Manhattan University Holocaust, Genocide, and Interfaith Education Center

MANHATTAN UNIVERSITY · RIVERDALE, NEW YORK

Holocaust, Genocide & Interfaith Education Center

Annual Newsletter ·  Fall 2025 — Spring 2026

✦  ✦   ✦

Abraham H. Foxman (1940–2025)

National Director Emeritus, Anti-Defamation League

We open this year's newsletter with sorrow at the passing of Abraham Foxman — a great champion of human dignity, Jewish memory, and interfaith understanding, and a steadfast friend of the HGI Center.

A Holocaust survivor hidden as a child in wartime Poland by his Catholic nanny, Abe devoted more than five decades at the Anti-Defamation League to bearing witness, building dialogue, and refusing silence in the face of prejudice. He believed education and relationships were the antidotes to hate, and lived that conviction every day. May his memory be a blessing.

✦  ✦   ✦

This has been a year of extraordinary witness — to history, to courage, and to the urgent work of education. The loss of Abe Foxman reminds us that this work is not merely academic; it is personal, moral, and urgent. As antisemitism, Islamophobia, and hatred continue to rise, our mission has never felt more vital. We remain committed to building bridges, bearing witness, and carrying forward the legacy of those who came before us.

— Dr. Mehnaz Afridi, Director

✦  ✦   ✦

Lost Stories of the Holocaust: The Discovery of Marcel Roux

One of this year's most remarkable stories began with a leather satchel found in a closet. Inside were more than 20 chilling sketches — a man in a prisoner's uniform, emaciated bodies, prisoners lining up for food — the work of Marcel Roux, a French Resistance member held in Nazi concentration camps at the end of World War II.

✦  ✦   ✦

National Spotlight: The New York Times and CBS News

The New York Times featured the Roux exhibition in a national story on April 5, 2026, and CBS News spotlighted the Center's mission of Holocaust remembrance and interfaith education. Together, these stories reached millions, affirming Manhattan University's leadership in Holocaust and genocide education at a critical historical moment.

✦  ✦   ✦

Shoah Through Muslim Eyes — Italian Translation, October 2026

Dr. Afridi's Shoah Through Muslim Eyes will be published in Italian translation in October 2026, bringing this vital work to new audiences across linguistic and cultural borders. The translation marks a milestone in the Center's mission to expand interfaith dialogue globally and continues to deepen the conversation around Muslim-Jewish relations and the moral obligations Holocaust remembrance places on all faith traditions.

✦  ✦   ✦

Global Approaches to the Holocaust — Published December 2025

Featuring a contribution by Dr. Afridi, Global Approaches to the Holocaust was launched at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City. The gathering of scholars, educators, and community members marked the volume's central argument: that Holocaust memory is never simply local but always in conversation with global forces, political contexts, and competing narratives — a natural fit with the Center's longstanding international focus.

✦  ✦   ✦

Dr. Afridi Named Chair of Scholars, Facing History and Ourselves

Dr. Mehnaz Afridi has been appointed Chair of Scholars for Facing History and Ourselves, the renowned education organization helping students and educators engage with history, bigotry, and human behavior. The role reflects her standing as a leading voice in Holocaust and genocide education and her commitment to connecting rigorous scholarship with transformative pedagogy.

In this position, Dr. Afridi will bring the Center's expertise in interfaith dialogue, Muslim-Jewish relations, and global approaches to Holocaust memory directly to classrooms across the country and around the world.

✦  ✦   ✦

Washington, D.C.: Workshop on Islamophobia and Antisemitism

Dr. Afridi traveled to Washington, D.C. to lead a workshop for congregational leaders confronting the twin crises of Islamophobia and antisemitism in American religious communities. The session brought together faith leaders from diverse traditions to build shared language and strengthen their capacity to respond to prejudice within and beyond their congregations.

Drawing on the Center's expertise at the intersection of Holocaust education and Muslim-Jewish-Christian dialogue, participants left with tools grounded in historical understanding, theological reflection, and practical solidarity.

✦  ✦   ✦

Rome: Dialogue, Training, and a New Partnership

Dr. Afridi's visit to Rome was one of the most significant periods of international engagement in the Center's recent history, weaving together scholarship, youth education, and institutional partnership.

Pontifical Interreligious Conference. Dr. Afridi presented at a major conference hosted by a Pontifical institution, engaging Vatican scholars and interfaith educators on memory, reconciliation, and the moral demands the Holocaust places on all faith traditions.

Lecture at Rome's Oldest Protestant Church. She delivered a public lecture on Jewish-Christian-Muslim history and the contemporary relevance of Holocaust remembrance for all faith communities.

Muslim-Jewish High School Student Training. In one of the trip's most moving moments, Dr. Afridi joined a joint training program bringing Muslim and Jewish high schoolers together for structured dialogue on identity, prejudice, shared history, and friendship across difference.

Partnership with the Islamic Director of Rome. Dr. Afridi established a formal partnership with the Islamic Director of Rome, opening a new channel of collaboration with Rome's Muslim community and extending the Center's interfaith work across the Atlantic.

✦  ✦   ✦

Global Holocaust Film Series: Art Spiegelman — Disaster Is My Muse

Presented in partnership with the Claims Conference and the Museum of Jewish Heritage in April 2026, the screening welcomed Councilman Eric Dinowitz and Greg Schneider of the Claims Conference as featured guests.

✦  ✦   ✦

A Rich Year of Public Lectures

The Center hosted an exceptional slate of lectures throughout the academic year, drawing scholars, students, and the wider community into conversations about history, memory, and justice. Highlights included:

• Auschwitz: Women, Sexuality, and Sexual Violence — Dr. Sarah Cushman

• The Question of Unworthy Life: Eugenics and Germany's Twentieth Century — Dagmar Herzog (Arch and Holocaust Lecture)

• Mary in Islam and Catholicism: Bridges or Barriers — Rita George Tvrtković (with Religion & Philosophy)

• Progressives and the Bible — Dr. Claudia Setzer

• North Africa and the Holocaust — Dr. Edward Kissi

• Sharaka and the Abraham Accords: Peace in the Middle East?

• An Unlikely Muslim Social Justice Feminist — Ani Zonneveld

✦  ✦   ✦

NADOHE 2026 and Local Interfaith Engagement

Dr. Afridi represented the Center at the NADOHE 2026 Annual Conference in Philadelphia (March 25–28) and at interfaith events across the New York area, including gatherings hosted by the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York (JCRC-NY). Students in HGI-affiliated courses presented research on topics ranging from discrimination toward Muslim immigrants to Abrahamic traditions of care for the stranger.

Looking Ahead: NEH Grant Application

The Center has applied for a $193,000 NEH grant to digitize the Roux collection and support further research. Keep your fingers crossed!

✦  ✦   ✦

Holocaust, Genocide & Interfaith Education Center

Manhattan University ·  4513 Manhattan College Parkway, Riverdale, NY 10471

www.hgimanhattan.com   ·  connect.manhattan.edu/hgi

© 2026 Manhattan University Holocaust, Genocide, and Interfaith Education Center. All rights reserved.