HISTORY HIGHLIGHTS

Our History Highlights lecture series features Holocaust and human rights topics presented by Museum historians and educators.

The Holocaust in Hungary

Thursday, September 7, at 7 p.m.

Virtual via Zoom | Free

For much of the Holocaust, Hungarian Jews lived in relative safety thanks to their country's alliance with Germany. They were targets of anti-Jewish laws limiting their participation in the economy and subjecting Jewish men to a labor service draft, but were largely spared mass violence until the German invasion of March 1944. In the Holocaust's most rapid deportation, over 400,000 Hungarian Jews were transported from the countryside primarily to Auschwitz, where most were gassed upon arrival. Jews in Budapest, Hungary’s capital, were spared deportation – but not mass violence. Highlighting survivor testimonies from the Museum’s oral history collection, Dr. Sara Abosch-Jacobson, the Barbara Rabin chief education officer, and Felicia Williamson, director of library and archives, discuss the experiences of Budapest’s Jews during the Holocaust.

Wartime Upstanders

Tuesday, November 7, at 7 p.m.

Virtual via Zoom | Free

When the United States entered World War II, it called upon its citizens to make sacrifices for the war effort and take up arms to defend democracy. Millions of Americans, including many who were treated as second-class citizens in their own country, answered the call. In honor of Veterans Day, Dr. Sara Abosch-Jacobson, the Barbara Rabin chief education officer, and Dr. Charlotte Decoster, senior director of education, share the stories of three World War II Upstanders – Héctor P. García, Oveta Culp Hobby, and Dorie Miller – who fought for equal rights for their fellow service members and veterans.