CANCELED: Holy Cross Professor to Reflect on Visit to Holocaust Memorial

WORCESTER, Mass. – Daniel Bitran, associate professor of psychology at the College of the Holy Cross, will give a lecture titled "Lessons from the Shoah: Why we teach the Holocaust at Holy Cross" on Tuesday, Jan. 20 at 4:30 p.m. in Rehm Library. The lecture, sponsored by the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture, is free and open to the public.

The lecture derives from Bitran's participation in seminars on Holocaust education at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem. In July 2008, he traveled to Israel to attend the 6th International Conference on Holocaust Education, a summit of more than 700 educators from nearly 50 nations; and the International Seminar for Educators Teaching about the Shoah (or Holocaust) and Antisemitism, an intimate and intensive 19-day workshop at the International School for Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem. For three years, Holy Cross has sent faculty to study at Yad Vashem, and the College will continue its participation in 2009.

Bitran, a neuroscientist by training, set off for Yad Vashem with the intent of learning about the Shoah to test a thesis on what drives people to help others: was it a function of the nervous system, or something else? But once there, Bitran found himself overwhelmed by the experience and, like other participants, trying to understand how the Holocaust could have taken place and what can be done to prevent it from ever happening again.

"By the end of the seminar," said Bitran, "I became convinced that teaching the Shoah should be an integral part of educating all students at Holy Cross. Its Catholic identity, mission of social justice, and educating men and women for others, make Holy Cross ideally suited to explore the issues that led to the tragedy of the Holocaust. The seminar series was life altering in many ways, and I want that impact to flow from me to others on this campus."

The lecture is part of the Kraft-Hiatt Program for Jewish Christian Understanding, which supports campus and community-wide educational initiatives that foster understanding of Judaism and Jewish culture, and dialogue between Jews and Christians. To learn more about this program and other Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture events, visit www.holycross.edu/crec. About The Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture:

Established in 2001 and housed in Smith Hall, the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture provides resources for faculty and course development, sponsors conferences and college-wide teaching events, hosts visiting fellows, and coordinates a number of campus lecture series. Rooted in the College's commitment to invite conversation about basic human questions, the Center welcomes persons of all faiths and seeks to foster dialogue that acknowledges and respects differences, providing a forum for intellectual exchange that is interreligious, interdisciplinary, intercultural, and international in scope.  The Center also brings members of the Holy Cross community into conversation with the Greater Worcester community, the academic community, and the wider world to examine the role of faith and inquiry in higher education and in the larger culture.