Working with Perpetrator Images: Exploring Propaganda Photographs held at Documentation Obersalzberg
2024-11-25 14:00 - 15:00 UTC | Online
MONDAY 25 NOVEMBER 14:00 SAST
Join us for an online workshop on
Working with Perpetrator Images: Exploring Propaganda Photographs held at Documentation Obersalzberg
The workshop will be opened by Sebastian Peters, an expert on Heinrich Hoffmann, Adolf Hitler’s official photographer. Peters will introduce the material and work of the centre and this will be followed by a discussion on selected propaganda photographs lead by one of their Museum Educators, Leonie Zangerl.
Sebastian Peters, Researcher and Curator and Leonie Zangerl, Museum Educator, are both from Documentation Obersalzberg, a place to learn about and remember the history of Obersalzberg and the Nazi dictatorship. Learn more about their work here.
Register Here

Lessons in Resilience from the Holocaust and Genocide Stories of Resilience: Learning from Survivors of the Holocaust and the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda with Dr Sara Brown
2024-11-26 21:00 - 22:00 UTC | Online
26 NOVEMBER 21:00
Join us for the next instalment in the webinar series Lessons in Resilience from the Holocaust and Genocide featuring Dr Sara Brown
Stories of Resilience: Learning from Survivors of the Holocaust and the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda

Dr. Brown will focus on testimony excerpts of survivors who describe life after their traumatic experiences of the Holocaust and genocide, and connect to how those lessons of resilience resonate even today.
Sara E. Brown, Ph.D. is the Regional Director of American Jewish Committee San Diego. She holds the first Ph.D. in comparative genocide studies from the Strassler Centre for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University. She was a director of Chhange, a Holocaust, human rights, and genocide education non-profit and managed post-secondary education programming for USC Shoah Foundation. Sara has taught courses on history, human rights, and mass violence, conducted genocide-related research in Rwanda, and served as a project coordinator in refugee camps in Tanzania. Sara is the author of Gender and the Genocide in Rwanda: Women as Perpetrators and Rescuers and the co-editor of the Routledge Handbook on Religion, Mass Atrocity, and Genocide. She has consulted for a number of international organisations, including the United Nations.
Dr Brown will be in conversation with Tali Nates, the founder and director of the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre (JHGC) and Chair of the South African Holocaust & Genocide Foundation (SAHGF). She is a historian who lectures internationally on Holocaust and genocide education, memory, reconciliation, and human rights. Born to a family of Holocaust survivors, her father and uncle were saved by Oskar Schindler. Tali has been involved in the creation and production of dozens of documentary films, published many articles and contributed chapters to different books among them God, Faith & Identity from the Ashes: Reflections of Children and Grandchildren of Holocaust Survivors (2015), Remembering The Holocaust in Educational Settings (2018), Conceptualising Mass Violence, Representations, Recollections, and Reinterpretations (2021) and The Routledge Handbook of Memory Activism (2023). South Africa by the Mail & Guardian newspaper and won many awards including the Kia Community Service Award (South Africa, 2015), the Gratias Agit Award (2020, Czech Republic), the Austrian Holocaust Memorial Award (2021), the Goethe Medal (2022, Germany), the US Secretary of State’s International Religious Freedom Award (2023), and the International Network of Genocide Scholar’s Impact Award (2024).
REGISTER HERE

Opening of FC Bayern Munich During National Socialism: Victims, Followers, Perpetrators
2024-11-28 17:30 - 19:00 UTC | Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, 1 Duncombe Rd, Johannesburg, Gauteng, 2193, South Africa
THURSDAY 28 NOVEMBER 17:30 for 18:00
The Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, FC Bayern Museum, Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, and the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Pretoria would like to invite you to join us at the opening event of FC Bayern Munich During National Socialism: Victims, Followers, Perpetrators.
The opening will feature an address by the Ambassador of Germany to South Africa H.E. Mr Andreas Peschke, and a keynote by Fabian Raabe, curator of the FC Bayern Museum and a walkabout of the exhibition.
This exhibition looks at the history of FC Bayern Munich during the Nazi period. It examines the role played by the club and its members in National Socialism, and explores the fate of those who were deported or fled for being Jewish or politically opposing the Nazi regime.
Please note that numbers are limited due to space constraints
RSVP is essential HERE

The Impact of Animation in Holocaust Remembrance
2024-12-01 21:00 - 22:30 UTC | Online
SUNDAY 1 DECEMBER 9PM SAST
Join Us for a Special Programme
The Impact of Animation in Holocaust Remembrance
Animation has emerged as a powerful tool in Holocaust remembrance, blending art and education to convey stories and lessons for future generations. This programme will explore how animation enhances documentary films and museum experiences, bringing history to life in innovative ways.
After opening remarks by Dr. Judith S. Goldstein, Founder and Executive Director Emeritus Humanity in Action, Award Winning Director and Producer Dr Slawomir Grunberg will share insights and examples from his groundbreaking documentary films, showcasing how animation pushes the boundaries of traditional storytelling. Following this Motion Graphic Specialist, Ron Ayalon and Video Storyteller, Yuval Nathan will take us behind the scenes of their creative process in developing animated films for the Yad Mordechai Museum, offering a glimpse into how animation serves as an educational medium. Finally, Curator at Yad Mordechai, Tamar Herzberg and Director of Digital Content at Ghetto Fighters’ House, Yaron Tzur will demonstrate how museums integrate animated content to engage and educate visitors on Holocaust history.
This programme is presented in partnership with Yad Mordechai from Holocaust to Revival Museum, Humanity in Action, Classrooms Without Borders, the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, and the Rabin Chair Forum at George Washington University.
Join us for this unique exploration of how animation enriches Holocaust remembrance and education.
Register Here

International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2025
2025-01-29 18:00 - 19:30 UTC | Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, 1 Duncombe Rd, Johannesburg, Gauteng, 2193, South Africa
29 January 2025, 17:30 for 18:00
Join us to commemorate
International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2025
Marking 80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau

The commemoration will feature formal remarks, a survivor candle lighting, musical performance by Dr Sharon de Kock, and a keynote address by Professor Shirli Gilbert on Jewish Refugees from Nazism in Africa.
In the twenty-first century, Auschwitz—with its barracks, striped uniforms, and railroad tracks—has become the dominant icon of the Holocaust. In this talk, we will explore an aspect of Holocaust history that has long stood in the shadow of Auschwitz: the story of refugees. In particular, we will focus in on the almost 10,000 Jews from Nazi Europe who ended up in sub-Saharan Africa. Although these refugees reached physical safety, they suffered the effects of loss and displacement for decades after the war. How did they come to Africa, and what were their experiences in the far-flung destinations where they arrived? As we mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, we shine light on a lesser-known aspect of Holocaust history, which is nonetheless as important as the camps for our understanding of the genocide’s impact.
Shirli Gilbert is Professor of Modern Jewish History at University College London. She obtained her D. Phil in Modern History from the University of Oxford and was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Society of Fellows at the University of Michigan, and is the director of the Sir Martin Gilbert Learning Centre. She has published widely on modern Jewish life, particularly the Holocaust and its legacies, and Jews in South Africa. She is currently completing her fourth book, titled The Holocaust and Sub-Saharan Africa: A Documentary History (with Roni Mikel-Arieli).
RSVP is essential here

Film Screening of The Last Time We Were Children
2025-02-09 14:30 - 16:30 UTC | Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, 1 Duncombe Rd, Johannesburg, Gauteng, 2193, South Africa
Sunday 9 February, 14:30 for 15:00
The Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre in partnership with the Italian Cultural Institute, invites you to a screening of The Last Time We Were Children, directed by Claudio Bisio.
Summer 1943, Rome. Four children – Italo, Cosimo, Vanda, and Riccardo – forge a deep bond despite the chaos of war. When Riccardo is taken to the ghetto on October 16th, his friends, aided by a nun and Italo’s brother, risk everything to rescue him. Their perilous journey through war-torn Italy becomes a tale of adventure, fear, and the profound impact of life and loss.
RSVP is essential here
Running 1 hour, 47 minutes

Jews in the Soviet Union: A Complex Narrative, Being Jewish in the Soviet Union - The Interwar Years
2025-02-16 21:00 - 22:00 UTC | Online
16 February 2025, 9pm SAST
The Ghetto Fighters’ House recently launched a new permanent exhibition, “Among the Trees – The Holocaust in the Soviet Union” that commemorates the Jews of the former Soviet Union, in the interwar years, through their shared fate under the Nazi occupation, and after the war. This series will explore these three periods and the experiences of Soviet Jewry.
The first programme will focus on the interwar years. The first speaker, Professor Elissa Bemporad, will describe the ways in which Jews endured, adjusted to, and participated in the Soviet system both as individuals and as part of a Jewish collectivity during the first decades of its existence. Our second speaker, Liat Margalit, exhibition curator at the Ghetto Fighters’ House, will talk about the challenges and dilemmas she faced while researching and developing the exhibition Among the Trees.
This programme is in partnership with the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, Classrooms Without Borders and the Rabin Chair Forum at George Washington University.
Register Here

Online book launch of SPACES OF TREBLINKA: Retracing a Death Camp by Jacob Flaws
2025-02-17 19:00 - 20:30 UTC | Online
17 February, 19:00 SAST
The Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre invites you to the launch of SPACES OF TREBLINKA: Retracing a Death Camp by Jacob Flaws

Spaces of Treblinka utilises testimonies, oral histories, and recollections from Jewish, German, and Polish witnesses to create a holistic representation of the Treblinka death camp during its operation. This narrative rejects the historical misconception that Treblinka was an isolated Nazi extermination camp with few witnesses and fewer survivors. Rather than the secret, sanitized site of industrial killing Treblinka was intended to be, Jacob Flaws argues, Treblinka’s mass murder was well known to the nearby townspeople who experi- enced the sights, sounds, smells, people, bodies, and train cars the camp ejected into the surrounding world. Through spatial reality, Flaws portrays the conceptions, fantasies, ideological assumptions, and memories of Treblinka from witnesses in the camp and surrounding towns. To do so he identifies six key spaces that once composed the historical site of Treblinka: the ideological space, the behavioral space, the space of life and death, the interactional space, the sensory space, and the extended space. By examining these spaces Flaws reveals that there were more witnesses to Treblinka than previously realized, as the transnational groups near and within the camp overlapped and interacted. Spaces of Treblinka provides a staggering and profound reassessment of the relationship between knowing and not knowing and asks us to confront the timely warning that we, in our modern, interconnected world, can all become witnesses.
Register Here

Echoes Across Time: Voices of Survival and Lessons for Our Future, A New World of Remembrance: Insights from Pinchas Gutter
2025-02-19 22:00 - 23:00 UTC | Online
Wednesday 19 February, 22:00 SAST
“Echoes Across Time: Voices of Survival and Lessons for Our Future”
As we stand on the cusp of history, the voices of Holocaust and genocide survivors grow more urgent, reminding us of the cost of silence, the value of empathy, and the power of resilience. “Echoes Across Time” invites audiences to explore the critical lessons these testimonies offer—on values, democracy, and the warning signs of oppression. Through monthly episodes, each centered around a survivor’s testimony about their life experiences, this series probes the question: Are we truly listening? Join us as we amplify stories from the Holocaust to Rwanda, Cambodia, and beyond, engaging with survivors, scholars, and advocates who work tirelessly to preserve these legacies and inspire a more compassionate future.
“A New World of Remembrance: Insights from Pinchas Gutter”
Featuring: Holocaust survivor Pinchas Gutter, who will share profound reflections on how the weight of testimony has shifted over time and the ways memory adapts in a world where prejudice and intolerance persist. Pinchas’s story challenges us to think about our responsibility to remember, and how each of us can confront hate and build resilience within our own communities. This session explores what it means to carry the memories of the Holocaust and rebuilding life after it ended into the future and the lessons that memory can teach us in today’s world.

Register Here

Between the Drowned and the Saved: The representation and role of children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors in commemorative practice with Mirah Langer
2025-02-20 10:00 - 12:00 UTC | Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, 1 Duncombe Rd, Johannesburg, Gauteng, 2193, South Africa
20 February 10am SAST
This talk examines how the children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors navigate private memory within families and sites of collective remembrance. It presents findings from 25 museum case studies on the representation of these descendants in exhibitions, exploring the impact of extending narratives to include the aftermath across generations. The research also includes results from inviting descendants to reflect on archival testimonies of their survivor family members. The study suggests the need to reconceptualise what the the flow of memory ‘from generation to generation’ might look like after such a catastrophe.
Mirah Langer was a teacher and journalist in Johannesburg for many years before embarking on her new research project. This research is part of a doctoral study at the University of Vienna in Austria. It has been supported by the Ernst Ludwig Ehrlich Studienwerk, OeAD – Austria’s Agency for Education and Internationalisation and theEuropean Holocaust Research Infrastructure.
RSVP is essential Here

The Intersection of Heroism and Tragedy during the Holocaust in the Soviet Union
2025-02-23 08:00 - 17:00 UTC | Online
Sunday, 9 March, 9pm SAST
Join us for the second programme in our series, Jews in the Soviet Union: A Complex Narrative.
This session, The Intersection of Heroism and Tragedy during the Holocaust in the Soviet Union, will explore the complexities of Jewish experiences in the region during World War II. Dr. Yaakov Falkov will provide an overview of Soviet Jews as both victims and fighters between 1941 and 1945. Dr. Marta Havryshko will discuss the survival strategies employed by Jewish women during the Holocaust in the Soviet Union. Finally, Marco Gonzalez, director of Yahad-In Unum, will examine the organisation’s ongoing work in mapping Jewish killing sites, collecting evidence and testimonies, and using a unique investigative methodology based on Soviet and German archives.
This programme is presented in partnership with the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, Classrooms Without Borders, the Rabin Chair Forum at George Washington University, the Together Plan, the Jewish Tapestry Project, and Yahad-In Unum.
Register here

In Conversation with Dr Simonas Strelcovas: Echoes of the Past - Looking towards the Future: Jewish History and its Presence today at the Vilna Gaon Museum
2025-03-02 16:30 - 18:30 UTC | Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, 1 Duncombe Rd, Johannesburg, Gauteng, 2193, South Africa
Join the JHGC and the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania to South Africa for
In Conversation with Dr Simonas Strelcovas: Echoes of the Past – Looking towards the Future: Jewish History and its Presence today at the Vilna Gaon Museum

Step into the story of Lithuania’s Jewish heritage—a tale of resilience, culture, and memory. From Vilnius, once the “Jerusalem of the North,” to the Holocaust’s tragic scars and today’s preservation efforts, this presentation delves into the rich Jewish legacy and the future of its remembrance. Explore how the Vilna Gaon Museum of Jewish History safeguards this past through artifacts, personal narratives, and groundbreaking research. Join us on a journey through time as the Museum honours history and shapes the future of Jewish heritage in Lithuania.
In 2007, Simonas Strelcovas defended his doctoral dissertation at Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania. From 2008 to 2018, he worked at Šiauliai University Lithuania, holding positions as an associate professor in the Department of History, chairman of the Scientific Institute Council, and head of the Humanities Research Center. In 2016, he completed a research internship at Waseda University in Tokyo, and in 2018, he interned at Meiji University in Nagoya. Since 2016, he has been an expert for the Research Council of Lithuania. Since 2022, he has been teaching at Vilnius University. In 2023, he was awarded the title of Honorary Associate Professor at the Faculty of History of Vilnius University. Since 2023, he has been the director of the Vilna Gaon Museum of Jewish History.
His main research interests include the history of World War II refugees in Lithuania, military history, and the history of everyday life. He is the author of three monographs and several dozen scholarly articles.
RSVP is essential here

ZAPP Fest Performance Showcase
2025-03-16 16:00 - 18:00 UTC | Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, 1 Duncombe Rd, Johannesburg, Gauteng, 2193, South Africa
15 March 4pm SAST
Join the Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre, in collaboration with the Inside Out Centre for the Arts and the South African Poetry Project (ZAPP) for the
ZAPP Fest Performance Showcase

Join us to enjoy the performances of an exciting group of young South African poets as they explore the themes of the permanent exhibitions of the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre and the Inside Out Centre for the Arts.
The poems which will be performed are the product of a one-day poetry workshop facilitated by The South African Poetry Project (ZAPP). Learn more about ZAPP here.
RSVP is essential here

“Echoes Across Time: Voices of Survival and Lessons for Our Future” Session 2
2025-03-19 21:00 - 22:00 UTC | Online
“Echoes Across Time: Voices of Survival and Lessons for Our Future”
As we stand on the cusp of history, the voices of Holocaust and genocide survivors grow more urgent, reminding us of the cost of silence, the value of empathy, and the power of resilience. “Echoes Across Time” invites audiences to explore the critical lessons these testimonies offer—on values, democracy, and the warning signs of oppression. Through monthly episodes, each centered around a survivor’s testimony about their life experiences, this series probes the question: Are we truly listening? Join us as we amplify stories from the Holocaust to Rwanda, Cambodia, and beyond, engaging with survivors, scholars, and advocates who work tirelessly to preserve these legacies and inspire a more compassionate future.
“Memory as a Democratic Tool: Michael Berenbaum on Survivor Testimonies and the Future”
Featuring: Renowned Holocaust scholar Michael Berenbaum, who will delve into how survivor testimony serves as a vital instrument in preserving and promoting democratic values, especially within the U.S. Michael will discuss the power of these testimonies in exposing the dangers of authoritarianism, encouraging critical thinking, and reinforcing the importance of active citizenship. He will also explore how survivor stories help prevent future atrocities by fostering empathy, understanding, and a deep respect for human rights.
Michael Berenbaum will be in conversation with Tali Nates, the founder and director of the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre (JHGC) and Chair of the South African Holocaust & Genocide Foundation (SAHGF). She is a historian who lectures internationally on Holocaust and genocide education, memory, reconciliation, and human rights. Born to a family of Holocaust survivors, her father and uncle were saved by Oskar Schindler. Tali has been involved in the creation and production of dozens of documentary films, published many articles and contributed chapters to different books among them God, Faith & Identity from the Ashes: Reflections of Children and Grandchildren of Holocaust Survivors (2015), Remembering The Holocaust in Educational Settings (2018), Conceptualising Mass Violence, Representations, Recollections, and Reinterpretations (2021) and The Routledge Handbook of Memory Activism (2023). South Africa by the Mail & Guardian newspaper and won many awards including the Kia Community Service Award (South Africa, 2015), the Gratias Agit Award (2020, Czech Republic), the Austrian Holocaust Memorial Award (2021), the Goethe Medal (2022, Germany), the US Secretary of State’s International Religious Freedom Award (2023), and the International Network of Genocide Scholar’s Impact Award (2024).
Join here

Opening Event: Żegota – the Council for Aid to Jews
2025-03-26 18:00 - 20:30 UTC | Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, 1 Duncombe Rd, Johannesburg, Gauteng, 2193, South Africa

Special Staging of Sarajevo
2025-04-03 18:30 - 21:00 (Africa/Johannesburg), 2025-04-06 14:30 - 17:00 (Europe/Helsinki) | Gauteng
RSVP IS ESSENTIAL AS SEATING IS LIMITEDClick the link or email dowi@jhbholocaust.co.za
ABOUT THE PLAY:In the powder keg of Sarajevo in the days before the first shots of the Siege are fired, a South African photojournalist hires a Bosnian Muslim woman as a translator and local guide. As the chaos of war consumes the city around them, the bonds of friends, of lovers, and of countrymen, are stretched beyond breaking.
A play about consent and coercion, violence and power – about trying to hold on to humanity in the fury of war.
There will be a Panel Discussion and Q&A after the Performance.
CONTENT WARNING: Strong Language, Sex, Violence, A Graphic Depiction of Rape, Hate speech, Descriptions of War crimes. Some scenes may be triggering for some viewers.
Not suitable for people under the age of 16.
HEALTH AND SAFETY NOTICE: Herbal Prop Cigarettes are smoked on stage during the performance. Audience smoking/vaping is strictly prohibited. There are also sequences of flashing lights that may impact those with photosensitive conditions.

“Sabotage”: The Legacy of Women’s Resistance in Auschwitz
2025-04-06 20:00 - 22:00 UTC | Online
Join us for a special pre-screening of the documentary Sabotage, to stream on Thursday, April 3 through Sunday, April 6. This will be followed on Sunday, April 6, by a special Talking Memory Program, The Legacy of Women’s Resistance in Auschwitz.

All registrants for the Sunday, April 6, Zoom program will receive the link and code to stream the film.

We recommend watching the film, by Noa Aharoni and produced by Doc.Films, Levi Zini & Avishai Peretz, before attending the Zoom webinar.

Sabotage Film Synopsis:In January 1945, less than two weeks before the evacuation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp, four forced labour women—Estusia Wajcblum, Rosa Robota, Alla Gartner, and Regina Safirstein—were hanged in public after being accused of sabotaging the Nazi war machine. This is an almost unknown story of the women’s underground operation in Auschwitz-Birkenau. It is a story of women’s heroism, resistance, and tragedy, told through the eyes of Anna Wajcblum Heilman, Estusia’s sister and the youngest member of the resistance group. In the horrific inferno of Auschwitz, Anna writes a diary describing the dramatic story of the women’s resistance, camaraderie, and friendship.

The Legacy of Women’s Resistance in Auschwitz Talking Memory Zoom Program on Sunday, April 6, 8 PM SAST

This year marks 80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Our programme will focus on the experiences of women in one of the most notorious Nazi concentration camps and their place in public memory.

Dr Sarah Cushman, Director of the Holocaust Educational Foundation of Northwestern University, will explore the deadly environment of Birkenau and how female prisoners struggled to survive. She will examine why armed resistance was rare among women and how they navigated such extreme conditions.

Noa Aharoni, award-winning filmmaker and director of Sabotage, will discuss her documentary about the underground women’s resistance in Auschwitz-Birkenau, which ended in the tragic public hanging of four young Jewish women. She will share insights into the themes of heroism, sacrifice, and hope in her film.

Ariela Heilman, daughter of Auschwitz resistance fighter Anna Heilman (Wajcblum), will share her mother’s story and the fate of her aunt, Estusia Wajcblum, one of the four women executed for their role in sabotaging the Nazi war effort.

Jasmin Ron, Archivist at the Ghetto Fighters’ House, will discuss the life and artwork of Ella Liebermann-Shiber, a German-Jewish painter and Holocaust survivor. Liebermann-Shiber’s paintings document her experiences in the Bedzin Ghetto and Auschwitz-Birkenau, highlighting the role of art in historical memory.

This programme is presented in partnership with Remember the Women Institute, the Rabin Chair Forum at George Washington University, Wagner College Holocaust Centre, and the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre.

Session 1 – Othering, Occupation, Violence, and Denial
2025-04-08 18:00 - 21:00 UTC | Online
INTERNATIONAL HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE ALLIANCE GRANT PROGRAM WINNER 2023

Join us for the IHRA Webinar Series, in collaboration with the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre (JHGC), Eastern European Holocaust Studies: Interdisciplinary Journal of the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center (EEHS), Ukraina Moderna website (UM), and Austrian Service Abroad (ASA) on the theme of “Othering, Occupation, Violence, and Denial”. Topics that will be engaged with under the central theme include the way in which historical analogies and presentism in studying the history of the Holocaust are used to foster deeper understanding and critical thinking about the Holocaust, current armed conflicts and the rise of hate speech. Ways in which oversimplifications, misrepresentations, distortions, and denial of these topics can be challenged and safeguarded against will also be grappled with, alongside testimonies, resistance, education, remembrance, and the collection and preservation of history.

This first webinar in the series deals with the theme of Othering, featuring speakers: Albert Hytry on “The Colonial Gaze of Nazi Propaganda on Occupied Ukraine (1941-1943)”; Dr Andrea Dahlauist on “Anti-Semitism as Propaganda Tool in Romania During the Interwar Period and Nowadays”; Prof Adam Mendelsohn on “The Holocaust beyond History: The Uses and Abuses of Holocaust Memory in South Africa”; and Prof David Simon on “Pathologies of Exclusion: Patterns in Narratives of ‘Othering’ across the Holocaust and Rwanda”.

Session 1 - Othering, Occupation, Violence, and Denial
2025-04-08 19:00 - 22:00 UTC | Gauteng

Session 2 – Othering, Occupation, Violence, and Denial
2025-04-22 18:00 - 21:00 UTC | Online
INTERNATIONAL HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE ALLIANCE GRANT PROGRAM WINNER 2023

Join us for the IHRA Webinar Series, in collaboration with the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre (JHGC), Eastern European Holocaust Studies: Interdisciplinary Journal of the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center (EEHS), Ukraina Moderna website (UM), and Austrian Service Abroad (ASA) on the theme of “Othering, Occupation, Violence, and Denial”. Topics that will be engaged with under the central theme include the way in which historical analogies and presentism in studying the history of the Holocaust are used to foster deeper understanding and critical thinking about the Holocaust, current armed conflicts and the rise of hate speech. Ways in which oversimplifications, misrepresentations, distortions, and denial of these topics can be challenged and safeguarded against will also be grappled with, alongside testimonies, resistance, education, remembrance, and the collection and preservation of history.

This second webinar in the series deals with the theme of Occupation, featuring speakers: Doris Bergen on “Cultural Genocides, Genocidal Cultures: How Analogies between Residential Schools for Indigenous Children in Canada and the Holocaust Deepen Understanding of German Occupation Practices in World War II”; Jeffrey Veidlinger “Ukrainian occupations, war, and antisemitism: past and present”; and Judge Mykola Gnatovskyy: “The talk addresses the manner in which the ECtHR addresses contemporary human rights issues that are connected to the Holocaust and other crimes committed in the past.”

Doris Bergen is a historian and the Chancellor Rose and Ray Wolfe Professor of Holocaust Studies at the University of Toronto, specialising in Holocaust research with a focus on Christianity’s role in Nazi Germany, military chaplains, and the intersection of war and genocide. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, she has authored several influential books and pioneered methodologies in gender and sexuality studies related to the Holocaust while advocating for accessible, high-quality research on mass violence.

Jeffrey Veidlinger is the Joseph Brodsky Collegiate Professor of History and Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan and the inaugural Director of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute, specializing in Jewish history and Holocaust studies. An award-winning author of multiple books, including In the Midst of Civilized Europe (2021), he holds leadership roles in many institutions, including the Vice-President of the American Academy for Jewish Research, Past Chair of the Academic Advisory Council of the Center for Jewish History, and a member of the Academic Committee of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Judge Gnatovskyy, born in 1977 in Kyiv, Ukraine, is an expert in international law with a PhD from Taras Shevchenko National University and extensive experience in academia and international humanitarian law. He served in key roles within the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and other international legal bodies before being appointed as a Judge of the European Court of Human Rights in 2022.

Session 2 - Othering, Occupation, Violence, and Denial
2025-04-22 19:00 - 22:00 UTC | Gauteng

Exhibition opening: Communicating Historical and Current Trauma by Art
2025-04-23 14:00 - 15:30 UTC | Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, 1 Duncombe Rd, Johannesburg, Gauteng, 2193, South Africa
The Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, in partnership with the Embassy of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Association of South Africa, invites you to the opening of the exhibition, Communicating Historical and Current Trauma by Art.

In a series of posters, Ukrainian artist and designer Yuliya Fedorovych tells the story of the Holodomor in her own unique visual language. She highlights the key prerequisites, facts, and consequences of the 1930s famine-genocide, weaving them into a modern aesthetic reflecting Ukrainian culture’s evolution in the 20th century. Traditional elements of folk embroidery—echoes of Ukraine’s deep-rooted identity—are intertwined with the constructivist style of the 1920s and 1930s.

The final posters in the series draw a powerful parallel between history and the present, reflecting on Russia’s ongoing invasion and rekindling the trauma of the past. She calls this exhibition: “Unpunished Evil: HØLØDØMØR & Russia’s Modern-Day Crimes in Ukraine”

Each artwork is enhanced through augmented reality: historical facts come to life when scanned on your mobile phone, creating an interactive experience that deepens engagement with this powerful story.

The exhibition forms part of the broader HOLODOMOR project, promoted by the National Museum of the Holodomor-Genocide in Kyiv.

Watch the artist describe her work here:🔗 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEdoNtj6dqY

Echoes Across Time: Voices of Survival and Lessons for Our Future Session 3
2025-04-28 21:00 - 22:00 UTC | Online
As we stand on the cusp of history, the voices of Holocaust and genocide survivors grow ever more urgent, reminding us of the cost of silence, the value of empathy, and the power of resilience. Echoes Across Time invites audiences to explore the crucial lessons these testimonies offer—on values, democracy, and the warning signs of oppression. Through monthly episodes, each centred around a survivor’s testimony about their life experiences, this series poses the question: Are we truly listening?

Join us as we amplify stories from the Holocaust to Rwanda, Cambodia, and beyond, engaging with survivors, scholars, and advocates who work tirelessly to preserve these legacies and inspire a more compassionate future.

Generations of the Shoah: Passing the TorchFeaturing: Esther Toporek Finder, Founder of the Coordinating Council of Generations of the Shoah International and President of Generations of the Shoah – Nevada, along with Sharon Buenos of Zikaron BaSalon.

This discussion will address the pressing issue of legacy and the vital role younger generations play in carrying forward the memories of the Holocaust. Esther and Sharon will share insights on how remembrance can help combat modern-day hate and antisemitism, encouraging participants to consider how they, too, can be torchbearers in this global fight. This session explores the importance of resilience, community, and the role each individual plays in sustaining the impact of survivor stories.

Online book launch GENOCIDE: Personal Stories, Big Questions by Heidi Kingstone
2025-04-30 19:00 - 20:30 UTC | Online
To Commemorate the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda, the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre invites you to the book launch of GENOCIDE: Personal Stories, Big Questions by Heidi Kingstone

The book tells the story of the last 120 years of genocide, its impact on the world and its relevance today. Kingstone takes the reader on a journey from the Herero and Nama genocide of 1904, through the Armenian genocide, Ukrainian terror-famine and The Holocaust to the Cambodia, Rwanda and Srebrenica genocides of the late 20th century. She also explores the Darfur, Yazidi and Rohingya genocides of the 21st century, starkly illustrating that, while some lessons have been learnt, mankind seems to possess a propensity to dehumanise fellow human beings – all too visible in today’s global conflicts. This human failing, argues Kingstone, is fuelled by fear, greed and propaganda, and the refusal to learn from the past.

The book builds on Kingstone’s 20 years as a foreign correspondent for national and international media and is informed by survivors, witnesses, academics and activists. It is a collection of vignettes that link one instance of tragedy to another – a compendium of stories centred around people that Kingstone has met, observing connections that weave their way through relationships, cultures, and continents across time, leading to salutary parallels, past and present.

Kingstone provides us with the origin and definition of the term genocide – it transpires that the word itself did not emerge until the winter of 1944 when Raphael Lemkin, a Polish-Jewish lawyer born in 1900, coined the term. We learn that in 1945 Lemkin went to Nuremberg to establish the crime of genocide. Ben Ferencz, the youngest prosecutor at Nuremberg – interviewed for the book by Kingstone just before his death, aged 103 in 2023 – was one of the first people to use the term. It wasn’t until 1948, we are told, that the definition was enshrined in the United Nations Genocide Convention.

Other characters we meet in the book include two remarkable women who spoke to the world – Anne Frank, and Arshaluys Mardiganian who survived the 1915 Armenian genocide, escaped to the USA, and became a global sensation with her story, serialised in the media and turned into a film.

Having met a woman born in Bergen-Belsen, the former Nazi concentration camp, Kingstone talks about life after liberation and how people can rise from the ashes. Haunted by ghosts, children of survivors talk about their lives and the impact of their families’ legacy. And we learn about the ‘Heart of Auschwitz’ – the amazing story of a purple origami heart made by prisoners that survived the Death March. Kingstone’s work also explores the psychology of a perpetrator – how people justify mass murder – and draws parallels between leaders from Saddam Hussein and Adolf Hitler to Josef Stalin.

The book quotes leading authorities on the complex and perplexing history of genocide, including Professor Menachem Z. Rosensaft, former general counsel of the World Jewish Congress and adjunct professor in law at Columbia Law School; Dr Ümit Kurt, the historian whose awakening to genocide took place in his own hometown of Gaziantep, which he discovered was formerly home to a thriving Armenian community; and Dr Jan Ilhan Kizilhan who is a psychologist, psychotherapist, trauma expert and orientalist.

Commenting on the book, Professor André Singer, President Emeritus, Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, stated, “In her beautifully penned and wide-ranging book Genocide – Personal Stories, Big Questions, Heidi Kingstone takes up the challenge of not only reflecting on the Holocaust but on genocides worldwide to paint a fresh and comprehensive picture for the world to learn from. It is her personalised journey covering genocides in so many countries that makes this such a gripping read and fulfils her ambition to help change things and remind us in such a compelling way that we must never look away.”

Journalist Heidi Kingstone has spent her career covering events around the globe for prominent publications from the Financial Times to the Mail on Sunday. She has interviewed key international figures from Benjamin Netanyahu and HRH Princess Anne to Zaha Hadid and Daniel Libeskind. Her interest in human rights and dictatorships led her to Iraq on four occasions, travelling to Baghdad, Irbil, and Basra before and after the invasion in 2003. She has also reported from Bangladesh, Africa and the Middle East. Arriving in an old Soviet helicopter and a C-130 military aircraft, she reported extensively from Afghanistan. She later wrote her first book, Dispatches from the Kabul Café (2014), a memoir of a country at a tipping point. War and genocide have fuelled Kingstone’s pursuits and informed her work. Like so much in her life, from moving to London from her native Toronto to ending up in Iraq and Afghanistan, serendipity played its part in writing Genocide: Personal Stories, Big Questions.

Genocide: Personal Stories, Big Questions, is published by Yellow Press (www.yellowpress.co) and is available as a download from Amazon: https://a.co/d/02a4feW4

Book Launch: Poetry Non-Scenes
2025-05-04 11:00 - 12:30 UTC | Issy’s Coffee & Gift Shop, 1 Duncombe Road, Forest Town, 2193, South Africa
In April 2024, a group of aspiring poets of all ages and from all walks of life, came together for a series of poetry writing workshops held at the Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre. The poems focused on a range of issues which inform the South African experience, including human rights, race, gender and mental health.

Poetry Non-scenes: New performance poems beyond the struggle (2024) offers an exciting taste of the poems produced during the workshops. Join anthology’s editors: Tom Penfold, Adam Levin and Deirdre Byrne as they reflect on the workshops, the publication of the anthology and the future of the Poetry Nonscenes project. They will be joined by some of the anthology’s contributors who will perform their poems.

Antisemitism in Australia and Working to Counter It
2025-05-06 17:00 - 18:00 UTC | Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, 1 Duncombe Rd, Johannesburg, Gauteng, 2193, South Africa
Join us for a conversation with Rabbi Ralph Genende on Antisemitism in Australia and Working to Counter It: The challenges of Jewish identity today

Rabbi Ralph Genende is a well-known Modern Orthodox Rabbi with a passion for social justice and creating bridges between different cultures and faiths. For him the purpose of religion is to create a better society for all people and to engage with the critical issues facing Australian society. The role of the Rabbi is, in his words, to challenge the comfortable and comfort the challenged.

Rabbi Genende is the Interfaith and Community Officer of AIJAC (Australian Israel Jewish Affairs Council) and on its editorial board. He was Senior Rabbi to Jewish Care, Victoria, Melbourne’s largest Jewish organisation, and is now its Consultant. Ralph is Principal Rabbi to the Australian Defence Force, Member of the Religious Advisory Council to the Minister of Defence (RACS), and board member of and member of the Premier’s Multi Faith Advisory Group. He has served as President of the Jewish Christian Muslim Association (JCMA), was a long-time executive member of the Rabbinical Association of Victoria, and was formerly a member of Swinburne University’s Research Ethics Committee. He is a member of the Department of Health Ethics Committee and of Glen Eira City Council’s Reconciliation Action Plan for recognition and integration of our First Peoples.

In 2018, Rabbi Genende was awarded an OAM for his services to multi-faith relations, and to the Jewish community of Victoria. He is a trained counsellor with a Masters degree from Auckland University.

In August 2022, Rabbi Genende published his debut book, Living in an Upside-Down World , an anthology gathered over 20 years of writing that examines the many crises and challenges of the 21st century – from polarisation to asylum seekers, loneliness to climate change.

Virtual Book Discussion Two Sisters: Betrayal, Love, and Resistance in Wartime France
2025-05-07 22:00 - 23:30 UTC | Online
Join us for a compelling virtual discussion with journalist and historian Rosie Whitehouse as we delve into her latest book, Two Sisters: Betrayal, Love, and Resistance in Wartime France.

This powerful true story follows Marion and Huguette Müller, two sisters whose lives were shattered when the Nazis invaded France in 1940. Through meticulous research and gripping storytelling, Whitehouse uncovers their harrowing journey — one marked by loss, resilience, and the courageous efforts of those who risked everything to save them.

Perfect for history enthusiasts, Second World War scholars, and anyone moved by stories of survival and resistance, this discussion will offer unique insights into the moral complexities of war, the strength of human connection, and the enduring quest for justice.

Rosie Whitehouse is an experienced journalist with a distinct focus on exploring the tapestry of Jewish life in the aftermath of the Holocaust. Her insightful writing features in respected publications including BBC Online, The Observer, The Independent, Tablet magazine, The Jewish Chronicle, Haaretz, and others. A proud alumna of the London School of Economics, Rosie also serves as a historical advisor to Centropa, a leading Jewish history institute based in Vienna.

Online Roundtable: Holocaust Literature and Connective Histories of Other Genocides
2025-05-14 19:00 - 21:30 UTC | Online
This online roundtable explores how Holocaust literature has shaped, and been shaped by in return, other histories of extreme violence. The speakers will discuss literature from Rwanda, Australia, and Yugoslavia, and highlight the complex and nuanced ways it engages with the Holocaust and Holocaust literature.

This roundtable is part of an ongoing series featuring original research from the forthcoming Cambridge History of Holocaust Literature. For more information, you can visit the website Rethinking Holocaust Literature: Contexts, Canons, and Circulations.

Speakers: Zoë Norridge Reader in African and Comparative Literature and Visual Cultures, Kings College London; Kirril Shields Director of Education and Regional Policy, Asia-Pacific Centre for the Responsibility; Stijn Vervaet Associate Professor in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian and Balkan Studies, University of Oslo. Chaired by Stuart Taberner – Professor of German, University of Leeds.

Session 3 - Othering, Occupation, Violence, and Denial
2025-05-20 18:00 - 21:00 UTC | Online
INTERNATIONAL HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE ALLIANCE GRANT PROGRAM WINNER 2023

Join us for the IHRA Webinar Series, in collaboration with the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre (JHGC), Eastern European Holocaust Studies: Interdisciplinary Journal of the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center (EEHS), Ukraina Moderna website (UM), and Austrian Service Abroad (ASA) on the theme of “Othering, Occupation, Violence, and Denial”. Topics that will be engaged with under the central theme include the way in which historical analogies and presentism in studying the history of the Holocaust are used to foster deeper understanding and critical thinking about the Holocaust, current armed conflicts and the rise of hate speech. Ways in which oversimplifications, misrepresentations, distortions, and denial of these topics can be challenged and safeguarded against will also be grappled with, alongside testimonies, resistance, education, remembrance, and the collection and preservation of history.

This third webinar in the series deals with the theme of Violence, featuring speakers: Prof Andras L Pap on “Law as a tool for Identifying, Classifying, Othering and Annihilating: Legislation and the Hungarian Holocaust”, Anna Furman on “Babyn Yar as a place of violence”, Prof Kai Struve on“Soviet Propaganda, Holocaust Memory, and Ukrainian Nationalism: Shaping Western Perceptions from the Cold War to the Present”, and Prof IIdikó Barna on “Tracing Violence from Language to Atrocity: Learning from Testimonies, Research, and AI.”

András L. Pap is Research Professor and Head of Department for Constitutional and Administrative Law at the (formerly Hungarian Academy of Sciences, currently) HUN-REN Centre for Social Sciences, Institute for Legal Studies, as well as Professor of Law at the Faculty of Economics at Eötvös University (ELTE) in Budapest. For 25 years, until its recent closing in 2025, he was Adjunct (Recurrent Visiting) Professor in the Nationalism Studies Program at the Central European University (CEU) in Budapest and Vienna. A former visiting scholar at New York University School of Law Global Law Program, and a SASPRO-Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at the Institute of Sociology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava, his research interest include comparative constitutional law, human rights, law enforcement, and the conceptualisation of race and ethnicity. He worked as rapporteur, consultant, senior expert, project manager and lead researcher in various projects commissioned by the European Union, the Council of Europe and the UN. He served as expert witness for courts in the UK and the US and habitually works with international NGO’s and think tanks. He is a member of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee. In 2018 he founded the International Association of Constitutional Law (IACL) Research Group on identity, race and ethnicity in constitutional law. He is also a recurrent evaluator for a variety of EU grants. He has taught over 85 courses, delivered over 250 presentations and published over 100 articles and book chapters in international academic forums.

Anna Furman has been the Chief Executive Officer of the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center since 2025, with expertise in cultural management, international cooperation, and digital transformation. She brings over a decade of executive experience leading large-scale cultural and social initiatives both in Ukraine and abroad. Under her leadership, the Center digitised over 7 million archival documents, launched the first online martyrology of civilian victims of the war in Ukraine, and received global accolades, including the Red Dot and Webby Awards. Anna co-authored the Center’s artistic vision, curated impactful exhibitions, and led strategic cooperation with state institutions and archives. She is also a prominent international representative of the institution. Prior to her work at Babyn Yar, she held leadership roles in the legal and educational sectors. She has a Master of Laws degree and researches Human Rights.

Kai Struve is a Senior Research Fellow at Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich and a Privatdozent at the Institute of History of Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. He received his Ph.D. from the Free University of Berlin in 2002 and has previously worked at the Herder Institute in Marburg and the Simon Dubnow Institute for Jewish History and Culture in Leipzig. He has also held fellowships at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the German Historical Institute in Warsaw, and the Université Paris II Panthéon-Assas. His research focuses on the history of Ukraine and Poland in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, particularly World War II and the Holocaust, but also on questions how societies remember and interpret mass violence in the twentieth century. Among his most important publications are Deutsche Herrschaft, ukrainischer Nationalismus, antijüdische Gewalt. Der Sommer 1941 in der Westukraine, Berlin 2015 (Ukrainian translation: Nimets‘ka vlada, ukraïns‘kyi nacionalizm, nasyl‘stvo proty ievreïv. Lito 1941 roku v Zakhidnii Ukraïni, Kyïv 2022), and the edited volume (with Gelinada Grinchenko): Krieg und Okkupation. Deutschland und die Ukraine 1941-44, Leipzig 2025 (forthcoming).

Ildikó Barna is a sociologist and professor at ELTE University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Social Research Methodology, Budapest. Her research topics include antisemitism, memory politics, post-Holocaust studies, and quantitative research on archival sources. In recent years, her interest has turned to automated text analytics, applying natural language processing to complement traditional quantitative and qualitative approaches in these areas. Dr. Barna has been awarded numerous research grants, including the MTA Bolyai János Research Grant of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (2017–2020). She has also held several prestigious fellowships, such as the Visiting Research Fellowship at the Malach Centre for Visual History in Prague (2020), the European Holocaust Research Infrastructure (EHRI) Research Fellowship at the Arolsen Archive in Bad Arolsen and the Wiener Holocaust Library in London (2017), and the Visiting Fellowship at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC (2015). She is the author of numerous publications and, together with her co-authors, received the Károly Polányi Prize from the Hungarian Sociological Association in 2003, 2017, and 2023 for the best publication of the previous year.
