The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum presents the first of two programs, “Battleground for Truth: Confronting Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial,” on Tuesday, May 5 at 7:30 p.m. at the Wilshire Boulevard Temple’s Audrey and Sydney Irmas Campus in Los Angeles. The second presentation will be on Wednesday, May 6 at 7:30 p.m. at Temple Etz Chaim in Thousand Oaks, Calif. The Holocaust challenges us to ask critical questions about the attraction of ideologies, the responsibility of individuals, and the importance of leadership in both free and oppressed societies. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is exploring these and other questions in a national conversation that is more urgent than ever, given the rise of extremism and the enduring power of hatred.
The Museum is in the midst of a $540 million national campaign Never Again: What You Do Matters, to make critical investments to keep Holocaust memory alive as a relevant force for change.
Antisemitism takes many forms, from racial slurs and swastika graffiti to a most dangerous manifestation: Holocaust denial. A conversation will be held on the rising threat of antisemitism in Europe, the Arab world, and on U.S. college campuses. Guests will learn how the Museum uses its powerful collections, educational resources and its network of scholars to combat distortion and denial of the Holocaust and offers direct access to evidence of Nazi crimes and atrocities.
The featured Museum speakers will be Mina Abdelmalak, Arabic Audience Outreach Specialist,Initiative on Holocaust Denial and Antisemitism, and Aleisa Fishman, Historian, Initiative on Holocaust Denial and Antisemitism. Both of these individuals have extensive knowledge about the overreaching campaign to ignite the flames of antisemitism through Holocaust denial and other tactics.
“These programs help generate wide community participation on all levels in the Museum’s ‘A National Conversation’ that asks the fundamental question: ‘What can the Holocaust teach us about society and ourselves today?,’” said Steven Klappholz, the Museum’s Western Regional Director. “The discussion is of extreme importance in light of the growing sentiment of antisemitism and seriously addressing what steps can be taken to educate and overcome such dangerous attitudes.”
