A Review of the Annual Scholars Conferences by Franklin H. Littell, 12/1/01

[Several colleagues have asked me for the story of what has been known for years as "the Annual Scholars' Conference on and the Churches." What follows is based on my records and generally identifies repeaters only on their first appearance. (Some in the core group present or preside every year.) When we started, and for two decades, the ASC was "the only game in town;" it was held during the spring semester. During 2000, however, there were more than 30 Holocaust conferences issuing calls for papers in the USA alone. Unlike our conference of academics and churchmen, some were very well financed and almost all were centered in the Holocaust as a purely Jewish event. The fundamental error in this monologue lies not in emphasizing the uniqueness of the SHOAH, which they also frequently fail to do, but in ignoring the implications of the Holocaust for contemporary Christianity.]

The beginnings of my public work on the Holocaust and the Kirchenkampf are found in the period when I was a Religious Affairs officer in the American occupation of Germany after World War II. I lectured widely on these topics, as also on the problem of antisemitism, and wrote many occasional items for journals and newspapers in Germany and the . Three published scholarly papers are worth noting, for they were important in enlisting colleagues and locating future participants in what became the series of Annual Scholars' Conferences*.

The idea of an American initiative in the study of the Church Struggle with came to me in August of 1959. The occasion was a conference at Tutzing Academy in Bavaria, called by the Kommission zur Geschichte des Kirchenkampfes im Dritten Reich under the chairmanship of Kurt Dietrich Schmidt of Hamburg. I arranged payment of the costs of the gathering by the Franz Lieber Foundation in Bonn, of which I had been Director,1953-58. Among those also present were Wilhelm Niemoeller, Eberhard Bethge, Arthur Cochrane (The Church's Confession under Hitler), Juergen Glenthoej of Denmark and Alfred Wiener of London (founder of the great Holocaust collection). Upon my return I started expanding my list - begun in 1952 - of colleagues in the field; my "T-list" now numbers c. 5,000 in several dozen countries. In the fall semester at Emory University I taught my first graduate seminar on the German Church Struggle. (A precis of this story is given by Marcie Littell in her paper on the History of Holocaust Education in the United States at 's First International Conference on Holocaust Education (14-17 October 1996), cf. conference report, pp.9-22.)

*"The Protestant Churches and Totalitarianism (Germany, 1933-1945," in Friedrich, Carl J., Totalitarianism (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1954), pp. 108-19 - a paper at an international conference at Harvard; "Die Freien Kirchen, die Sekten, and das Widerstandsrecht," in Pfister, Bernhard and Hildman, Gerhard, eds., Widerstandsrecht und Grenzen der Staatsgewalt (Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 1956), pp. 59-67 - a paper at a Catholic/Protestant consultation in Tutzing; "Die Bedeutung des Kirchenkampf es fiir die Okumene," in Franz Lieber Hefte Number 3 (Autumn, 1959), pp. 32-48 - a public lecture at Franz Lieber Haus, Bonn. A Review of the Annual Scholars Conferences 1 Lecturing widely on the Church Struggle and preaching frequently on Christendom's abandonment of the , from 1960 on I occasionally heard use of the words "Holocaust" and "Shoah." The student chaplains on large campuses, where the encounter between the Hillel Foundation and the Student Christian Movement was important, were especially receptive to the call for re-thinking and re-working the Christian/Jewish relationships. The founding of the Association for the Coordination of University Relatious Affairs came in 1959, under the sponsorship of the National Conference of Christians and Jews. A decade later there was enough ferment in the faculties, and considerable pressure from the Jewish and Christian campus chaplains, to risk an academic conference.

The following Conference summaries are comprehensive through 1995, by which time the event had taken its basic shape as a voluntary effort of academics and lay people. "Old-timers" in the core group are mentioned only when they present papers, although they frequently serve as chairmen or moderators. Newcomers are noted the first time they appear on the conference program.

• 1970: The first conference was held in 1970: "The German Church Struggle: What Can America Learn?" Hubert Locke was Conference Coordinator and I served as Chairman and keynoter. There were 9 major lectures, plus papers presented in topical seminars. In my opening address ("Church Struggle and Holocaust") I brought the Church Struggle and the Holocaust together for the first time in a public conference, arguing that the tragedy of the Jewish people and the crisis in Christendom must be studied by Jews and Christians working in collaboration. By then Elie Wiesel had published the American edition of Night and Raul Hilberg had published the first edition of his The Destruction of the European Jews, and the number of students of what was coming to be called "the Holocaust" was growing. There were now a few Christian scholars in America working on the Kirchenkampf. The proposal that the inter-faith dialogue should be deepened by bringing together scholars of the SHOAH and the Kirchenkampf was innovative, and has not yet found universal acceptance. A number who were presenters and/or participants at the inaugural conference at Wayne State University in Detroit have continued as an ASC core group for more than three decades. Glancing at the program I note the names of founders Eberhard Bethge, John Conway, Peter Hoffmann, Burton Nelson, Richard Pierard, Richard Rubenstein and Elie Wiesel. Ferdinand Friedensburg (former Mayor of Berlin) and Wilhelm Niemoeller (historian of the Church Struggle) were among the the participants from overseas.

• 1971: an interdisciplinary seminar on "Church Struggle and Holocaust." Site: Wayne State University. Chairman and Host Chairman: Littell & Locke. 7 lecture/discussions. Yehuda Bauer of Hebrew University and Emil Fackenheim of the University of Toronto ("Jewish Faith and the Holocaust") both gave lectures.

A Review of the Annual Scholars Conferences 2 Among others at the 1971 Conference were Lyman Legters (U of Washington) on "Karl Marx, Antisemitism, and Eastern European Jewry," John Jay Hughes (St.Louis University) on "Prophet Without Honor: Hans Asmussen and the Church Struggle," and Wayne Andrews (Wayne State U) on "Nietzsche's Protest."

• 1972: a Scholars Conference on "German Church Struggle and the Holocaust." Site: Wayne State University. Chairman and Host Chairman: Franklin Littell & Hubert Locke. 8. lecture/discussions. Roy Eckardt (Lehigh U) spoke on "The Churches, Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust." Among others were Eva Fleischner of The Grail on "German Christian Theology and Judaism," Uriel Tal (Tel-Aviv U) on "The Last Chapter in the Pre-Holocaust History of German Jewry," Beate Ruhm von Oppen (St.John's College) on "The Case of the White Rose," Hans Tiefel (College of Idaho) on "Use and Misuse of Luther During the German Church Struggle," and Manfred Wolfson (U Bonn) on German Rescuers of Jews in the Nazi Era."

• 1973: an informal meeting of a core committee was held on the future of the project (Annual Scholars Conference and publications).

The Annual Scholars Conference moved to , meeting for several years under the sponsorship of the National Conference of Christians and Jews. My colleagues from the Religious Affairs staff in American Military Government in Germany were now a substantial sector of the New York NCCJ staff. They had enlisted me to become, alongside my seminary and university teaching, Consultant on Higher Education, a capacity in which I travelled widely to help develop campus dialogue groups, 1958-83.

• 1974: "Anti-Semitism and Church-State Conflict in the Third Reich, 1933-45." Site: NYC. Chair: Franklin Littell. 10 presentations, with 6 respondents, and a panel of 5 on "The Experiences of German Jewry." Lectures by Yaffa Eliach ( College) on "Teaching the Holocaust," by Ruth Zerner (Lehmann College) on "Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Jews," by Leonard Swidler (Temple U) on "Max Metzger, Blood Witness," by Robert Wolfe (National Archives) on "Putative Threat to National Security as a Nurnberg Alibi for Genocide," by Michael Ryan (Drew U) on "Some German Protestant Theological Reflections on Jews and Judaism since 1945," and by Armin Boyens (Hofheim/Taunus) on "The Churches and Hitler's Policy of Extermination of the Jewish People."

• 1975: "Some Perspectives on the History and Theology of the Holocaust." Site: NYC. CUNY Graduate Center joined the NCCJ as co-sponsor. 9. lecture/discussions, 6 panelists (Sybil Milton of Leo Baeck Institute), Nora Levin of Gratz College, Eva Fleischner of Montclair State College, Henry Friedlander of CUNY:, Michael Ryan of Drew U, and Franklin Littell of Temple U) - in a session on "Continuing Work on the Meaning of the Church Struggle and the Holocaust."

A Review of the Annual Scholars Conferences Lectures by Mary Alice Gallin (College of New Rochelle) on "Universities in the Weimar Period", Henry Huttenbach (CCNY) on "Church Morality vs. Church Politics", Violet Ketels (Temple U) on Odon von Horvath, Michael Wyschogrod (CUNY:Baruch College), Charles Foster (Committee on Atlantic Studies) on "The Impact of the Niirnberg Trials on Post-War Germany," and Rob't Everett ("James Parkes and the Quest for a Christian Theology without Anti- Semitism") . An evening program centered on a new Holocaust film: "The 81st Blow," shown at the Magno Preview Theatre.

#ln 1975 there was also held the first conference in Germany on the Holocaust and the Churches, at Haus Rissen near Hamburg under the auspices of the International Council of Christians and Jews. Co-chairmen were Clare Huchet Bishop () and Franklin Littell, with participants including Eberhard Bethge, Irving Greenberg, Henry Friedlander, Wolfgang Gerlach (Essen).

#From 1975 through 1985 there was held in Philadelphia, under the auspices of the National Institute on the Holocaust at Temple University, a series of annual conferences on "Teaching the Holocaust." These conferences were held in the fall semester. In 1980, with the launching of the national Holocaust Museum in Washington DC, the National Institute on the Holocaust changed its name.

• 1976: "The Church Struggle and the Holocaust." Site: NYC. Sponsor: NCCJ. 5 lecture/discussions, plus a panel on "Microfilmed Sources of the Holocaust in the National Archives" (Robert Wolfe on the National Archives, Miriam Haskett on the Alexandria records, John Mendelsohn of the Military Archives Division, National Archives) . Lectures by Paul van Buren (Temple U) on "The Importance of a Continuing Jewry to Christians," Wm Weiler (Nat'l Council of Churches) with "Reflections on the Judenmission," John Conway (U of British Columbia) on "The Holocaust in the Context of Nazi Social Revolution," and Burton Nelson (North Park U) on "the Work of Bonhoeffer and George Bell in the Church Struggle."

• 1977: "The Church Struggle and the Holocaust." Site: NYC. Sponsor: NCCJ. 9. lectures, with a panel with Henry Friedlander as chairman, on contemporary oppressions (Jane Gerber of CUNY: Lehman College on "Jews in the Soviet Union," author Joel Carlson of No Neutral Ground on South Africa, Rose Styron of Amnesty International on Chile and Argentina.) New videos were auditioned: a survivor's account produced by Irving Frank of the NYC Board of Education; also, "I Never Saw Another Butterfly." A video of Ruth Zerner interviewing Renate and Eberhard Bethge on Bonhoeffer and the Resistance to Nazism in Germany was presented. Bethge lectured on "The Holocaust and Christian Anti-Semitism: Reflections of a Christian Survivor." Other presenters included Erich Goldhagen (Harvard U) on "The Laughter of the Murderers: Thoughts on the Character of Nazi Cruelty," Florence Miale (The Nuremberg Mind) on "A Psychologist Studies the Rorschach Records of the Nuremberg Defendants," and Israeli painter Naftali Bezem on "Incorporating the Holocaust into Jewish Artistic Expression."

A Review of the Annual Scholars Conferences 4 • 1978: "The Church Struggle and the Holocaust." Site: NYC. Sponsor: NCCJ. 12 lecture/discussions. Participants included Sybil Milton, Robert Ross (U of Minnesota) on "So It Was True After All! -the American Protestant Press and the Death Camps," Raul Hilberg on "The Origin of the Final Solution," Lawrence Langer (Simmons College) on "The Vocabulary of Holocaust Literature," Elie Wiesel, Irving Greenberg (CCNY) on Orthodox Judaism's response to the Holocaust, John Conway on "The Vatican and the Holocaust," C. Brooks Peters (New York Times, Berlin, 1937-41) with remembrances of a Berlin correspondent, Arnold Fisch (Civil Aeronautics Board) on "The Wehrmacht's Hostage Policy in Serbia, April-October, 1941," Warren Green (Boston U) on "The Fate of the Crimean Jewish Communities," and John Mendelsohn (National Archives) on "Trials and Clemency for Einsatzgruppen Personnel in West Germany."

#ln 1978 there was also held in Philadelphia an International Theological Symposium on the Holocaust, co-sponsored by our National Institute on the Holocaust and the NCCJ. Theme: "What Shall the Church Teach Now?" There were strong delegations from and the German Federal Republic. Participants included Erich Geldbach (Marburg), Gertrud Luckner (Freiburg/Br), Eberhard Bethge, Rolf Rendtorff (Heidelberg), John Howard Yoder (Notre Dame), Martin Stohr (Arnoldshain) and E. P. Sanders (McMaster U).

• 1979: "Perpetrators, Victims, Bystanders and Resisters, Then and Now." Site: NYC. Sponsor: NCCJ. .11 lecture/discussions, with 3 Workshops (#1 - "In the Steps of Dietrich Bonhoeffer," with Burton Nelson, #2 - "Publishers' Perspectives on Church Struggle and Holocaust Publications," with Hanna Gunther, editor and translator, #3 - "Teaching the Holocaust in Public Schools," with Margot Strom of Brookline MA. Strom's program "Facing History and Ourselves" has subsequently grown to be a very important initiative in schools across the USA.) A panel discussed the function of the camps in Nazi Europe (Raul Hilberg, Leon Wells - The Death Brigade, Henry Friedlander). Presenters included Robert Waite (Williams College) on "The Perpetrator - Hitler and the Holocaust," Henry Feingold (CUNY:Baruch College) on "The Indictment of the Holocaust Witness: A Second Look," Lucjan Dobroszycki (YIVO) on "The Attitude Toward Jews in the Polish Underground Press, 1939-1945," Joergen Glenthoej (Denmark) on the Danish rescue of Jews in October, 1943, Pieter de Jong (Drew U) on the Dutch church responses to Nazi occupation, Robert McAfee Brown (Union Theological Seminary) on Christian Messianism, Jacob Agus (Baltimore) on Jewish Messianism, Beate Ruhm von Oppen on "Helmut Graf von Moltke and the Kreisau Circle," Nancy Lukens (Wooster College) on Adam von Trott, and Alice Eckardt (Lehigh U) on "Biomedical Issues After the Holocaust."

• 1980: "The Church Struggle and the Holocaust." Site: Philadelphia. Co-sponsors: the Philadelphia Center and the Jewish Community Relations Council. 5 lecture/discussions, among them Racelle Weiman (Israel) on the educational work of the Ghetto Fighters' Kibbutz.

A Review of the Annual Scholars Conferences 5 Allan Brockway (World Council of Churches, Geneva) reported on the work of the Geneva ecumenical center in respect to the Holocaust, Samuel Abrahamson (CUNY:Brooklyn College) on the Norwegian Lutherans and Nazism, and Mary Sweetland Laver (Temple U) on the work of the American Friends Service Committee during the Holocaust.

• 1981: "The Impact of the Holocaust." Meeting again in New York under NCCJ sponsorship. From 197 6 through 1984 the Annual Scholars Conferences were dedicated to the memory of Bernhard Olsen, NCCJ staff member who had implemented the Conferences, author of the definitive study Faith and Prejudice. 10 papers and 4 respondents. Among the participants were George Mosse (U of Wisconsin) on "Racism and Anti-Semitism After the Holocaust," Raul Hilberg on "Trends in Writing the History of the Holocaust," Lucjan Dobroszycki (YIVO) on "The Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw," Bernard Wasserstein (Brandeis U) on "The Opening of the Archives," Henry Friedlander on "West German Courts and Nazi Crimes," Joan Ringelheim (SUNY:Stony Brook), and George Schwab (CUNY Graduate Center).

• 1982 - a joint meeting was held in Philadelphia with the Conference on Teaching the Holocaust, of which Marcia Sachs Littell had become Director. She also became Director of the organization ("Anne Frank Institute") that later became known as the Philadelphia Center on the Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights. • 1983: "The Future of Holocaust Studies." Meeting in New York under NCCJ sponsorship, and with joint sessions with the Karl Barth Society of North America and the American Section of the International Bonhoeffer Society. 17. presenters, including a session on public concern for the Holocaust (Alex Grobman of the Center, Los Angeles on "Oral History," Yaf f a Eliach on "Public Events," Phil Bregstein of U of Michigan on "Film and Theater"). Another panel discussed "Jews, Prejudice, and Minority Rights Since World War II" (Leonard Dinnerstein of the University of Arizona on the United States, Bernhard Blumenkranz of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique on , Herbert Steiner of the Documentation Archive of the Austrian Resistance on ). Other presenters included John Pawlikowski (Catholic Theological Union, Chicago) on "Christian Ethics and the Holocaust," Harry James Cargas (Webster U) with "A New Look at Hochhuth's The Deputy," John deGruchy (U of Cape Town) with response to Geffrey Kelly (LaSalle College) on "Church Complicity in the Nazi Era:Bonhoeffer and the Possibility of Jewish-Christian Reconciliation," David Demson (U of Toronto) and Martin Rumscheidt (Atlantic School of Theology) on aspects of Karl Barth's theology, Margot Strom and Bill Parsons (Brookline MA) on "Constructing a Holocaust Curriculum," Janet Blatter (Montreal) on "Constructing an Exhibit on the Holocaust" and Isaiah Kuperstein (Pittsburgh) on "the Local Holocaust Center."

A Review of the Annual Scholars Conferences • 19 84 - a joint meeting in Philadelphia with the Conference on Teaching the Holocaust. • 1985: "Forty Years After, 1945-85." Site: Philadelphia. 12 lectures, plus a memorial lecture for Richard Gingold ("A Message to the Second Generation") given by Elie Wiesel. Videos were presented on the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (by David Soul, Los Angeles), on an interview with a Holocaust revisionist (by Jan Darsa of Facing History and Ourselves), and "Robert Clary (A5714) - a Memoir of Liberation" (by Saul Friedman and Herbert Hochhauser of Kent State University). Presenters included David Kirk (U of Waterloo) "Pacifism and Isolationism in Retrospect," Elly Dlin (Yad Vashem) on "Teaching the Teachers," David Wyman (U Mass: Amherst) on "The Abandonment of the Jews," Burton Nelson and Geffrey Kelly (LaSalle U) on "The Witness of Dietrich Bonhoeffer," Wolfgang Gerlach with a "Reappraisal of the Church Resistance," and David Rausch (Ashland Theological Seminary) on "Evangelicals and Jews After Auschwitz," Yaffa Eliach and Harry James Cargas. A panel discussed "The Education of Professionals," with Jack Boozer (Emory U) , Willard O'Brien (Villanova U) , and Hiley Ward (Temple U). (Georgetown U) spoke on "The Message that was Delivered, but not Heard." An interdenominational team presented "The Barmen and Pittsburgh Declarations" (on political corruption and resistance to injustice). Co-sponsored by the Greater Philadelphia Wallenberg Committee, a special program opened with greetings from Repr. Tom Lantos (D-Calif), a Wallenberg survivor. They reported on the current attempt to determine his fate (Morris Wolff, lawyer, Harvey Rosenfeld of Pace University and Elenore Lester, Editor of "The Jewish Week").

Since 1985, public interest in the Holocaust and related themes has grown exponentially, and the ASC has responded by moving to different parts of the country to facilitate the participation of lay people, graduate students and school teachers. Usually there has been extensive local co-sponsorship, as well as the hospitality and financial support of a university.

1986: "The Church Struggle and the Holocaust." At the meeting in Evanston IL, a member of the founding group - Burton Nelson of North Park University - was Conference Chair. There were 1/7 lecture/discussions. A video - "The Fighting Ministers" - was presented on the Pittsburgh "church struggle," with Richard Solberg (Thousand Oaks CA) in the chair. Videos were presented of liberators' testimony ("Opening the Gates of Hell"), with Elliott Lefkovitz of Loyola University), of portraits of early church resisters to Nazism (with J. Patrick Kelly of Lynchburg College), and of survivors' testimonies (with Leon Stein of Roosevelt U). Lecturers at the 19 86 Conference included Byron Sherwin of Spertus College ("Implications of the Holocaust: A Jewish Perspective"), Eberhard Bethge on "Bonhoeffer: Christians and Jews in Germany Today," and Renate Bethge on "The 8th of May, 1945: Remembrance and Challenge After 40 Years."

A Review of the Annual Scholars Conferences Yechiel Eckstein (Holyland Fellowship) presented "A Jew Views the Church Struggle with the Holocaust," Joel Epstein (Olivet College) on "The Holocaust as Non-History: Coverage in College Western Civilization Textbooks," Sybil Milton (U. S. Holocaust Memorial Museum) on "Women and the Holocaust," Frederick Holmgren (North Park) on violence in the Bible, John Conway on "Denial of the Holocaust in Canada," Arthur Cochrane (U of Dubuque) on "The Gospel in the Constantinian Era," and Jan Darsa (Facing History and Ourselves) on "The Use of Oral Testimony in the Classroom." A part of a comprehensive study of antisemitism directed by Yehuda Bauer, Richard Pierard reported on "Conservative Protestantism and the Struggle Against Anti-Semitism." A concluding panel addressed the topic of "Contemporary Lessons of the Church Struggle and the Holocaust," with Eberhard and Renate Bethge.

1987: "The Holocaust and the Church Struggle." Meeting in Washington DC, with Harry James Cargas as conference chairman; co- sponsors with the Philadelphia Center on the Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights were the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council and the International Bonhoeffer Society. 12^ presenters. Speakers included Donald Dietrich (U of Wisconsin:Stevens Point) on "Catholic Resistance in the Third Reich," Eva Fleischner on "Some Catholics in France Who Saved Jews," Kenneth Waltzer (Michigan State U) on "American Jewish Labor: An Aid to Polish Jews," David Passow (Hebrew U of ), Shalmi Barmore (Yad Vashem), Yael Danieli on "The Impact of Resistance on Survivors' Families", Helen Fein (Institute for the Study of Genocide) on "Impact and Organization of Church Resistance and Social Defense of Jews During the Holocaust").

1988: "Burning Memory; 1938-1988: Times of Reckoning," again in Washington DC with the Memorial Council and the Bonhoeffer Society as co-sponsors of the Annual Scholars Conference with the Philadelphia Center. Conference Chair: Alice Eckardt. 2.0 presentations. Presenters included Frieda Aaron (Kingsborough Community College), Richard Rubenstein (Florida State U) on "The Pope, Waldheim,and the Holocaust," Gershon Greenberg (American U) , Henry Huttenbach on "Kristallnacht in Holocaust Context: Between Burning Books (1933) and Burning Bodies (1941)," Karl Plank (Davidson College), Mary Glazener (Clemson SC) , Gabrielle Tyrnauer (Concordia College:Montreal) on "Holocaust History and the Gypsies"), and Paul Bartrop of the Gippsland Institute in Australia ("Australia and the Evian Conference, 1938"). Also Mordecai Paldiel (Yad Vashem) on "Christian Rescuers of Jewish Children", Nechama Tec (U Connecticut:Stamford) on "What Helped Us to Survive?" And Susan Zucotti on "The Italians' Role in the Rescue of Jews", Lawrence Baron (St. Lawrence University) on "The Dynamics of Decency: Dutch Rescuers of Jews During the Holocaust", Hubert Locke on "Black Protestantism and Antisemitism: A Reappraisal", Susan Pentlin on the Memoirs of Inge Deutschkron, Lea Fleischman and Wendelgard von Staden, and Joan Ringelheim on "The Politics of Memory: Women and the Holocaust."

A Review of the Annual Scholars Conferences 8 Peter Sichrovsky () lectured on "Born Guilty: Children of Nazi Families in Germany and Austria", Iwona Irwin-Zarecka (Wilfred Laurier U) on "Catholics and Jews in Today", and Franklin Littell, in the concluding address, on "Kristallnacht Fifty Years After - What Have We Learned?"

In 1988 a major international conference on the Holocaust and the churches was held in Oxford and London, with Elisabeth Maxwell as the prime mover. Her husband, Robert Maxwell - a media mogul, and a survivor, contributed heavily both in financial support and in planning and participation. The theme "Remembering for the Future" was adopted, and several hundred educators from many countries participated. The largest contingent was from the USA. Colleagues from the United Kingdom and Canada, Germany and Israel have participated in the Annual Scholars Conference since the beginning in 1970. Attendance received a second major impulse with the freeing of academics in Eastern Europe through the collapse of the Soviet Union and the reunification of Germany (1989). By the year 2000 ASC, in March, c500 participants registered from 25 countries, and a similar number participated in "Remembering for the Future III" in Oxford and London in July. Again, about half were Americans.

1989: "Bearing Witness, 1939-1989." Conference Chair: Alan Berger (Syracuse University). Site: Philadelphia. Conference chair: Alan Berger (Syracuse U) . 46. presenters. A special feature was the presentation of the Eternal Flame Award to Elizabeth Maxwell of Oxford; she also spoke at the Conference Dinner at the 10th Anniversary Reunion of Yad Vashem Alumni. (The roll of previous recipients had included Gideon Hausner of Jerusalem and Beate Klarsfeld of Paris.) Hubert Locke gave the Bernhard E. Olson Memorial Address. In a session on "The Holocaust Through Visual Imagery," presenters were Beverly Asbury of Vanderbilt U, Ann Weiss ("Eyes from the Ashes"), and Joanne Rudof on the Yale University "Collection of Video Testimonies." There was an exhibit of the art of "Georgy Kadar - Survivor of Death, Witness to Life." Other presenters were Herbert Hirsch (Virginia Commonwealth U) on "Primo Levi," Emanuel Tanay (Wayne State U) "On Being a Survivor," Roberta Kalechofsky on "The Social and Medical Antecedents to the Medical Experiments in the Concentration Camps", Gerd Korman (Cornell U) , Harriet Parmet (Lehigh U) on "Haviva Reik", Robert Melson (Purdue U), Steven Katz (Cornell U), Eugene Fisher (U.S. Catholic Bishops' Conference) and Leon Klenicki (Anti- Defamation League) on "Memory and Triumphalism," Jack Fischel (Millersville U) on "An American Christian Response to the Holocaust," Alan Rosenberg and Paul Marcus (CUNY:Queens College) on "The Role of Religious Faith in ^Remaining Human' in the Ghettos and Camps," Gershon Greenberg on "The Theological Response of Lubavitcher Hasidism to the Shoah," Robert Ross (Graduate Theological Union) on "Baptists, Jews, Nazis:1933-1947," Rachel Feldhay Brenner (York U), Roger Smith (William & Mary) on "Norman Cohen's Complex Witness to the Holocaust," David Patterson (Oklahoma State U) , Zev Garber (Los Angeles Valley College), Richard Pierard on "John Beaty's *The Iron Curtain Over America' - Antisemitism and AntiCommunism in the 1950s."

A Review of the Annual Scholars Conferences For the first time the Annual Scholars Conference scheduled in tandem with Yad Vashem a cooperative conference program for teachers. This has since become an annual event. The occasion of the launching of formal cooperation was the 10th anniversary reunion of alumni of Yad Vashem's Courses for Overseas Educators, and among those presenting were Sue Fox (Vidal Sassoon Center, Hebrew University), Shalmi Barmore and Elly Dlin (Yad Vashem), Edward Trout (teacher, Bristol PA) , Peppy Margolis (MetroWest Holocaust Education - New Jersey), Hana Greenfield (Tel-Aviv). 1990: "The Holocaust Forty-Five Years After: What Have We Learned?" Site: Vanderbilt U, Nashville TN. Conference Host: Beverly Asbury. Conference Chair: Alan Berger (Syracuse U) . There were 53_ presentations. There was a premiere showing of the BBC film on Christian teaching before and after Auschwitz: "The Shadow on the Cross." The opening plenary consisted of statements by a group of colleagues from the 197 0 founding: John Conway (U of British Columbia), Franklin Littell (Temple U & Hebrew U) , Hubert Locke (U of Washington), Burton Nelson (North Park) and Richard Rubenstein (Florida State). The opening assembly was addressed by Elie Wiesel. Speaker at the Opening Banquet was Yaffa Eliach, on "Private and Public Commemoration." Lecture-discussions included a session on "Public Programming" chaired by Marcie Littell, with Karen Riley (Orlando FL Holocaust Education Center), Marvin Goldstein (Rider College), Mary Johnson (Facing History and Ourselves) and Leonard Bickman (Vanderbilt U) . A session on "The Church's Report Card" included Robert Michael (S E Massachusetts U) and Haim Genizi (Bar-Ilan) . Another, on the Carmelite Convent/Auschwitz Controversy, included Harry James Cargas, John Pawlikowski, Richard Rubenstein, John Roth (Claremont- McKenna) and Carol Rittner (Elie Wiesel Foundation) as participants. Walter Renn (Wheeling College) was in a group that discussed the emergence of regional Holocaust education centers and included a report by Bruce Opie on the work of the Tennessee Board of Education in Holocaust Curriculum and Teacher Training. "Christian Theology in Ferment" included Theodore Linn (St. Lawrence U) on James Parkes' legacy, David Gushee (Union Theological Seminary) on "Guilty as Charged: Towards a Reconstruction of Christian Faith after the Holocaust," and James Moore (Valparaiso U) with "A New Christian Midrash: On the Frontier of Theology after the Shoah." [A Midrash Group has become an important and permanent part of the ASC.3 Discussants in other sessions included Susan Cernyak-Spatz (UNC:Charlotte) on Theresienstadt, Dan Laor(Tel-Aviv U) on the role of the Judenrat, Herbert Hirsch on "Psychizatrists' Views of Mass Death: Fromm, Frankl, Bettelheim and Lifton," Laurence Thomas (Syracuse U) , Stephen Post (Case Western Reserve) on "The Legacy of Racial Hygiene", T. Forcht Dagi (Atlanta), and Mark Bernheim (Miami U) on Janos Korczak.

A Review of the Annual Scholars Conferences 10 A session on "Jewish Responses to Catastrophe," chaired by Joseph Rudavsky (Ramapo College), had presentations by Stephen Jacobs (Birmingham AL) on Raphael Lemkin, by Alan Udoff (Baltimore Hebrew College) on Emil Fackenheim, Zev Garber on "The 93 Beit Yaakov Martyrs," Gershon Greenberg on Simcha Elberg, and Richard Libowitz (St. Joseph's University). David Patterson (Oklahoma State U) spoke on "Ka-Tzetnik's Shivitti," Susan Pentlin on "Memoirs of Return: Early Post-Holocaust Survivor Accounts," Robert Skloot (U of Wisconsin) on Theatre, Judith Doneson (Annenberg Institute) on Film, Stephen Feinstein (U Wisconsin:River Falls) on "Mainstream Contemporary Artists and the Holocaust," and Rachel Brenner on Edith Stein.

1991: "The and Nazi Genocide," meeting at Stockton State College, Pomona, New Jersey. Honorary Chair: President Vera King Farris, who received the Januscz Korszak Award for her long assistance to Holocaust education. Conference Chair: G.Jan Colijn. 63. presentations. A panel on the impact of Holocaust "revisionism" (aka denial) featured recent incidents in the Chicago area, with participants including Erna Gans (Illinois Holocaust Center), Peter Hayes (Northwestern U) , and a team of teachers from Evanston (Stephen Littell, Charles Meyers and Stephanie Welter). Senator Paul Simon of Illinois was Conference keynote speaker. A panel on the Edith Stein Controversy included Judith Banki (American Jewish Committee). A plenary on the Dutch experience was chaired by Ernst Presseisen (Temple U) and included Pieter deJong (Drew U), with a following discussion group that included presentations by Jane Vogel Fishman (SUNY:Buffalo), Stephen Hess (Rochester), Stephen Jacobs on "Letters from Zerbst," and Jack Polak (Anne-Frank Center, New York) . Continuing Bonhoeffer studies were reported, with Jane Pejsa joining the working group. A session with a panel of DP camp survivors and service personnel/administrators included Toby Blum-Dobkin (New York Museum of Jewish Heritage), Irving Heymont (U.S. Army, retired), Abraham Peck (American Jewish Archives), and Marion Pritchard. Gottfried Wagner attended an ASC for the first time, beginning the "second generation" partnership with Abraham Peck. Joining the discussion of "the Churches' Response to the Holocaust" as presenters were Samuel Abrahamsen on the Norwegian Lutheran response, John Grondelski (St.John's U) on Polish reaction to the Carmelite Case, Michael Phayer (Marquette U) on the German Roman Catholic bishops, P.S. diVirgilio (Toronto) and Robert Willis (Hamline U) . A session on the Holocaust in film and the arts included Andre Colombat (Loyola/Baltimore) on French film, Judith Doneson on "Feminine Stereotypes of Jews in Holocaust Films," Stephen Feinstein spoke on "Contemporary Artists" and Saul Friedman spoke on "Filming the Mengele Twins." Gottfried Wagner (Milan), great-grandson of the composer, and Nanda van der Zee of ("The Myth of Dutch History in WW II and the Anne Frank Symbol") gave addresses. Other participants were (both from New York): Paul Marcus on "Psychoanalysis and the Child Survivor" and Margrit Wreschner on "Rescued Children and Identity Problems." Bernard Weinstein (Kean College) discussed "The Diary of Etty Hillesum" and Harriet Susskind (Monroe Community College) "Holocaust Poetry."

A Review of the Annual Scholars Conferences 11 1992: "The Holocaust and the German Church Struggle: Religion, Power, and the Politics of Resistance (1933-1945)." Host Chairman: Hubert Locke. Site: the University of Washington, Seattle. 49 presenters. In connection with the ASC there was a Commemorative Convocation remembering Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971) and Martin Niemoeller (1892-1984), with addresses by Sybil Niemoeller von Sell and Christopher Niebuhr. A new film on the Wannsee Conference was shown, with Henry Huttenbach, David Patterson and Wm Sheridan Allen as discussants. Abraham Peck ("2nd generation") and Gottfried Wagner (great grandson) continued their dialogue on "Sharing the Burden." Among other presenters were Susannah Heschel (Case Western Reserve) on "Jesus was an Aryan: Walter Grundmann and the Nazification of Germany", Wolfgang Gerlach on "Karl Barth and the Jews," Stephen Haynes (Rhodes College) on the Church Struggle in Germany and South Africa, John Pawlikowski on a new definition of "The Nazi Attack on the Polish Nation," (Use Irwin (UT:E1 Paso), Douglas Tobler (Brigham Young U) on "Senator Elbert Thomas' Efforts to Save European Jews," Susan Pentlin on "Lea Fleischman's 'Gas, Tagebuch einer Bedrohung," Kenneth Thompson (U of Virginia), Kenneth Barnes (Central Arkansas U) on "The German Church Struggle and the Oxford Conference of 1937," Doris Bergen (U of Vermont) on "Women, Gender and the Church Struggle: the German Christian Movement's Quest for a Manly Church", Theodore Thomas on "Pastors' Wives During the Church Struggle: Their Contribution Toward the Eventual Ordination of Women," Katharina von Kellenbach (Temple U) on "Between Sexism and Antisemitism: German Jewish and Protestant Women's Struggle", Michael Steele (Pacific U), Robert Krell (U of British Columbia), Leonard Grob (Fairleigh Dickinson U) , Mary Neufeld of Toledo, Ohio ("Voice of a Survivor"), Rita Newman ("Survivor Reaction to German Reunification"). A Conference Banquet at the U of W Faculty Club paid tribute to Franklin Littell on his 75th birthday. A Public Convocation featured an address by Bishop Albrecht Schoenherr of Berlin.

1993: "The Uses and Abuses of Knowledge." Site: U of Tulsa, with Henry Knight as Host Chairman. 71 presenters. An evening lecture and reading featured Yevgeny Yevtushenko ("Babi-Yar Revisited"). Presenters in a discussion of the U. S. Holocaust Memorial Museum were Michael Berenbaum, Rochelle Saidel (Sao Paulo U, Brazil) and Edward Linenthal (U Wisconsin:Oshkosh). Terrance Albrecht (U South Florida) and John Bowlin (U of Tulsa) presented papers on rescue in Denmark, and David Gushee (Evangelicals for Social Action) discussed "A Certain Kind of Faith: Christian Rescuers of Jews During the Holocaust." Damir Mirkovic (Brandon U, Manitoba) presented a paper on "From Incarceration Society to Genocidal Society... Civil Wars in Yugoslavia." A special session and a workshop discussing teachers and teaching of the Holocaust were led by Irene Shur (West Chester U), Richard Libowitz, James Moore, Karen Riley (Central Florida Holocaust Education Ctr), Ruth Cooper (Tulsa public schools), Marvin Goldstein and Mary Johnson.

A Review of the Annual Scholars Conferences 12 The Midrash group began its study, led by Zev Garber, Steven Jacobs, Leonard Grob, Henry Knight and James Moore. Richard Rubenstein addressed a morning plenary session on "Holy Wars and Ethnic Cleansing." Other presenters included Tuvia Frilling (Ben-Gurion U, Be'er- Sheva), Henry Huttenbach on "The Nazi Plans for the Destruction of the Peoples of the East," and Molly Hoagland (Tulsa) on the Lodz Ghetto:1940-44. Questions arising from the Project were discussed by Darrell Fasching (USF, Tampa), Eric Markusen (S W State U, Minnesota), Richard Pierard and J. Patrick Kelly. Additional papers: Marilyn Nefsky of (U of Lethbridge) on "National Socialism and the Canadian Protestant Church", James Williams (Syracuse U) on "Heidegger, Nazism, and Christian Theology", Kazimierz Kakol (U of Warsaw) on the Ghetto Uprising 1943, Tomas Radii (Prague), Victor Ehly (Norwich U) , Robert Willis, Jon Davies (U of Newcastle on Tyne), Wallin McCardell (U of Texas:Tyler) on' "Holocaust Revisionist Ads in University Newspapers," John Burgess (Pittsburgh Theological Seminary) on the Church and the Stasi in the former DDR, Paul diVirgilio (U of Toronto) and Victoria Barnett (independent author and translator). Dan Bar-On (Ben-Gurion U) reported on his first meeting between children of survivors and children of perpetrators, in June of 1992; from Upsala U in Sweden, A. B. daSilva addressed the SHOAH as a Challenge to both Christians and Jews. Bernard Weinstein and Peppy Margolis (Metrowest) spoke on "Moral Dilemmas Raised by Simon Wiesenthal's Sunflower." Gottfried Wagner and Abraham Peck continued their second generational dialogue. Other presenters: Rolf Ahlers (Russell Sage Colleges), Gloria Mound (Casa Shalom, Israel), Kenneth Barnes on "The Lutheran Free Churches and the Third Reich," John Pawlikowski on "The Vatican and the Holocaust: Unresolved Issues," Robert Ross, Alan Rosenberg and Alan Milchman (Queens College), Judith Doneson (St. Louis) on "The Continuity of Negative Images: An Analysis of the Film Europa, Europa," Steven Jacobs on George Steiner, Richard Libowitz on a Comparative Study of Novels by Elie Wiesel and Aharon Appelfeld, Salahi Sonyel of the UK ("The Role of Turkey in Efforts to Save the Jews from Nazi Persecution, 193 9-1945"), Marsha and Michael Lustigman (Bishop's University), Aharon Komem of Ben-Gurion U on Appelfeld's new play Al Bari'ah. Charles Fishman (SUNY) read from his new volume of poetry, "Blood to Remember." Hubert Locke (U of Washington) gave a plenary address on "The Uses and Abuses of Knowledge: the Holocuastand the Problem of Race." Erich Geldbach (Marburg) spoke at the Closing Luncheon of plans for the 1994 international conference in Berlin ("Remembering for the Future II," succeeding the Oxford 1988 RFTF). 1994: "The Holocaust: Progress and Prognosis, 1934-94." A joint conference of ASC and the Third Biennial Rider College Conference on Christianity and the Holocaust, in Lawrenceville NJ. J31 presenters. A plenary address was given by Charles Allen (NYC), on "Corporativism and the Holocaust: the Role of National Corporations and International Cartels in the Implementation of the Holocaust. Implications for the Future."

A Review of the Annual Scholars Conferences 13 A slide lecture/discussion was presented by Steven Paskuly (Buffalo NY public schools) . A session on "the New Anti-Semitism" featured Saul Friedman, Jack Fischel and Philip Rosen (Villanova U) . A Teachers Workshop featured Mary Johnson and Rachel Shankman (Facing History and Ourselves) and Marvin Goldstein. Richard Libowitz and Seymour Siegler (Brookdale Community) addressed the evolution of Holocaust teaching. Elaine Culbertson (Phila School District) and Joel Epstein addressed educational issues. Gottfried Wagner and Abraham Peck continued their second generation dialogue, augmented by a program on "Developing the Dialogue: Conversations Between a Former German Jewish Refugee and the Daughter of a World War II German Wehrmacht Officer" (with Egon Mermelstein, Ingrid Thompson and Natalie Fasolt of the College of Aeronautics). Mary Johnson, Carol Japha (Revson Fdn), Carol Rittner and Ilan Avisar (Tel-Aviv U) spoke on "Holocaust and Films." Problems of Holocaust denial were addressed by Ellen Fine (CUNY:Kingsborough Community College), Naomi Diamont (Columbia U), and Jack Fischel, and in a Luncheon Address by Shelly Shapiro (Holocaust Survivors and Friends). Other presenters: Lawrence Baron (San Diego State U), Peter Hoffmann, Haim Genizi on "Bnei Akiba Rescue Activities in Hungary," Stephen Feinstein on three Polish Artists - Stern, Szajna, Otreba, Terrance Albrecht and Carnot Nelson (U South Florida), and Paul Shore (St.Louis U) . Others: Frieda Aaron (CUNY:Kingsborough Community College), Susan Laremore (Harvard Divinity School), Rochelle Saidel on "Holocaust Studies in Catholic Seminaries in Brazil," Samuel Murrell (Wooster College) on "Whatever Happened to the Black-Jewish Accord?" and Vincent Frank-Steiner (Anne Frank- Fonds, Basel) on "Anne Frank's Diary: Some Critical Observations - Fifty Years After." A session on "The Barmen Declaration, 1934-1994" was led by Charles West (Princeton Theological Seminary) on "Barmen and Jerusalem," Michael Lukens (Saint Norbert College) on "The Barmen Declaration and the Concordat of 1933," J. Patrick Kelley and Victoria Barnett. Another independent scholar and author who presented was Mary Glazener (The Cup of Wrath). Other presentations: Christine Obenreder (Gannon U), Susanna Rich (Kean College), Diane Cypkin (Pace U) on "Freedom Fighter? Collaborator? Monsignor Tiso and the Rhetoric of 'Transaction,' Slovakia, 1939-1945," Victor Ehly on "Slavery in the Third Reich," Menachem Shelah (U of Haifa) on "The Catholic CVhurch in Croatia, the Vatican and the Murder of Croatian Jews," Gloria Mound (U of Glasgow) on "The Jews of Libya Under Fascist Rule," Katharina von Kellenbach and Bjoern Krondorfer (St. Mary's College MD) on "German Family History: A Stumbling Block in Jewish/German Encounters." A session on "Law Without Justice" featured Christopher Robinson (College of St. Rose) with a study of Albert Camus' portrayal of the legal profession in The Fall and Richard Weisberg (Yeshiva U) on "The Practice of Law During Vichy." Further, Joanna Clark (Hunter College) on Polish writers' responses to the Holocaust, Catherine Quehl-Engel (Pacific School of Religion), Johann Jochnowitz (Kean College), Harold Moeller (CUNY:Queens College), Susan Pentlin and Henry Huttenbach.

A Review of the Annual Scholars Conferences 14 Susan Kray (U of Alabama:Huntsville) presented, and also Tod Linafelt (Emory U) , Lorin Higley (U of Nevada:Las Vegas), Tomas Radii, Pier Marton (Carnegie Mellon U), Shelly Shapiro on "Holocaust Denial," Jack Nusan Porter (Spencer Institute), Nathan Stoltzfus (Tufts University), Lon Nuell (Middle Tennessee State U) , Susan Robinson (West Texas A & M University), Gila Ramras-Rauch (Hebrew College of Brookline MA), Diane Plotkin (Brookhaven Community College, Dallas), Seymour Siegler of Brookdale (NJ) Community College on "Holocaust Education," Trudi Alexy on "'Marranos' and Other Secret Jews," Phil Cox (U Mass:Boston) on "'Technicity,' the Culture of Science, and Nazi Medicine," Ron Hollander (Montclair State - NJ) on the Press and the Holocaust - "a Paradigm of Professional Ethical Failure," David Rosenberg (U of Pittsburgh) on "Corporate Responsibility... German Corporate Funding of a Holocaust Exhibit in Pittsburgh, May 1990." A panaL on the Polish Catholic experience featured John Grondelski (Seton Hall U) : "The Polish Bishops on Catholic-Jewish Relations," Kathleen Lee (Humboldt State U, California) on "Individual Catholic Response to Nazi Genocide" and Zygmunt Zielinski (Catholic U of Lublin) on "Roman Catholic Efforts to Rescue Jews in Nazi-Occupied Poland. Kristie Macrakis (Michigan State U) gave the final address, on "Scientists Under National Socialism.

"Remembering for the Future II," an international conference on the Holocaust and the Churches, was held in Berlin 13-17 March 1994, under Honorary Chair: Hans-Dietrich Genscher of the Bundestag, and Conference Chair: Erich Geldbach (Konfessionskundliche Institut, Bensheim). 20 Arbeitsgruppen functioned, with several hundred participants, at Humboldt University. Among the major German speakers were Ralph Giordano (Koln), Albrecht Schonherr (retired bishop of Berlin-Brandenburg), Martin Stohr (U Siegen), Klaus Schiitz (former Berlin mayor, ambassador to Israel), Herbert Gornick (Deutschlandfunk, Koln), Leonore Siegele-Wenschkewitz (Arnoldshain). Again, at RFTF II, Americans were the largest contingent.

1995: Theme: "Remembrance, Repentance, Reconciliation." Site of Silver Anniversary ASC: Brigham Young University. Conference Chair: Douglas Tobler. 148 presenters. In connection with the Conference, a special concert was given in by the famous Mormon . Among the speakers was Joseph Cannon, LDS member, who was the largest non-Jewish donor to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC. Tom Lantos CD- Calif ) , a Wallenberg survivor, gave the opening message. 23 LDS liberators were honored, with a panel of ten reporting on what they saw at Dora, Gunskirchen, Buchenwald, Dachau, Mauthausen. A special program honored ASC founders Franklin Littell and Hubert Locke, with John Conway (U of British Columbia), Erich Geldbach (Bensheim), Richard Rubenstein(U of Bridgeport) and Mordecai Paldiel (Yad Vashem) speaking. Al Stagg of San Antonio presented his stage play on Bonhoeffer.

A Review of the Annual Scholars Conferences 15 Presenters included Lillian Kremer (Kansas State U) , Eric Sterling (Auburn U:Montgomery) on "Rolf Hochhuth's The Deputy and the Pope as Power Broker," Herbert Druks (Brooklyn College) on "John J. McCloy and the Holocaust," Robert Welker (Wittenberg U), Uriel Grunfeld (Penn State U) , Shmuel Krakowski (Yad Vashem) on "Holocaust Documentation in the Recently Opened Archives in Eastern Europe" - with accompanying presentations by Klara Vinocur (Kiev), Ilya Levitas (Kiev) and Vitaly Zayko of Minsk. A special session was held on the impact of Elie Wiesel on Christianity (B. Nelson, Cargas, Rittner, Pawlikowski, Berger). The Midrash Group continued its work. A session on inter-faith dialogue was chaired by Sharon Gutman (Philadelphia Center), with Karen Howard (Boston College), Bjoern Krondorfer, Eugene Pogany (In My Brother's Image) and Stephen Haynes (Reluctant Witnesses: Jews and the Christian Imagination). Several sessions discussed Holocaust films, with panelists including Stig Hornshoej-Moelloer (Der Ewige Jud) , Yitzchak Kerem (Hebrew U) on "Commemoration of Sephardic Jews in Holocaust Museums," Mira Binford (Diamonds in the Snow), Judy Weightman (U of Hawaii) and Gerald Molen (producer of Schindler's List)... Daniel Bar-On's film on his program of German- Israeli reconciliation was played and discussed. "The Holocaust, Judaism and Catholicism" was discussed by Simon Berlinger (Haifa), Michael Popich (Westminster College:Salt Lake City) , Francis Ryan (John Carroll U) , Jiirgen Manemann (Wilhelms-Universitat Minister). Additional theological responses to the Holocaust were given by Seymour Cain (U Cal:San Diego) on Martin Buber, Andreas Pangritz (Berlin Free U) on Helmut Gollwitzer, and Sara Heller-Wilensky (U Haifa). Charlotte Opfermann (Houston), a survivor of Theresienstadt, discussed the 1944 Red Cross inspection of the camp, and was joined by Rochelle Saidel on Ravensbruck, Patricia Farrant (Iowa City) on Dachau, and Henry Huttenbach on camp "liberation." Other survivors who presented during the conference were Tuviah Friedman (Haifa), Helen Segall (Dickinson College), and Stan Wiczyk (St. Petersburg FL). Menachem Shelah (U Haifa) discussed the Yasenovac Concentration Camp in Croatia. A session on literature was chaired by Gerhard Bach of Heidelberg, with participants including Milton Teichman (Marist College), Sharon Leder (Nassau Community College) and Ben Siegel (California State Polytechnic U). The work of a local Holocaust museum was presented by Carnot Nelson (USF), Terrance Albrecht (USF) and Stephen Goldman (St. Petersburg FL Center; Ilya Altman, Elena Visochina and Mikhail Gefter presented the work of the Moscow Center, and Yitzhak Arad the work at Yad Vashem. Gilead Morahg of the U of Wisconsin presented a paper on the place of camp liberation in recent literature. Further presenters were Ziva Amishai-Maisels (Hebrew U) , Jennifer Geddes (U of Virginia), Martin Kavka (U of Virginia), Jonathan Sherwood (U of Virginia) , Stefan Immerfall (U of North Carolina), Joan Halperin (St. Mary's College, California) and Mordecai Paldiel on "German Rescuers of Jews: Individuals vs. Authority."

A Review of the Annual Scholars Conferences 16 Biblical theology was discussed by Geert Stuart (Holland), Lorenz Wilkins (Berlin) on the Gospel of John, Murray Haar (Augustana College SD), and Klaus Rohmann (Lohne) on "The Destiny of the Jewish People: Is It Singular and Incomparable? An Explanation of the Contemporary German Historic Debate and Theological Conclusions." Rosalind Edelstein (Atlanta) read on "Holocaust Denial." Aleksander Lasik (Poland) read on religious denominations in the concentration camps, Ronald Webster (York U) on German Protestant intervention for accused war criminals after 1945, Gabriele Lesser (U Koln) , David Kitterman (Northern Arizona U) , Use Irwin (U Texas:El Paso) on "Oscar Schindler: A German Hero?" Additional presenters: Robert Whealey (Ohio University), Ben Rees (Liverpool); Zev Garber, Eliyahu Mallenbaum and Sharon Baharouzi (Los Angeles Valley College) spoke on the life of Rosa Rabota, martyr of the Auschwitz uprising.

1996: "Confronting the Holocaust: A Mandate for the 21st Century." Co-sponsored by the Center for Jewish/Christian Learning at the University of St. Thomas (St. Paul and Minneapolis). Conference Chair: Max A. Shapiro. 148 presentations. Featured artist: Wendy Joy Kuppermann. Photo exhibit by UNRAA photographer Maxine Rude. The Midrash group continued its work; the Peck/Wagner dialogue continued. Major addresses were given by William Parsons (U. S. Holocaust Memorial Museum), Yehuda Bauer (Richard Stockton College and Hebrew University), Deborah Lipstadt (Emory U) on Holocaust Denial, Ian Hancock (Romani-Jewish Alliance), Hubert Locke - at the concluding luncheon. Franklin Littell, who was in Germany to receive the Buber-Rosenzweig Award of the German Councils of Christians and Jews, addressed the Conference by video.

1997: "Hearing the Voices: Teaching the Holocaust to Future Generations. Site: Tampa FL. Conference co-chairs: Terrance Albrecht and Carnot Nelson (U of South Florida). Major addresses: Elie Wiesel, Barry S. Levy (Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War), Michael Marrus (U of Toronto) and Eli Rosenbaum (Justice Department, USA). 192 presentations.

1998: "The Pall of the Past: the Holocaust, Genocide and the 21st Century." Site: University of Washington, Seattle, with Yad Vashem as co-sponsor. Host Chair: Hubert G. Locke. 118 presentations. Major addresses by David J. Scheffer (Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Issues, U. S. Department of State), John K. Roth, Erich Geldbach (U of Bochum), and Franklin Littell ("Holocaust and Genocide: From Incredulity to Early Warning.)" The Midrash group continued its work. A Nurses' group began discussions on "The Holocaust and the Health-Care Professions" (Chair: Myrna Goldenberg of Montgomery College, with Susan Benedict of the Medical U of So. Carolina, Mary Lagerwey of Western Michigan and Cheyenne Martin of School of Nursing, U of Texas:Galveston). A plenary presented and discussed "The Enigma of Pius XII." A Tribute to Harry James Cargas was presented by Zev Garber and Richard Libowitz. The world premiere of "Ella's Secret," a play by Harris Freedman, was shown.

A Review of the Annual Scholars Conferences 17 1999: "The Burdens of History: Post-Holocaust Generations in Dialogue." Site: Nassau Community College (LINY). Co-chairs: Sharon Leder and Reginald Tuggle. 197 presenters. Featured speakers: Yaffa Eliach (There Once Was a World), Vera King Farris (President, Richard Stockton College), Robert Jay Lifton (John Jay College) , John Roth, and Gottfried Wagner (He Who Does Not Howl With the Wolf). "Anne Frank:A History for Today," an exhibit of text and color photographs, Kathi Kouguell's "My Father's Words," and Mark Shimsky's "The History of the Dobris Holocaust Torah" were on display. Other videos: Inge Auerbacher - Alle Juden Raus, Giora Gerzon - "Voices and Memories Through the Holocaust," Shulamit Imber and Edward Jacobs - "The World of the Survivor After Auschwitz," Rena Krasno - Sanctuary Shanghai, Joseph Moreno - Orpheus in Hell: Music and Therapy in the Holocaust, Claire and Lara Nuer - "Turning Point '95," Daniel Rethmeier - "Postal Artifacts of the Holocaust," and Agnes Vertes -One Out of Ten. The Midrash group continued its work. There was again a post- Conference teachers' institute, co-sponsored with Yad Vashem.

2 000: "The Century of Genocide." Site: St. Joseph's University, Philadelphia. Conference Chair: Daniel Curran. 150 presenters. Elie Wiesel addressed the opening session, with an honorary degree conferred by University President Nicholas Rashford, S.J. During a panel on "At Century's End: Holocaust, Genocide, and the Uniqueness Question," Yehuda Bauer participated by sattelite uplink from Jerusalem. Other panelists were Ward Churchill (U of Colorado), Vahakn Dadrian (SUNY:Geneseo), Paul Mojzes (Rosemont College) and Kenneth Dollarhide (Richard Stockton College). Participants in a plenary on "Holocaust and Genocides" were Israel Charny (Tel-Aviv U), Shimon Samuels (Simon Wiesenthal Ctr, Paris), Irving Horowitz (Rutgers U) , Stephen Smith (Beth-Shalom, Nottingham) and Erich Geldbach. The Midrash group continued its work. Abraham Peck and Gottfried Wagner met again in dialogue. The nurses' group continued under the chairmanship of Susan Sachs (School of Nursing, College of New Jersey). A teachers'institute was co-sponsored with Yad Vashem.

2 001: "Lessons of the Holocaust: Landmarks and Landmines." Site: St. Joseph's University. Conference Chair: Daniel Curran. This was an experimental Conference, with attendance kept low deliberately, topics for lecture/discussion set arbitrarily, and no general solicitation of papers mailed out. This procedure reflected the belief of many standing Committee members that the Conference was getting too big and losing its focus, and that its size also made it unmanageable without full time, year-'round salaried professional staff. Both the Midrash group and the Nurses' group continued. 66_ presented. Major addresses were given by Michael Berenbaum, Irving Greenberg and Carol Rittner. A concluding panel paid tribute to the memory of Eberhard Bethge, especially for his massive work on Bonhoeffer and the Church Struggle (Victoria Barnett, J. Patrick Kelley, Geffrey Kelly, John Matthews, F. Burton Nelson and Franklin Littell).

A Review of the Annual Scholars Conferences 18