“Why? Explaining the Holocaust” will be the focus of the fourth annual Marilyn* and Arthur Gale Family Lecture (*of blessed memory) on Thursday, December 14, 2017 at 7:00 pm, at St. Louis County Library (1640 S. Lindbergh Blvd., 63131). As witnesses to the Holocaust near the ends of their lives, it becomes even more important to seek a coherent explanation of why the Holocaust occurred and to educate a new generation about the horrors inflicted by the Nazi regime.
World-renowned Holocaust historian and professor, Peter Hayes, brings a wealth of scholarly research and experience to bear on conventional, popular views of this history, challenging some of the most prominent interpretations. He argues that there is no single theory that “explains” the Holocaust; the convergence of multiple forces at a particular moment in time led to this catastrophe.
Peter Hayes holds degrees from Bowdoin, Oxford and Yale. From 1980 to 2016, he was Professor of History and German, and from 2000 to 2016, the Theodore Zev Weiss Holocaust Educational Foundation Professor at Northwestern University. Publications include his acclaimed study of IG Farben, Industry and Ideology, and his monumental history of the Nazi economy, Wages of Destruction. He currently chairs the Academic Committee at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. In 2017, Prof. Hayes published Why? Explaining the Holocaust.
The presentation is open to the public and free of charge. Seating is limited. For further information, please contact Andrew Goldfeder at 314-442-3711 or AGoldfeder@JFedSTL.org.
This program is generously sponsored by Doctor Arthur Gale and Family in loving memory of Marilyn Gale. The HMLC would like to thank the St. Louis County Library Foundation and the St. Louis Jewish Book Festival for their support.