Voices on Antisemitism
100 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 7 years ago - ★★★★★ - 1 ratingVoices on Antisemitism, a production of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, features a broad range of perspectives about antisemitism and hatred today.
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Episodes
Katharina von Schnurbein
November 02, 2016 16:00 - 5 minutes - 7.82 MBKatharina von Schnurbein is the European Commission’s Coordinator on Combating Antisemitism. Von Schnurbein works with EU Member States, the European Parliament, civil society organizations, and academia to strengthen policy responses to antisemitism, as well as to hate crimes and discrimination more broadly.
Maziar Bahari
October 06, 2016 16:00 - 7 minutes - 10 MBBorn in Iran, Maziar Bahari is a journalist, filmmaker, and human rights activist. He has made two films on the Holocaust: one about the refugees aboard the St. Louis and, most recently, about Iranian diplomat Abdol Hossein Sardari, who saved Jews in occupied France. Bahari was imprisoned by the Iranian government from June to October 2009.
Sarah Wildman
September 01, 2016 16:00 - 9 minutes - 13.4 MBSarah Wildman is a journalist and the author of Paper Love: Searching for the Girl My Grandfather Left Behind. In her book, Wildman documents a journey to find her grandfather’s girlfriend Valy Scheftel, who stayed behind in Vienna in 1938 when he immigrated to America. The book is a detailed portrait of one young woman’s experience during the Holocaust, but also a deliberation about this generation’s role in preserving memory.
Raya Kalisman
August 04, 2016 16:00 - 9 minutes - 12.5 MBAs a child of survivors, Raya Kalisman first experienced the Holocaust as a family tragedy, and a deeply personal narrative. As a young teacher, she was among the first generation to bring Holocaust studies to the classroom, as a historical narrative for Israeli students. But ultimately, Kalisman began to view the Holocaust as human narrative to be shared and studied across cultures. And in 1995, she founded the Center for Humanistic Education at the Ghetto Fighters’ House Museum in Israel.
Niddal El-Jabri
July 07, 2016 16:00 - 6 minutes - 8.9 MBAfter a deadly attack on a Copenhagen synagogue in 2015, Niddal El-Jabri felt compelled to act. Inspired by expressions of non-violent solidarity happening as part of the Arab Spring, El-Jabri decided to organize a “peace ring” around the synagogue.
James Loeffler
June 02, 2016 16:00 - 7 minutes - 10.9 MBJames Loeffler is an associate professor of history and Jewish studies at the University of Virginia. He is a trained pianist, musicologist, and specialist on Jewish classical music. He serves as scholar-in-residence at Pro Musica Hebraica in Washington, DC, and has curated concerts at the Kennedy Center.
Edward Serotta
May 05, 2016 16:00 - 6 minutes - 9.1 MBEdward Serotta founded Centropa in 2000 to preserve memories of Jewish life before, during, and after the Holocaust. Centropa has trained thousands of schoolteachers to bring this material into classrooms from Gastonia, North Carolina, to Vilnius, Lithuania. A strong believer in the power of personal narrative, Serotta hopes that Centropa stories will resonate with new generations, who may never have the opportunity to engage with a survivor in person.
Sara Lipton
April 07, 2016 16:00 - 6 minutes - 9.03 MBSara Lipton is a professor of history at SUNY Stony Brook. In her book Dark Mirror: The Medieval Origins of Anti-Jewish Iconography, Lipton traces the development and evolution of antisemitic images in Christian art. She explores the way negative imagery can actually fuel a cultural shift toward hatred.
Ambassador Norman Eisen
March 03, 2016 17:00 - 7 minutes - 10.4 MBNorman Eisen became known as the “ethics czar” through his work as Special Counsel for Ethics and Government Reform under President Obama. In 2011, Eisen was appointed as the U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic. And today he tells the story of the Ambassador’s residence in Prague, which echoes both Eisen’s personal family history and the arc of twentieth-century history.
Ilja Sichrovsky
February 04, 2016 17:00 - 6 minutes - 8.4 MBWhen he was only in his mid-twenties, Ilja Sichrovsky started the Muslim Jewish Conference to create a space for Muslims and Jews to discuss stereotypes, misconceptions, and issues that affect both communities. Sichrovsky says that real change begins with listening, and he encourages participants to surrender their talking points and soundbites.
Alan Kraut
January 07, 2016 17:00 - 6 minutes - 9.32 MBAlan Kraut is University Professor of History at American University. He is a specialist in U.S. immigration and ethnic history, and the author of Silent Travellers: Germs, Genes, and the "Immigrant Menace." Kraut offers some context for the politics of fear and xenophobia that often accompany immigration debates.
Dervis Hizarci
December 03, 2015 17:00 - 5 minutes - 8.04 MBDervis Hizarci believes that openness to dialogue is key to his work as an educator. First at the Jewish Museum Berlin and now with KIgA, the Kreuzberger Initiative against Antisemitism, Hizarci works to confront hatred and ignorance, which can breed radicalism and violence.
Despina Stratigakos
November 05, 2015 17:00 - 7 minutes - 9.89 MBDespina Stratigakos is an architectural historian at the University at Buffalo. Her recent book Hitler at Home examines the efforts of Hitler's interior designer Gerdy Troost to cultivate Hitler's image as both a refined statesman and a man of the people.
Erica Lehrer
October 01, 2015 16:00 - 9 minutes - 12.8 MBErica Lehrer founded the Centre for Ethnographic Research and Exhibition in the Aftermath of Violence at Concordia University. In 2013, she curated “Souvenir, Talisman, Toy,” an exhibition of Polish-made figurines depicting Jews. And she is the author of Jewish Poland Revisited: Heritage Tourism in Unquiet Places.
Sam Ponczak
September 03, 2015 16:00 - 7 minutes - 10.9 MBSam Ponczak was only two years old when World War II broke out in Poland, and for many years he didn’t think of himself as a Holocaust survivor. But later in life, when asked to speak to schoolchildren about his experiences, Ponczak began to embrace his story of survival as part of the important narrative of the Holocaust.
Miriam Isaacs
August 06, 2015 16:00 - 9 minutes - 12.7 MBMiriam Isaacs was born to Holocaust survivors in a displaced persons camp in Germany. Trained as a linguist, she taught Yiddish for many years at the University of Maryland. More recently, she has been translating the Stonehill Jewish Song Collection, housed here at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Floriane Hohenberg
July 02, 2015 16:00 - 7 minutes - 9.64 MBFloriane Hohenberg worked for many years for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe on human rights and diversity issues and especially on antisemitism, racism, and xenophobia. Today, she helps governments to collect data and statistics on antisemitism and to develop teaching materials to confront it.
Mohammed S. Dajani Daoudi
June 04, 2015 16:00 - 8 minutes - 12.3 MBAs a young man at the American University of Beirut in the 1960s, Mohammed Dajani was a student activist and a member of Fatah, fighting for Palestinian liberation. But his hardline views softened after the death of his parents, who were each, in turn, cared for by Israeli doctors and emergency personnel. Dajani has evolved into a voice of moderation, working to end conflict through sharing personal narratives. But it is not easy to be a champion of moderation.
Daniel Owen
May 07, 2015 16:00 - 5 minutes - 7.47 MBDaniel Owen is a photojournalist who spent two years documenting the life, culture, and celebrations of the Jewish community of Oradea, Romania. The Jewish population there has dwindled from a high of 30,000 in the 1940s—or one third of the population of the city—to only a few hundred today.
Robert Örell
April 03, 2015 16:00 - 6 minutes - 9.18 MBRobert Örell got involved with the Swedish white power movement in his early teens. Now he works as director of Exit Sweden, the very organization that helped him leave neo-Nazism behind. Since 1998, Exit has helped hundreds separate from white supremacist gangs. Today, they are looking into ways their work might apply to other extremist organizations, including ISIS, religious cults, and criminal gangs.
Maud Mandel
March 05, 2015 17:00 - 7 minutes - 10.2 MBMaud Mandel is a professor of history and Judaic studies, as well as the Dean of the College at Brown University. She wrote a book called Muslims and Jews in France: History of a Conflict, and here she offers some context for the January 2015 shootings in Paris, at the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and at a kosher supermarket.
Mo Asumang
February 05, 2015 17:00 - 6 minutes - 8.6 MBMo Asumang is a German filmmaker who confronts racism and antisemitism in the most literal way: she talks with people, face to face. She attends nationalist parades and anti-immigration rallies in Germany. She meets with white supremacists in the American South. She walks up to strangers with her camera crew and just begins a conversation.
Glenn Kurtz
January 01, 2015 17:00 - 8 minutes - 11.2 MBA few years ago, Glenn Kurtz discovered a reel of film in the closet of his parents' home in Florida. Only three minutes long, the footage shows his grandfather's hometown of Nasielsk, Poland, in 1938. The clip has become surprisingly important—both historically and personally.
Margit Meissner
December 04, 2014 17:00 - 9 minutes - 12.7 MBMargit Meissner decided—at the age of 80—that it was time to write a book about her experience as a Holocaust survivor. In the 12 years since, she has shared her story with many visitors to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, where she now volunteers as a guide.
Imam Khalid Latif and Rabbi Yehuda Sarna
November 06, 2014 17:00 - 8 minutes - 12.3 MBRabbi Yehuda Sarna and Imam Khalid Latif are co-founders of the ‘Of Many’ Institute for Multifaith Leadership at New York University. They teach a course together and lead service trips to cultivate cooperation and dialogue among students from different faiths.
Wendy Lower
October 02, 2014 16:00 - 5 minutes - 7.19 MBWendy Lower is the John K. Roth Professor of History at Claremont McKenna College. Her book Hitler’s Furies: German Women in the Nazi Killing Fields examines how ordinary women participated in the Holocaust, and also how their participation has been systematically downplayed since the war.
Gregory Spinner
September 04, 2014 16:00 - 7 minutes - 10.8 MBGregory Spinner began reading comics as a kid, but discovered serious and profound stories in graphic art that are anything but childish. At Skidmore College, he teaches graphic novels in his courses, and recently co-curated an exhibit there with Rachel Seligman called: “Graphic Jews: Negotiating Identity in Sequential Art.” Today, Spinner talks with us about the watershed comic Maus, and the evolving expression of Jewish identity through comics.
David Nirenberg
August 07, 2014 16:00 - 5 minutes - 8.21 MBDavid Nirenberg is a professor of history at the University of Chicago. His book Anti-Judaism: The Western Tradition examines the durability and usage of anti-Jewish sentiments throughout history.
Iván Fischer
July 03, 2014 16:00 - 10 minutes - 14.4 MBIván Fischer has received a lot of attention around the world for his recent opera "The Red Heifer," based on a 19th-century blood libel case. The opera has been polarizing in Hungary, where antisemitism and anti-Roma sentiments are on the rise.
Kavian Milani
June 05, 2014 16:00 - 6 minutes - 8.29 MBDr. Kavian Milani is a practicing member of the Baha'i faith, a physician, and an advocate for human rights. When Milani was growing up in Iran, his father was killed by the regime because of his faith. Today Milani draws on the Baha'i ideals to fight tyranny and to break the cycle of divide and conquer that is at the heart of all dangerous regimes, including the Nazi regime.
Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks
May 01, 2014 16:00 - 6 minutes - 8.46 MBRabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks served as chief rabbi of Great Britain and the Commonwealth for 22 years. Now a visiting professor at several universities in the United States and Britain, Sacks discusses the ways in which antisemitism has mutated and evolved over time.
Monika Schwarz-Friesel
April 03, 2014 16:00 - 5 minutes - 7.88 MBMonika Schwarz-Friesel is a professor of linguistics at the Technical University Berlin. Her recent study---conducted with historian Yehuda Reinharz of Brandeis University---examines thousands of recent letters and emails sent to the Central Council of Jews in Germany and to the Israeli Embassy in Berlin. Their research reveals a surprising level of antisemitism among educated Germans.
Petra Gelbart
March 06, 2014 17:00 - 8 minutes - 11.4 MBBorn in Czechoslovakia, Petra Gelbart is a granddaughter of Romani Holocaust survivors. An ethnomusicologist, musician, and singer, Gelbart uses both her research and her voice to educate and advocate for Holocaust remembrance of Romani victims.
Robert Edsel
February 06, 2014 17:00 - 5 minutes - 8.17 MBRobert Edsel's book The Monuments Men is about a group of Allied men and women tasked with saving the cultural and artistic treasures of Europe. Now a Hollywood film, Edsel's book details the extraordinary scale of Hitler's theft, alongside the calculated destruction of Jewish art and culture.
Ho-Keun Choi
January 02, 2014 17:00 - 6 minutes - 6.96 MBProfessor Ho-Keun Choi was among the first in South Korea to teach and write about the Holocaust. As a graduate student in Germany, Choi began to view Holocaust education as a way for South Koreans to deal with the tragedies of the Korean War and Japanese rule.
Paul Isaac Hagouel
December 05, 2013 17:00 - 5 minutes - 6.29 MBIn May 2012, the Golden Dawn party received nearly 7% of the popular vote in Greece and gained a toehold in the Parliament. Leveraging fears about the country's ongoing economic crisis and unemployment, Golden Dawn used anti-immigrant and anti-minority rhetoric to gain votes. As a representative of the Greek delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, Paul Hagouel is concerned about the rise of rightist parties in governments across Europe.
The Power of Propaganda
November 07, 2013 17:00 - 8 minutes - 9.73 MBWe're surrounded by propaganda all the time: some of it benign, some of it dangerous. Propaganda was used to devastating effect during the Holocaust and it's worth studying to understand why and how we are vulnerable to propaganda in our everyday lives. This episode is a collage of people discussing their own relationship to propaganda, and the ways in which they guard against it
Pinar Dost-Niyego
October 03, 2013 16:00 - 5 minutes - 6.71 MBTurkish scholar Pinar Dost-Niyego faces some hurdles when teaching the Holocaust in Istanbul—including Turkey's own history of antisemitism and anti-minority laws. But Dost-Niyego sees change in her students as they begin to connect with the personal stories of Holocaust victims.
Diana Dumitru
September 05, 2013 16:00 - 7 minutes - 17.3 MBDiana Dumitru found an incredible example of how antisemitism can be dismantled: two territories in Eastern Europe, separated only by a river, shared a legacy of pogroms and violence against Jews. But after WWI, one territory continued a policy of state-sponsored antisemitism, while the other began a policy of integration and acceptance.
Shankar Vedantam
August 01, 2013 16:00 - 8 minutes - 18.9 MBShankar Vedantam has spent a lot of time thinking about the links between science and human behavior. His recent book, The Hidden Brain, challenges us to consider the unconscious biases we may carry, and the ways they steer our behavior.
Aomar Boum
July 04, 2013 16:00 - 7 minutes - 18.2 MBAomar Boum returned to his native Morocco to study the trend of rising antisemitism there. He conducted interviews with four generations of Muslim Moroccans about their feelings toward Jews. What he found is a noticeable shift toward less interaction and greater hostility.
Arnon Goldfinger
June 06, 2013 16:00 - 10 minutes - 11.7 MBAfter his grandmother’s death, Arnon Goldfinger stumbled upon evidence of a long-term friendship between his Jewish grandparents and a Nazi officer. In his documentary The Flat, he tries to make sense of this relationship, exploring how silence resides in both victims and perpetrators, and how, sometimes, it can shape a family history.
Alex Haslam
May 02, 2013 16:00 - 6 minutes - 7.39 MBSince the Holocaust, social psychologists have asked: Why do people succumb to evil? Theories point to peer pressure and the power of conformity. But Alex Haslam and Steve Reicher reject the idea that people become automatons in a group. Their mock-prison study reveals something more complex about the ways individuals sign on to a brutal agenda.
Stephen Mills
March 07, 2013 17:00 - 7 minutes - 16.9 MBIn 2005, Stephen Mills created a dance based on the life of Holocaust survivor Naomi Warren. The work would grow into a community-wide endeavor known as Light / The Holocaust & Humanity Project. A collaboration of artists, institutions, and educators, the work has had far-reaching effects on both audiences and creators.
Hasan Sarbakhshian and Parvaneh Vahidmanesh
February 07, 2013 17:00 - 9 minutes - 11.1 MBHasan Sarbakhshian and Parvaneh Vahidmanesh gathered stories and photographs from Iran's dwindling Jewish population for their book Iranian Jews. The effort would eventually cause them to flee Iran, their homeland, for the United States.
Kathleen Blee
January 03, 2013 17:00 - 5 minutes - 6.38 MBProf. Kathleen Blee has written several books about racism and the Ku Klux Klan. Blee looks in particular at ways the KKK was able to infiltrate mainstream America in the 1920s, by focusing its membership efforts on moderates, not extremists—a strategy repeated by the Nazis shortly thereafter.
Rita Jahanforuz
December 06, 2012 17:00 - 7 minutes - 8.27 MBIranian-born Rita Jahanforuz is one of the biggest pop stars in Israel. With the release of her recent album, sung almost entirely in her native Farsi, Rita is developing a fan base in Iran as well, despite the fact that her music is banned there. Although she does not consider herself a political person, Rita is proof that individuals can challenge a system of state-sponsored antisemitism by reaching across cultural boundaries.
Edward T. Linenthal
November 01, 2012 16:00 - 7 minutes - 8.65 MBEdward Linenthal believes memorials serve a complex and important role in society, to help us mourn and remember, but also to encourage a dynamic engagement with history.
Colbert I. King
October 04, 2012 16:00 - 4 minutes - 4.84 MBPulitzer Prize-winning columnist Colbert King has a reputation for direct and plainspoken commentaries. In a recent column, King expressed frustration with what he calls the "tepid" international response to state-sponsored antisemitism in Iran.
Jamel Bettaieb
September 06, 2012 16:00 - 5 minutes - 6.32 MBJamel Bettaieb teaches German to high-school students, which affords him an opportunity that is rare in Tunisia: to teach about the Holocaust. An active participant in Tunisia's recent revolution, Bettaieb strives to be an agent of change in the Muslim world, pushing back against propaganda, antisemitism, and silence about the Holocaust.