May 2, 3, 4, 2008
Dr. Elizabeth Baer
Professor of English and Genocide Studies, Gustavus Adolphus College. In addition to teaching, she has created and organized an ongoing faculty development program entitled Service-Learning for Social Justice, which is a yearlong program of integrated readings, workshops, and international field experiences; in 2002, faculty and staff at Gustavus traveled to Belfast and Derry, Northern Ireland to study “the Troubles;” in 2003 to Guatemala; in 2004 to Cuba, and in 2006 to Namibia.
Dr. Baer was a Visiting Professor at the University of Minnesota in Women’s Studies, Holocaust Studies and Jewish Studies.
Ida E. King Distinguished Visiting Scholar of Holocaust Studies at The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. She was in residence, teaching a graduate and an undergraduate course on the Holocaust for one term.
She received her PhD from Indiana University.
Her writings include: Haunted Memories: Portraits of Women during the Holocaust. This volume of autobiographical stories is written by survivor Lucille Eichengreen, author of two highly acclaimed memoirs. She has worked with her to prepare the volume for publication, serving as editor. She has also written a lengthy scholarly introduction to the volume. Experience and Expression: Women and the Holocaust. Co-edited with Dr. Myrna Goldenberg. An anthology of essays on gender and the Holocaust.
* Friday, May 2 7:30 pm, following Sabbath Service at Temple B’nai Israel, Muskegon, Dr. Elizabeth Baer will be presenting the topic: “Who is the golem and why is he looming in post-Holocaust fiction?”
The golem legend goes all the way back to the Book of Psalms and has manifestations in Jewish mysticism, in legends surrounding Rabbi Loew of Prague, and in early 20th century German fiction and film. Surprisingly, the golem has reappeared in many recent novels by Jewish-American writers about the Shoah. Why writers have turned to this historic Jewish hero will be the subject of this talk. Dr. Elizabeth Baer, presenter
* Saturday, May 3, 9-12 Noon at Saint Paul Episcopal Church, Muskegon
Teachers, clergy, educators and all interested parties are invited to attend
A Continental Breakfast will be available
“Did Gender Matter?”
A workshop on women and the Holocaust for educators and clergy. Only recently has studying the experiences of women during the Holocaust begun to gain acceptance within the field of Holocaust Studies. We will look at some of the reasons for this controversy and talk about the way s in which women’s experiences differed from men’s. We will also discuss some short texts that could be used with students and congregations. Participants will receive copies of these texts and an extensive bibliography. Dr. Elizabeth Baer, presenter.
* Sunday, May 4, 3:30 pm at Samuel Lutheran Church, Muskegon, the community is invited to remember the victims of the Holocaust. Dr. Baer will speak How did the experiences of men and women during the Shoah differ? In this talk, Dr. Baer, author of two books on women and the Holocaust, will share with the audience how she came to study this topic. Focusing on women as victims and as perpetrators, and on the memoirs of survivors, Dr. Baer will commemorate the women–Jewish, Jehovah’s Witnesses, gypsies, disabled, Catholics, mothers–who were targeted by the Nazis. Understanding their stories helps us understand Nazi ideology and the impulse to genocide.
Students from West Shore Community College will be sharing scenes from their March production of “A Shayna Maidel” and music from Mona Shores and Muskegon Catholic Central High Schools.
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