7th Annual Veterans Day Teen Holocaust Forum
VIRTUAL EVENT
The Bureau of Jewish Education, the Arizona Jewish Historical Society and Phoenix Holocaust Association are pleased to invite students in grades 11 and 12 to the 7th annual Teen Veterans Day Holocaust Forum.
This informative and engaging program will feature four amazing keynote speakers:
Linda Kass, Alan Jablin, Alex Alvarez PhD, and Barbara Veltri PhD.
Linda Kass
Author and daughter of one of the Ritchie Boys, a secret WWII US Army unit bolstered by German speaking Jewish refugees who helped the Allies defeat Nazi Germany. Linda Kass began her career as a magazine writer and correspondent for regional and national publications. Her journalism, essays, and fiction have previously appeared in TIME, The Detroit Free Press, Columbus Monthly, Full Grown People, The MacGuffin, Jewish Literary Journal, and Kenyon Review Online. She is the author of two historical World War II novels, both inspired by true events: A Ritchie Boy (2021 IPPY Gold Medal in Historical Fiction) and Tasa’s Song (2016 IPPY Bronze Medal in Historical Fiction).
A longtime civic leader in Columbus, Kass is the founding owner of Gramercy Books, an independent bookstore in central Ohio. Learn more at www.lindakass.com.
ALAN C. JABLIN
Alan was born in the Bergen-Belsen Displaced Person Camp, a place which was a death camp during World War II. He and his father, mother and two brothers came to the United States in 1951. He served in the U. S. Army from 1969-1975 during the Vietnam War. He is a retired lawyer and also served as an Administrative Law Judge for the Michigan Department of Labor. He was founding President/Board Chair for the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Phoenix. He has spoken to thousands of people of all ages about the Holocaust and how it affected him and his family.
Alex Alvarez, PhD
Contemporary Antisemitism from the Far Left and the Far Right
Dr. Alex Alvarez is a Professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Northern Arizona University. From 2001 until 2003 he was the founding Director of the Martin-Springer Institute for Teaching the Holocaust, Tolerance, and Humanitarian Values. In 2017-2018, he served as the Ida E. King Distinguished Visiting Scholar in Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Stockton University. His main areas of study are in the areas of collective and interpersonal violence. His first book, Governments, Citizens, and Genocide, was published by Indiana University Press in 2001. His other books include Murder American Style (2002), Violence: The Enduring Problem (2007, 2013 2nd ed., 2017 3rd ed., 2020 4th ed.), Genocidal Crimes (2009), and Native America and the Question of Genocide (2014). His latest book, Unstable Ground: Climate Change, Conflict, and Genocide was published in July 2017 with Rowman & Littlefield. He has also served as an editor for the journal Violence and Victims, was a founding co-editor of the journal Genocide Studies and Prevention, is an Editor for Genocide Studies International, and has served as an editorial board member for a number of journals. He has been invited to speak and present his research across the U.S. and in various countries such as Austria, Bosnia, Canada, England, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands, and Sweden.
Barbara Veltri, PhD
Why Do We Learn about the Holocaust
An Associate Professor, Emerita: College of Education at Northern Arizona University; Teaching at Arizona State University, University of Texas at Arlington, and Manhattanville College.