Manhattan College was founded by the De La Salle Christian Brothers in 1853. The College moved from Manhattan to the Riverdale/Kingsbridge area of the Bronx in 1923.  In the 1960s, after the Vatican II document “Nostra Aetate,” the New York Diocese and the Anti Defamation League planned to work together to improve Catholic-Jewish relations. The Archbishop requested that Manhattan College prepare for him a 60 page summary about Judaism. A young history professor, Frederick M. Schweitzer, was assigned the task. The 60 pages became a 300 page book, and a professor found his life’s work. Dr. Schweitzer’s study of Judaism, Anti-Semitism, and the Holocaust led to 4 books, numerous articles and lectures, and in 1996 the founding of the Manhattan College Holocaust Resource Center.   The Manhattan College Holocaust Resource Center grew out of discussions between concerned faculty and administrators at the College led by Rose Santos-Cunningham, Brother Peter Drake, F. S. C., and Frederick Schweitzer and members of the Riverdale community, most notably Martin Spett, Lou Falkenstein, and the late Martin Richman during the 1995-1996 academic year. The Center's Charter was approved by the President of the College, Brother Thomas Scanlan, F. S. C. in 1996.

      Dr. Schweitzer, the first Director of the Holocaust Resource Center, engaged in outreach to the Jewish community, scheduled lectures by Holocaust scholars, and conducted workshops for area teachers.  He was later assisted by Dr. Jeff, a history professor, who became Director in 2007 after Dr. Schweitzer retired and became Director Emeritus.  Dr. Horn was assisted by two Assistant Directors, Barbara Reynolds, a retired teacher from Fordham Prep, and Martha Frazer, a former interviewer for Stephen Spielberg's Survivors of the Shoah Visual Project.  

     Dr. Jeff Horn continued the Center's lecture series, brining in world renowned scholars such as Samantha Powers, and Christopher Browning  He also created a DVD project in which Manhattan College students, trained by him and by Ms. Frazer, interviewed Holocaust survivors, and then edited the tapes for viewing by high school and middle school students.  These DVDs were distributed all over the country.  Ms. Reynolds acted as a teacher liaison. She continued workshops to introduce teachers to methods, such as the use of oral history or the use of picture books, for bringing state mandated Holocaust education into local classrooms, and she also arranged exhibits of Holocaust art.  Ms. Frazer acted as a liaison to the local community.  She also created the Second Generation Project at the Center.

     Dr. Mehnaz M. Afridi, assistant professor of Religious Studies, was appointed Director of the Center in 2011.  As a Muslim woman she specializes in Islam and the Holocaust.  The Center, its mission expanded, is now known as the Holocaust, Genocide and Interfaith Education Center.  In addition to events for the campus community, the Center schedules two to three lectures a year, one on the Holocaust, one on Genocide and an interfaith one.  Its community outreach includes a speakers bureau, led since 1996 by Martin Spett, and interfaith activities in which College students, local community and New York City members work together.

 

 

 

 

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Mar21

As the sun sets, marking the end of the daily fast during Ramadan, and the culmination of the Fast of Esther in the Jewish tradition, we invite you to break bread with members of different faith communities in a spirit of unity, understanding, and friendship. This unique event aims to foster a sense of togetherness, promote dialogue, and celebrate the rich tapestry of religious traditions that contribute to the mosaic of our community. A vegetarian, Kosher and Halal dinner will be served.

Please register here for Zoom:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMldu-hpzsoHdRk-Nq3UNqkiEAMqrCeVj_O

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMldu-hpzsoHdRk-Nq3UNqkiEAMqrCeVj_O

Wolf Gruner, Ph.D., discusses the subject of his book Resisters: How Ordinary Jews Fought Persecution in Hitler's Germany (Yale University Press, 2023), which features the life stories of five Jewish men and women who resisted in different ways against persecution in Nazi Germany. By discussing their courageous acts, the book demonstrates the wide range of Jewish resistance in Nazi Germany, challenges the myth of Jewish passivity and illuminates individual Jewish agency during the Holocaust.

Wolf Gruner, Ph.D., holds the Shapell-Guerin Chair in Jewish Studies and is a professor of history at the University of Southern California and founding director of the USC Dornsife Center for Advanced Genocide Research. He received his Ph.D. in History from the Technical University Berlin and was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University, Yad Vashem Jerusalem, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Women's Christian University Tokyo, among others. Gruner is the author of o books on the Holocaust, including Jewish Forced Labor under the Nazis: Economic Needs and Nazi Racial Aims. His 2016 prizewinning German book was published in English as The Holocaust in Bohemia and Moravia: Czech Initiatives, German Policies, Jewish Responses. He co-edited four books, including Resisting Persecution: Jews and Their Petitions during the Holocaust and New Perspectives on Kristallnacht: After 80 Years, the Nazi Pogrom in Global Comparison. He is an appointed member of the Academic Committee of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the International Advisory Board of the Journal of Genocide Research, among others.

Azeem Ibrahim's compelling lecture delves into the root causes and motivations of the harrowing Rohingya genocide, shedding light on the historical context, human rights violations, and geopolitical complexities surrounding this tragic crisis.

Azeem Ibrahim, Ph.D., is a research professor at the Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College, and a director at the Center for Global Policy in Washington, D.C. Over the years, he has advised numerous world leaders on strategy and policy development. Ibrahim is also the author of the seminal books Rohingya: Inside Myanmar's Genocide (Hurst, 2016) and Radical Origins: Why We are Losing the Battle against Islamic Extremism (Pegasus, 2017). He is a columnist at Foreign Policy magazine and his writing has been published in The New York Times, Washington Post, The Times (UK), Chicago Tribune, Newsweek and many others. Outside academia, Ibrahim has been a reservist in the IV Battalion Parachute Regiment and an award-winning entrepreneur. He was ranked as a Top 100 Global Thinker by the European Social Think Tank and named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge, after which he completed fellowships at Oxford and Harvard. In 2019, he received the International Association of Genocide Scholars Engaged Scholar Prize for his research on the Rohingya genocide. In 2022, Ibrahim was awarded an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth I, on the recommendation of the prime minister, for his services to foreign policy.

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