WHAT: “Nebraska Stories of Humanity: Holocaust Survivors and World War II Veterans”
HOSTED BY: UNK’s Phi Alpha Theta history honor society with support from Humanities Nebraska
TOPIC: This program will look at the collections of Holocaust survivors who settled in Nebraska, including Bea Karp of Omaha, Hanna Rosenberg of Lincoln and Irving Shapiro of Gering, and Nebraska World War II veterans such as Clarence Williams and Maurice Udes, who liberated Nazi camps. Their archival materials are preserved in a digital humanities web portal at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Center for Digital Research in the Humanities. In addition to making the stories available to everyone, the website is a teaching tool that interfaces with digital storytelling to accompany state educational standards in secondary classrooms and higher education research. Beth Dotan will demonstrate how digital methods elevate these stories and how personal archives have provided unexpected historical discovery and networking within our Nebraska community.
PRESENTER: Research assistant professor Beth Dotan joined the Harris Center for Judaic Studies at UNL in 2023. Her doctoral and present research focuses on digital Holocaust memory and education and considers how critical inquiry and methodologies can be effective in the continued relevance of Holocaust studies. She previously served as director of the international department at the Ghetto Fighters’ House Holocaust and Jewish Resistance Heritage Museum in the Western Galilee, Israel, and was founding executive director of the Institute for Holocaust Education in Omaha.
TIME: 6 p.m.
DATE: Thursday, April 24
PLACE: Kearney Public Library, 2020 First Ave.
CONTACT: Nathan Tye, associate history professor, 308.865.8860, tyen@unk.edu
