Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Centre

Moving Memories
2021-12-05 20:00 - 21:30 (Africa/Johannesburg)
Join us on Sunday 5 December at 9pm for a webinar exploring Moving Memories. This is the final lecture in a three part series on Invisible Years: Hiding in the Netherlands during the Holocaust. Register using the link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMsc-2ppj4sEtQ3FtrjnGEqLrjdq7ysOX-3
Invisible Years is an intimate portrait of an extended Jewish family living and hiding in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands, written and beautifully designed by Daphne Geismar. Geismar and her cousin Sharon Strauss went on a fourteen-year odyssey after discovering that their mothers both had “Holocaust drawers,” in which they kept letters, journals, documents, and photographs.
Moderated by Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett
Guest speakers:
Kira Dane / Katelyn Rebelo / Carmen Fernald
Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Ronald S. Lauder Chief Curator of the Core Exhibition at POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, in Warsaw, and Professor Emerita at New York University, will engage filmmakers Kira Dane, Katelyn Rebelo, and Carmen Fernald in a conversation about experimental approaches to Holocaust documentaries. Dane and Rebelo are currently working on an experimental documentary short based on Invisible Years, about the survival of a Dutch Jewish family. Fernald is making a documentary about those who hid people in the Breeplein Church and the people they hid for the Dutch Broadcasting Corporation. How are these filmmakers redefining the documentary film and creating a new hybrid genre, as they move away from the conventions of voiceover narration and first-person interview, turning instead to animation and other visual media to represent the Holocaust?
This program is in partnership with the South African Holocaust and Genocide Foundation, the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, Rabin Chair Forum, and Classrooms Without Borders.

Book Launch: The Dressmakers of Auschwitz
2021-11-29 18:00 - 19:30
At the height of the Holocaust twenty-five young Jewish inmates of Auschwitz-Birkenau were selected to create beautiful fashions for elite Nazi women in a dedicated salon established by the camp commandant’s wife. Historian Lucy Adlington has researched their lives and fates to write a powerful chronicle – The Dressmakers of Auschwitz. This virtual presentation, drawn from eyewitness interviews and original garments from the era, is a remarkable tale of resilience, camaraderie and dressmaking in the most extreme circumstances.
Lucy Adlington is a British dress historian with more than twenty years’ experience researching social history. Adlington runs History Wardrobe, a company which presents costume-in-context talks across the UK. Her non-fiction publications include: Women’s Lives and Clothes in WWII: Ready for Action and Stitches in Time – the Story of the Clothes we Wear. Lucy Adlington lives on a farm in Yorkshire.

Hiding Places
2021-11-14 20:00 - 21:30
Join us on Sunday 14 October at 8pm for a webinar looking at Hiding Places by Prof. Dienke Hondius and Prof. Kiene Brillenburg Wurth. This is the second lecture in a three part series on Invisible Years: Hiding in the Netherlands during the Holocaust.
Register using the link: bit.ly/3pZh6Sv
Prof. Dienke Hondius will present her “Mapping Hiding Places” project, focusing on hiding in the Netherlands, including the 27 hiding places of the family in Invisible Years. Prof. Kiene Brillenburg Wurth will focus on one hiding place — the Breeplein Church in Rotterdam — where her grandparents risked their lives to hide two Jewish families, including the grandparents of Daphne Geismar and Sharon Strauss. Brillenburg Wurth will retrace the stories from the perspective of the protectors and from the onderduikers’ (people in hiding) accounts in Invisible Years.
This program is in partnership with the South African Holocaust and Genocide Foundation, the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, Rabin Chair Forum, and Classrooms Without Borders.

Kristallnacht Commemoration
2021-11-09 19:00 - 20:30 | Online
Please join us on Tuesday 9 November at 7:00pm (SAST) as we commemorate the November Pogrom (Kristallnacht) with a keynote address from Christopher Browning. To register use the following link: bit.ly/3vQJPK8

Honouring Miriam Lichterman
2021-11-07 15:00 - 17:00 | Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Centre, 88 Hatfield Street, Gardens, Cape Town, 8001
Join us on Sunday 7 November at 3pm as we honour Holocaust survivor Miriam Lichterman for the impact she has had on the community.
To attend the event at the centre, please RSVP to admin@holocaust.org.za and to register for the Zoom livestream, use the link: bit.ly/3pnvW4M

White Rose Creative Project Awards Ceremony
2021-10-24 17:00 - 18:30 | Online
Join us for an online ceremony honouring high school learners who participated in this year’s White Rose Creative Project.

Educators workshop: New Recommendations in Teaching and Learning about the Holocaust
2021-10-22 10:00 - 12:00 | Online
To attend RSVP to danielle@holocaust.org.za
Register using the link: link is https://bit.ly/3AAanzG

Jewish Museum in Prague
2021-10-21 18:00 - 19:30 | Online
Join us on Thursday 21 October at 6pm for a public lecture exploring the Jewish Museum in Prague by Dr. Zuzana Pavlovská.
To attend the lecture at our Centre, please RSVP to admin@holocaust.org.za and to register for the Zoom livestream, use the link: bit.ly/3lbRdfm

I Have Not Seen A Butterfly Around Here Exhibition Opening
2021-10-20 19:00 - 20:30 | Online
Join us on Wednesday 20 October at 6pm for the Official Opening of the Exhibition I Have Not Seen A Butterfly Around Here. The opening address will be given by the Ambassador of the Czech Republic
H.E. Dr. Pavel Řezáč and the keynote address will be given by Dr. Zuzana Pavlovská.
To attend the opening at the centre, please RSVP to admin@holocaust.org.za and to register for the Zoom livestream, use the link:https://bit.ly/3D9C2t1

Holocaust Drawers
2021-10-10 20:00 - 21:30 | https://youtu.be/esVn2QEsMaM
Join us on Sunday 10 October at 8pm for a webinar exploring the Holocaust Drawers by Prof. Robert Jan van Pelt, Daphne Geismar and Sharon Strauss. This is the first lecture in a three part series on Invisible Years: Hiding in the Netherlands during the Holocaust. Register using the link: bit.ly/3ijUcjM
Invisible Years is an intimate portrait of an extended Jewish family living and hiding in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands, written and beautifully designed by Daphne Geismar. Geismar and her cousin Sharon Strauss went on a fourteen-year odyssey after discovering that their mothers both had “Holocaust drawers,” in which they kept letters, journals, documents, and photographs.

Israeli Theatre & the Holocaust by Roy Horowitz
2021-10-05 19:00 - 20:30 | Online
Join us on Tuesday 5 October at 7pm for a webinar looking at Israeli Theatre & the Holocaust by actor, director and dramaturge, Dr. Roy Horovitz. Register using the link: bit.ly/3FbzjRU

An Intimate Conversation
2021-09-26 19:00 - 20:30 | Online
Join us on Sunday 26 September at 7pm for An Intimate Conversation between Two Descendants of Stutthof Concentration Camp Prisoners, Dr. Marylin Kingston and Silvia Foti.
Marylin & Silvia will compare how their family members were treated and the reasons they were in Stutthof Concentration Camp at the same time. They will address the fraud by the Lithuanian government to declare Silvia’s grandfather Noreika innocent of crimes of genocide, and how his detention in Stutthof has been used as a misleading political tool for Lithuanian Holocaust deception.
Register using the link: https://bit.ly/2XbLvkt

The Table of Truth
2021-09-12 19:00 - 20:30 | Online
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Learn about the extraordinary connection to one chess table between Faina Kukliansky, Lithuanian Jewish Community Chair, Shulamit Rabinovich, San Franciscan engineer, Dudu Fisher, Israeli world-renowned entertainer, Grant Gochin, South African Wealth Manager, and Silvia Foti, Chicagoan journalist.
We will reveal recently discovered facts about the Holocaust in Lithuania, Holocaust denial by the Lithuanian Government, and present new paths to education about the horrors of the past.
We will conclude the program with Dudu Fisher chanting Kaddish.

The Holocaust remembered: Virtual tour of Vienna
2021-08-31 19:00 - 20:30 | Online
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A virtual Walking Tour of Vienna with Boston based Kate Melchior will allow a visit to the Vienna of the 1930s – 1940s and its memorialisation today.

Commemoration of the Cambodian Genocide
2021-08-29 20:00 - 21:30 | https://ctholocaust.co.za/event/cambodian-genocide-commemoration/
The Ghetto Fighters’ House in partnership with SAHGF and Classrooms Without Borders invites you to a special ‘Talking Memory’ event in honor of the National Day of Remembrance in Cambodia –First They First Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers. A conversation with Loung Ung
Join Loung Ung to learn more about her life surviving the Khmer Rouge genocidal regime in Cambodia. Learn about her bestselling book First They Killed My Father, and the critically acclaimed 2017 Netflix Original Movie directed by Angelina Jolie based on her memoir. Do not miss the opportunity to learn more about the genocide in Cambodia from one of its survivors.

Post Holocaust and Apartheid Memories: Confronting Traumatic Pasts Panel Discussion
2021-08-24 19:00 - 20:30 | Online
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This discussion panel intends to provide a more detailed understanding of the topic from a mainly 3rd generation perspective. It will examine the generational shifts and provide an outlook into future memory construction.
It will provide a contemporary link to memory culture about 1930s Europe and the recent South African History. A main topic will be how far the 3rd generation is diverging from the past memorialisations and what new narratives are available and developing.
This panel will also provide a conclusion to the series.

Stories of Peace and Resistance through Dance
2021-08-17 19:00 - 20:30 | Online
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This segment will explore the memory culture of political arts – specifically dance and the passing on of its practices and memories. Renowned dancer Eva-Maria Schaller will provide insight into her work on Hanna Berger. This will be accompanied by two keynote addresses from Andrea Amort, professor at the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna, and Rebecca Davis, founder of MindLeaps who will speak about dance and its functionality towards youth engagement and peace work.

Women's Day Celebration
2021-08-15 14:00 - 15:30 | Online
Please join us for the 3rd Annual Women’s Day Celebration event.

Film screening: The 600: The Soldiers' Story
2021-08-08 14:00 - 15:30 | Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Centre, 88 Hatfield Street, Gardens, Cape Town, 8001
This documentary film showcases the little known story of a surrounded battalion of 600 men and women that started the counterattack to end the Rwandan Genocide against the Tutsi in 1994. This is the second part of the screening.

The Unknown Story of Hedy Lamarr
2021-08-03 19:00 - 20:30 | Online
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Hedy Lamarr has been described as one of the greatest Hollywood stars of the 1930s and 1940s. But she was also the inventor of frequency hopping, the technology on which Bluetooth and WLAN work.
Danielle Spera, director of the Jewish Museum Vienna, will give insight into Hedy Lamarr’s life and the different roles and mantles she took on.
Heather Massie, writer and solo performer of “HEDY! The Life & Inventions of Hedy Lamarr”, will give a Keynote Address on her long-running act and the upcoming world tour.

Women in Resistance: Reflections on Nazi Europe and Apartheid South Africa
2021-07-27 19:00 - 20:30 | Online
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This event will include a Tour of the DÖW Exhibition. The special exhibition at the Documentation Centre of Austrian Resistance (DÖW) tells the story of three sisters. They left fascist Austria in the 30s fought in the Spanish Civil War against Franco, in the Résistance against the Vichy Regime and against the Nazis. Their great-niece, Sonja Frank, tells a story based on documents, found in an old suitcase.
The second part of this segment will provide insight into women’s roles during Apartheid South Africa.

Panel Discussion: The 600: The Soldiers' Story
2021-07-25 14:00 - 16:30 | Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Centre, 88 Hatfield Street, Gardens, Cape Town, 8001
This will be a discussion with the film makers about their documentary film that showcases the little known story of a surrounded battalion of 600 men and women that started the counter-attack to end the Rwandan Genocide against the Tutsi in 1994.

Educators’ workshop: Reflecting on modern mass crimes and genocides
2021-07-22 16:00 - 17:30 | Online
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Rethinking Womens Narratives: Women’s Agency during Nazism Panel Discussion
2021-07-20 19:00 - 20:30 | Online
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The first panel starts the series by discussing recent trends of how we pass on and narrate women’s roles during National Socialism. It provides a global understanding of the overall topic while also introducing the extensive research of the panellists.
The speakers have done an extensive research in women’s biographies

Nurturing Peace: Building blocks for a more resilient people - A case of Rwanda
2021-07-15 19:00 - 20:30 | Online
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Nurturing Peace: Building blocks for a more resilient people – A case of Rwanda

In a country that suffered from war and genocide perpetrated against Tutsi in 1994, in a country where the social fabric seems so broken that no one sees signs of light, a country that inherited so many challenges and each of them seemed to be a priority. Everything was a priority. No State machinery, 3.5 million refugees, orphans and child headed households, wounded people, widows, no shelter, trauma, justice, coexistence, Genocide ideology, children born out of rape, HIV, broken trust etc. Social reconstruction became a dream that many aspired to but seemed unattainable.
It is generally known that teachers have the capacity to build and heal a whole generation. They influence not only their students but also the community at large. They however need content and appropriate methodology. It is against this backdrop that Aegis worked with the Ministry of Education and specifically Rwanda Basic Education Board, where the biggest achievement was to have Peace and Values Education integrated in the school curriculum. Aegis works with parents, youth and Decision Makers & Researchers to support conducive and peaceful environment.
Aegis Peace and Values Education initiatives which are essentially transformative, intend to cultivate the knowledge base, skills, attitudes and values that seek to transform people’s behaviors for better and informed decisions. They are built around the concept of Ubumuntu (Ubuntu) and a mindset that is able to challenge personal and social action to create conditions and systems that portray nonviolence, justice and other peace values.
Through this discussion, we will look at how Peace and values Education is supporting the journey to Peace starting with inner peace, social reconstruction and contribute to never again; in Rwanda and beyond.

Educators’ workshop: How to investigate a crime 80 years later
2021-07-15 16:00 - 17:30 | Online

Srebrenica Memorial Service
2021-07-11 14:00 - 15:30 | Online
Join us for a special ceremony to remember the victims and survivors of the Srebrenica genocide that occurred in Bosnia 26 years ago. Register using the link: bit.ly/3hahN6s

Educators' workshop: From the field research to the classroom
2021-07-08 16:00 - 17:30 | Online

Educators' workshop: The Holocaust by bullets, a public genocide
2021-07-01 16:00 - 17:30 | Online

The Rabbi of Buchenwald by Dr Rafael Medoff
2021-06-29 19:30 - 21:00 | Online
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Rabbi Herschel Schacter, a U.S. army chaplain in World War II, was part of the unit that liberated the Nazi concentration camp of Buchenwald, and remained in the camp for two and a half months to aid the survivors. After the war, Rabbi Schacter helped spearhead a revival of Orthodox Judaism in America, played a significant role in the Soviet Jewry protest movement, and led efforts to secure American support for Israel. He was the first Orthodox rabbi to chair the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. Through the prism of Herschel Schacter’s life, The Rabbi of Buchenwald also sheds important new light on how American Jewry grappled with the political, social and racial crises of the 1960s, 1970s, and beyond.
Bio
Dr. Rafael Medoff is founding director of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, based in Washington, D.C., which focuses on America’s response to Nazism and the Holocaust. He is the author of more than 20 books about the Holocaust, Zionism, and American Jewish history, and has contributed to the Encyclopedia Judaica and many other reference volumes. Dr. Medoff has taught Jewish history at Ohio State UnIversity, Purchase College of the State University of New York, and elsewhere, and is a Fellow of the Finkler Institute of Holocaust Research at Bar-Ilan University. He is also a winner of the American Jewish Press Association’s Simon Rockower Award for Excellence in Jewish Journalism.
