Guy Miron, prominent Holocaust scholar, to speak at Appalachian State University Nov. 1

By University Communications

Posted Oct. 28, 2016 at 5:17 p.m.

BOONE—Guy Miron, one of Israel’s most prominent Holocaust scholars, will lecture at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 1 in Room 114 of Belk Library and Information Commons on the campus of Appalachian State University. The lecture is free and open to the public. It is organized by Appalachian’s Center for Judaic, Holocaust, and Peace Studies.

Miron’s talk is titled “Modern Jewish Historiography: Between ‘Usable Past,’ National Narrative and the Transnational Challenge.” Miron is a professor of Jewish history and the chair of the Department of History, Philosophy and Jewish Studies at the Open University of Israel. He is also the director of the Research Center for the Study of the Holocaust in Germany at the International Institute for Holocaust Research at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.

Until the Holocaust, German-Jewish history was, as Miron’s lecture will demonstrate, associated with Jewish enlightenment, emancipation and assimilation, new religious movements, modern Jewish politics, as well as the escalating threat of anti-Semitism. Jewish historians and intellectuals of this pre-Holocaust period, predominantly from Germany and Eastern Europe, have dealt extensively with German-Jewish history as a “Usable Past.” This was a major part of their coming to terms with fundamental questions of modern Jewish identity.

After 1945, though, German-Jewish history became a topic for a transnational Jewish debate and was reinterpreted predominantly by scholars from Britain, Israel and the United States. In addition, non-Jewish historians, mainly from Germany, started to deal with this complex history, whose interpretation also has major implications for German history. Miron’s lecture will analyze this development and its meanings.

Also, on Nov. 2, Miron and his work will be the focus of a center Lunch Research Colloquium. This begins at noon. It is free, but an RSVP is required. To RSVP, and for more information, contact holocaust@appstate.edu or call 828-262-2311.

Miron’s lecture is sponsored by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Carolina Center for Jewish Studies, Duke University’s Center for Jewish Studies, Duke University’s Center for European Studies and the North Carolina German Studies Seminar & Workshop Series.

About the Center for Judaic, Holocaust, and Peace Studies

Appalachian State University’s Center for Judaic, Holocaust, and Peace Studies was founded in 2002 to develop new educational opportunities for students, teachers and the community. Located administratively within the College of Arts and Sciences, the Center seeks to strengthen tolerance, understanding and remembrance by increasing the knowledge of Jewish culture and history, teaching the history and meaning of the Holocaust, and utilizing these experiences to explore peaceful avenues for human improvement and the prevention of further genocides.

The Center for Judaic, Holocaust, and Peace Studies is an associate institutional member of the Association of Jewish Studies, a member of the Association of Holocaust Organizations and a member of the North Carolina Consortium of Jewish Studies.

About Appalachian State University

As a premier public institution, Appalachian State University prepares students to lead purposeful lives. App State is one of 17 campuses in the University of North Carolina System, with a national reputation for innovative teaching and opening access to a high-quality, affordable education for all. The university enrolls more than 21,000 students, has a low student-to-faculty ratio and offers more than 150 undergraduate and 80 graduate majors at its Boone and Hickory campuses and through App State Online. Learn more at https://www.appstate.edu.