Powell-Heller Conference for Holocaust Education
“Latin America and the Holocaust”
Schedule
Free and Open to the Public - Registration Required
All Times Posted are Pacific Standard (PST)
6:30 p.m. – The Holocaust and Latin America, Regency Room, Anderson University Center
Conference Introduction: Professor Christopher R. Browning, Frank Porter Graham Professor Emeritus of History at the University of North Carolina
Documentary film: Sobrevivi ao Holocausto/I survived the Holocaust
Julio Gartner, a survivor of Nazi concentration camps, revisits the genocide’s sites accompanied by Marina Kagan, a young woman the same age he was during WWII. The conversation explores the horrors of the Holocaust, blending past and present. The film Sobrevivi ao Holocausto (I Survived the Holocaust) is the first full-length feature in the world to document a survivor’s return to all the places he lived before, during, and after WWII, filmed in five countries.
Following the screening, faculty from Pacific Lutheran University’s Holocaust and Genocide Studies Program will offer commentary on the film.
Light refreshments will be available after the screening.
8:30 a.m. – Registration, Gray Area, Anderson University Center
9:00 - 9:45 a.m. – Teaching about the Holocaust in Latin America, Regency Room, AUC
*Eliana Rapp Badihi, Head, Educational Programs, Spanish & Portuguese-Speaking Countries, Yad Vashem’s International School for the Holocaust
In this session, Eliana Rapp Badihi will explore the challenges of teaching the Holocaust in Latin America, and will introduce the audience to some educational platforms and materials in Spanish that the educational team at Yad Vashem has developed on teaching the Holocaust.
Convener: Lisa Marcus, Professor of English, Chair of Critical Interdisciplinary Studies, and Director of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Pacific Lutheran University
9:45 - 10:00 a.m. – Break
10:00 - 11:30 a.m. – Museums and Educating the Public, Regency Room, AUC
*Christina Chavarria, Program Coordinator in the Levine Institute for Holocaust Education at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C.
“The Holocaust and the Spanish-Speaking World: Resources from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.”
*Samanta Casareto, Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, Universidad de Buenos Aires- Representative for Latin America, International Archival Programs. The David M. Rubenstein National Institute For Holocaust Documentation, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
“The US Holocaust Memorial Museum Archival Project to trace the consequences of the Holocaust in Latin America”
Convener: Heather Mathews, Chair of Communication, Media & Design Arts, Associate Professor of Art History, Pacific Lutheran University
11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. – Lunch: PLU Student Showcase, featuring 2025 Mayer Summer Scholars and 2025 Lemkin Essay Winner, Chris Knutzen, AUC
*Makayla Martinez, Mayer Summer Scholar
“Sosua: A False Hope or Safe Haven?”
*Meredith Gifford, Mayer Summer Scholar
“Girlhood and Genocide: Coming-of-Age in a World that is Coming Undone”
*Austyn Blair, Lemkin Essay winner
“Lemkin’s Legacy: Beyond the Male Narrative”
Convener: Lexi Jason, Education Program Manager, Holocaust Center for Humanity, Seattle
12:30 - 1:45 p.m. – Interviewing Holocaust Survivors in Uruguay, Regency Room, AUC
*Parker Brocker-Knapp, Law Student, Lewis and Clark Law School
*Rona Kaufman, Professor of English and Holocaust and Genocide Studies Faculty, Pacific Lutheran University
*Giovanna Urdangarain, Professor of Hispanic and Latino Studies, Gender, Sexuality and Race Studies, and Holocaust and Genocide Studies Faculty, Pacific Lutheran University
Convener: Stephanie Johnson, Dean, College of Liberal Studies, Pacific Lutheran University
1:45 - 2:00 p.m. – Break
2:00 - 3:30 p.m. – Jewish Life in Latin America, Regency Room, AUC
*Adriana Brodsky, Professor of History, St. Mary’s College of Maryland
“Jewish Refugees and Holocaust Survivors in Argentina”
*Daniela Gliezer Salzman, Institute of Historical Research, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM)
“Mexico and the Jewish Refugees from Nazism: A Hidden History.”
Convener: Bruce Kadden, Rabbi Emeritus at Temple Beth El, Tacoma and Faculty, Religion and Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Pacific Lutheran University
3:30 - 3:45 p.m. – Break
3:45 - 5:15 p.m. – Exploring Trauma and Surviving the Holocaust, Chris Knutzen, AUC
*Grace Kalfus, PhD, Daughter of Holocaust survivors, Frieda Kalfus (née Dulberg) and Chaim (Harry) Kalfus, Grace joins us to tell the story of her mother who was born in Jablonow, Poland in 1923.
*Tales of the Alchemysts
Surviving Survival: Two Short Stories by Chava Rosenfarb
Evocative and unsettling, these stories by Polish Yiddish writer Chava Rosenfarb, survivor of the Lodz ghetto, explore the intricacies of memory, guilt, and the delicate balancing act of moving through pain to achieve stability. This production, by the Tales of the Alchemysts Theatre, weaves music, song and movement into a haunting staged reading.
Convener: Michael Halvorson, Benson Family Chair in Business and Economic History, Pacific Lutheran University
5:15 - 6:45 p.m. – Light Dinner served, Scandinavian Cultural Center, AUC
7:00 - 8:30 p.m. – Lemkin Keynote Lecture, Regency Room, AUC
“Visions of the Other: Stereotypes, Survival, and the Refugee Question in Brazil”
Lemkin Lecturer Keynote Address by Professor Jeffrey Lesser, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of History, Emory University.
Welcome, Allan Belton, President of Pacific Lutheran University
Remarks, Nancy Powell, Powell Family Foundation Donor and Visionary
Convener: Bridget Yaden, Professor of Hispanic Studies and Associate Provost, Pacific Lutheran University
8:30 p.m. – Light desserts, Gray Area, AUC
9:00 a.m. – Registration, Gray Area, Anderson University Center
9:30 - 10:30 a.m. – Memories of the Holocaust, Regency Room, AUC
*Estelle Tarica, Professor of Latin American Literatures and Cultures, University of California, Berkeley
“Two Views of Nunca Más: Disputes over Jewish Holocaust Memory during the Argentine Dictatorship”
*Natasha Zaretsky, Clinical Associate Professor at New York University and a Visiting Scholar at the Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey where she leads the Truth in the Americas initiative
“Proyecto Aprendiz: Reimagining the Voice of the Holocaust Survivor in Argentina”
Convener: Tamara Williams, Executive Director of the Wang Center for Global and Community Engaged Education and Professor of Hispanic and Latino Studies, Pacific Lutheran University
10:30 - 10:45 a.m. – Break
10:45 - 11:45 a.m. – Nazis in Hiding, Regency Room, AUC
*Daniel Stahl, Senior Researcher, Friedrich Alexander University, Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany
“What is Taking You So Long? Holocaust Survivors and the Search for Nazis in South America”
*Avner Abraham, Researcher, lecturer, former Mossad officer, world expert on Operation Finale
“The Real Story Behind the Capture of Eichmann and New Discoveries”
Convener: Rona Kaufman, Professor of English and Holocaust and Genocide Studies Program Faculty
11:45 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. – Break
12:00 - 1:30 p.m. – Lunch: Documentary and Conversation with Survivor, CK, AUC
*Documentary: Giza, la Nina de la Maleta/Giza: The Girl in the Suitcase
Giza Alterwajn will join us via Zoom in a conversation facilitated by Professor Giovanna Urdangarain.
Convener: Giovanna Urdangarain, Professor of Hispanic and Latino Studies, Gender, Sexuality and Race Studies, and Holocaust and Genocide Studies Faculty, Pacific Lutheran University