents member, will comment on Kristallnacht, including his personal experience of the event. | |
Watch Now
| John Roth, Edward J. Sexton Professor Emeritus of Philosophy Claremont-McKenna College | |
ALAN STEINWEIS, the Hyman Rosenberg Professor of Modern European History and Judaic Studies at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, completed his Ph.D. in history at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. His books include Art, Ideology, and Economics in Nazi Germany: The Reich Chambers of Music, Theater, and the Visual Arts (UNC Press, 1993), and Studying the Jew: Scholarly Antisemitism in Nazi Germany (Harvard University Press), as well as two edited volumes and a book on Kristallnacht forthcoming with Harvard UP. In January Professor Steinweis will take up a new position as Director of the Carolyn and Leonard Miller Center for Holocaust Studies at the University of Vermont.
ROBERT (BOB) HERSCHKOWITZ was born in Belgium in 1938. After Germany invaded in 1940, his family escaped to Vichy France. At the end of 1941, the French arrested and put them in Rivesaltes, a concentration camp. He and his pregnant mother were moved into house arrest in 1943. His father then escaped from Rivesaltes and the family fled on foot in September 1943 across the Alps to Switzerland, where they survived the war. He later served as an officer in the Belgian Navy before being recruited by Boeing in 1966 to move to Seattle and work as an engineer.
KURT MAYER was born in Germany and experienced Kristallnacht as a boy of eight years. He and his parents escaped to the United States in 1940. He completed his college education at University of the Pacific in California, Hastings Law School and the University of San Francisco Law School. Kurt eventually settled in Tacoma, building a successful business in home construction. In 2000 Kurt was the developer of the Evergreen State College Tacoma Campus. He served for nine years on the PLU Board of Regents. He and his family are major contributors to the Kurt Mayer Professorship in Holocaust Studies, created in his name at PLU in 2007.
JOHN ROTH is the Edward J. Sexton Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and Founding Director of the Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights at Claremont McKenna College. He has written or edited more than forty books, including Ethics During and After the Holocaust: The Shadow of Birkenau (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007), and is co-editor of the forthcoming Oxford Handbook on the Holocaust. Professor Roth has been the Ina Levine Scholar at the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, U.S. Memorial Holocaust Museum, and sits on the Church Relations Committee at the Museum.
The Powell and Heller families are committed to teaching the lessons of the Holocaust and honoring survivors as well as the millions who died. The first annual Powell and Heller Family Conference will take place Friday, Nov. 2, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Scandinavian Cultural Center of the University Center. It is intended for educators interested in teaching the Holocaust at the high school, community college or university level. It is also free and open to the public.
For questions or information about his conference, please contact Robert Ericksen, Kurt Mayer Professor of Holocaust Studies, Department of History, PLU, at 253-535-7591 or ericksrp@plu.edu. You may also direct questions to Brenda Murray at 253-535-7595 or murraybj@plu.edu.