The Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre

Heroines of the Holocaust
2025-11-02 21:00 - 22:00 (Europe/Helsinki)
The Ghetto Fighters’ House invites you to a special online book launch of Heroines of the Holocaust: Reframing Resistance and Courage in Genocide.

Join co-editors Professor Lori Weintrob and Professor Judy Baumel-Schwartz as they introduce this groundbreaking volume, which brings together international scholars to explore new perspectives on women’s rescue and resistance during the Holocaust, and the Armenian and Rwandan genocides.

Two contributing authors, both descendants of Holocaust survivors, will also share insights from their chapters:

Dr Daniela Ozacky Stern delves into the often-overlooked stories of Jewish women partisans during the Holocaust, focusing on the personal narrative of Chaya Shapira Lazar. Through her grandmother’s journey from the Vilna Ghetto to the partisan forests, Dr Ozacky Stern illuminates the complex challenges faced by female resistance fighters navigating between traditional gender roles and revolutionary combat duties.

Dr Steven Meed, son of Vladka Meed (née Feyge Peltel), reflects on his mother’s extraordinary courage as an 18-year-old member of the Bund’s youth organisation in Warsaw during the German invasion of 1939. Recognised for her fearlessness, resourcefulness, and perfect command of Polish, Vladka was entrusted with increasingly dangerous missions on the Aryan side. After liberation, she dedicated her life to speaking and writing—first in Yiddish—about her wartime experiences, ensuring the memory of those who perished and survived would endure with dignity and respect.

This event is presented in partnership with the Wagner College Holocaust Center, the Arnold and Leona Finkler Institute of Holocaust Research at Bar-Ilan University, Remember the Women Institute, the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, Classrooms Without Borders, and the Rabin Chair Forum.

Online Roundtable: Visual Languages And Mediums Of Holocaust Literature
2025-11-04 19:00 - 20:00
Join us for an engaging online roundtable exploring the visual languages of Holocaust literature. This discussion will examine how literary texts engage with visual elements—and how photography, film, art, and other visual representations of the Holocaust have influenced and been influenced by literature. The speakers will consider a diverse range of works, including graphic novels, to reflect on how visual media shapes our understanding of Holocaust memory and representation.

Speakers:

Daniel H. Magilow: Professor of German, University of Tennessee

Lynn Wolff: Associate Professor of German, Michigan State University

Brad Prager: Professor of German and Film Studies, University of Missouri

Chair:

McKenna Marko: Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Holocaust Literature, University of Leeds

This event forms part of the ongoing series featuring original research from the forthcoming Cambridge History of Holocaust Literature, presented by the project Rethinking Holocaust Literature: Contexts, Canons, and Circulations.

Learn more: Rethinking Holocaust Literature: Public Engagement Programme

87th Commemoration of the November Pogrom
2025-11-09 14:30 - 18:00 | Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, 1 Duncombe Rd, Johannesburg, Gauteng, 2193, South Africa
The Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, the Goethe-Institut, and the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung invite you to their annual commemoration of the 1938 November Pogrom (Kristallnacht).

The commemoration will include formal remarks, a candle lighting ceremony, a performance by violinist Sharon De Kock, a screening of the film Das Tagebuch Der Anne Frank (The Diary of Anne Frank) (2016), followed by a keynote address from director Hans Steinbichler.

Hans Steinbichler was born in Solothurn, Switzerland, and grew up near Lake Chiemsee. He lives in Munich with his family.

Steinbichler’s graduation film Hierankl (HFF Munich) marked his debut and earned numerous awards, including the Förderpreis Deutscher Film (2003), the Bavarian Film Prize, and the Grimme Gold Award for script and directing.

His second feature, Winterreise (2006), opened the Munich Film Festival and was nominated for the German Film Prize for Best Film, with Josef Bierbichler receiving the Best Actor Lola.

In 2008, Steinbichler directed The Second Woman, starring Matthias Brandt and Monika Bleibtreu, the official German contribution to the Toronto Film Festival. The film earned him another Grimme Prize for directing and was released in French cinemas.

In 2010, he directed Blue of the Sky, featuring Juliane Köhler and Hannelore Elsner, which won the Bavarian Film Prize (2011) for Best Picture. He subsequently directed several acclaimed episodes of Polizeiruf 110 with Matthias Brandt, garnering multiple awards including the German Television Award.

From 2013 to 2015, Steinbichler served as Professor of Directing at the Cologne International Film School.

In 2016, his feature Das Tagebuch der Anne Frank (The Diary of Anne Frank) premiered at the Berlinale, followed by a nationwide release. The film earned Steinbichler the German Director Award Metropolis, while lead actress Lea van Acken received the Bavarian Film Prize. That same year, he was appointed a full member of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts.

His next feature, An Unheard Woman (2016), starring Rosalie Thomass, won the One Future Prize at the Munich Film Festival, the German Television Award (2018), and the Grimme Prize (2018).

In 2017, Steinbichler directed the ZDF historical mini-series Walpurgisnacht, filmed in Prague and the Czech Republic, followed by Hannes (2021), based on the novel by Rita Falk.

In 2020/2021, he co-directed the third season of Das Boot for Sky, filmed in Prague and Malta, released in spring 2022.

Most recently, Steinbichler completed A Whole Life (2023), an adaptation of the acclaimed novel set in the Alps. The film has been a major box-office success and received multiple nominations for German and Austrian film awards.

Talking Memory Opening Event for "Fanny's Journey"
2025-11-16 21:00 - 22:30 | Online
The Ghetto Fighters’ House invites you to a special online Talking Memory opening event for the new exhibition Fanny’s Journey.

Join us as we celebrate this moving exhibition that brings to life the experiences of Fanny Ben Ami through her expressive and powerful drawings. Fanny’s Journey tells the extraordinary story of a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl who was born in Germany, grew up in France, and—after the rise of Nazism—found herself responsible for leading a group of Jewish children to safety. The exhibition presents the artworks she created later in life, accompanied by short excerpts from her testimony, illuminating one young girl’s courage, responsibility, and resilience.

The programme will feature:

Opening RemarksProfessor Aryeh Barnea will reflect on the critical work of the OSE (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants – the Children’s Aid Society), the underground rescue network that saved thousands of Jewish children—including Fanny—by sheltering them in children’s homes, placing them with foster families, or helping them escape across borders.

Guest SpeakersLilach Efraim, curator of Fanny’s Journey, will offer a behind-the-scenes look at the development of the exhibition.Greta Barak, archivist at the Ghetto Fighters’ House, will present a selection of OSE documents from the archive that help contextualise the story of Fanny and the children she helped lead to freedom.

This event is presented in partnership with the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, Classrooms Without Borders, the Rabin Chair Forum at George Washington University, and Yad LaYeled France.

Book Launch: It Always Seems Impossible
2025-11-27 17:00 - 18:00 | Issy’s Coffee & Gift Shop, 1 Duncombe Road, Forest Town, 2193, South Africa
Join us for an inspiring book launch with James Urdang, Founder and CEO of Education Africa, of his new memoir, It Always Seems Impossible: My fight to build and save Education Africa. With a foreword from the Nelson Mandela Foundation and a cover endorsement from Sir Bob Geldof, who calls it “a powerful account from a genuine African hero. Inspiring, urgent, and true”, the book tells the story of how one man’s determination to use education as a tool for social justice transformed thousands of lives – and how that work was nearly destroyed by corporate misconduct.

Urdang traces his journey from being a school underachiever diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia to founding Education Africa, a grassroots organisation that has opened educational opportunities for disadvantaged South Africans. Mentored by Walter Sisulu, entrusted by Nelson Mandela, and supported by figures such as Helen Suzman and Dr Aggrey Klaaste, he built ambitious programmes ranging from the world’s largest national Model UN initiative to large-scale marimba training and early childhood development projects. The memoir also exposes a shocking battle with a global bank that brought Education Africa to its knees, and the role anti-corruption campaigner Lord Peter Hain played in challenging this injustice. At its heart, the book is a testament to resilience, accountability, and the power of education to change lives.

About James UrdangJames Urdang is an award-winning humanitarian, social entrepreneur, and sought-after motivational speaker. For more than three decades he has worked to create meaningful educational opportunities for disadvantaged communities across Africa. He has collaborated closely with Nelson Mandela, spoken at the funeral of Chris Hani, and continues to advocate for equity, dignity, and transformation through education.

A Contrarian’s Tale: Reflecting on Henry Greenspan’s REMNANTS and What Remains: Moments from a Life Among Holocaust Survivors
2025-11-30 21:00 - 22:00 | Online
The Ghetto Fighters’ House invites you to a special Talking Memory book launch event

A Contrarian’s Tale: Reflecting on Henry Greenspan’s REMNANTS and What Remains: Moments from a Life Among Holocaust Survivors

Sunday, 30 November 2025

Opening Remarks:Prof. Debórah Dwork

Guest Author:Prof. Henry Greenspan

You are warmly invited to a special Talking Memory webinar marking the launch of Henry Greenspan’s new book, REMNANTS and What Remains: Moments from a Life Among Holocaust Survivors. The programme will begin with opening remarks by Prof. Debórah Dwork, followed by a conversation with Prof. Greenspan about his decades of work and his reflections on Holocaust testimony as sustained, evolving dialogues. Greenspan will also present a short live performance of an excerpt from REMNANTS.

This event opens the new series, Conversations that Endure: In the Footsteps of Henry Greenspan and Dori Laub.

For more than fifty years, Henry Greenspan—psychologist, playwright, and pioneering oral historian—has been listening to, learning from, and engaging in deep conversation with Holocaust survivors. His work has reshaped understandings of survivor accounts, highlighting how testimony emerges through collaboration, trust, and survivors’ own active choices shaped by the contexts in which they speak.

In REMNANTS and What Remains, Greenspan brings together powerful moments from a lifetime of encounters, illuminating both survivors’ lived experiences and the complex ethical and emotional questions that arise in the work of remembrance. The book also explores the question of what remains after profound loss: survivors’ loss of a world; Greenspan’s loss of his survivor-partners; and, as survivors near the end of their lives, their own diverse and often unexpected views of their “legacies”.

This webinar offers a unique opportunity to hear directly from Henry Greenspan as he reflects on the evolution of his work, the individuals who shaped it, and the continued relevance of these conversations in a world marked by both past and present catastrophes.

You are invited to watch REMNANTS (45-minute performance video) prior to the event:https://youtu.be/Vty8b_euk-k

Register here:https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/ZlO3XmsJTCyFH79Jj4PNNQ

Time:2 PM EST | 8 PM CET | 9 PM SAST | 9 PM Israel Time

This programme is co-sponsored by the Jean and Shimuel Frankel Centre for Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan, the Holocaust Educational Foundation of Northwestern University, the Rabin Chair Forum at George Washington University, the Vienna Wiesenthal Institute, and the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre.

12th South Africa-Poland Heritage Conference
2025-12-07 14:30 - 16:30 | Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, 1 Duncombe Rd, Johannesburg, Gauteng, 2193, South Africa
The Polish Association of Siberian Deportees in Southeast Africa is collaborating with the Sybir Memorial Museum and the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre. Join us for the 12th conference to launch a series of posters depicting the lived experiences of Polish Siberian Deportees – Sybir – Prison of Nations. The recent unveiling of the memorial to the Oudtshoorn Polish WWII refugees and the Oudtshoorn Polish Heritage Trail will also be discussed.

Opening statements will be made by Mr Jacek Chorodowicz, head of the Polish Mission in Pretoria. Recorded presentations will be from Mr Wojciech Śleszyński, Director of the Sybir Memorial Museum, Museum historian Mr Tomas Danilecki and Ms Julita Waś, Museum’s international business development manager. Stefan Szewczuk will launch the posters on behalf of the Sybir Memorial Museum.

Listening as Witnessing: Dori Laub and the Creation of the Fortunoff Archive
2025-12-14 21:00 - 22:00 | Online
The Ghetto Fighters’ House invites you to the Talking Memory series

Conversations that Endure: In the Footsteps of Henry Greenspan and Dori Laub

Listening as Witnessing: Dori Laub and the Creation of the Fortunoff Archive

Sunday, 14 December 2025

Opening Remarks:Stephen Naron, Director, Fortunoff Archive

Guest Filmmaker:Ohad Ufaz

You are warmly invited to the second programme in the Talking Memory series, honouring the legacy of Dori Laub — psychoanalyst, Holocaust survivor, and co-founder of the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies. The event will open with remarks by Stephen Naron, who will reflect on Laub’s pioneering contributions and lasting influence on testimony and trauma studies. Following these remarks, filmmaker Ohad Ufaz will present and discuss the documentary The Listener, co-directed by Ufaz and Micha Livne, which offers a moving exploration of Laub’s life and his profound commitment to listening — conceived as an act of empathy and a bridge between past and present, memory and witness.

A pre-screening of The Listener will be made available to all registrants.

Register here:https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/9V1GcaeFRZqp8GFd3RWIWw

Time:2 PM EST | 8 PM CET | 9 PM SAST | 9 PM Israel Time

This programme is presented in partnership with the Holocaust Educational Foundation of Northwestern University, the Rabin Chair Forum at George Washington University, the Vienna Wiesenthal Institute, the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, and Classrooms Without Borders.
