Drew University Center for Holocaust Studies

Founded in 1992 through a generous grant from the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education, the Center for Holocaust/Genocide Study organizes and sponsors a rich variety of programming. It offers, for instance, annual programs in commemoration of Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass; every November) and Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day; every April/May). It also schedules lectures, performances, films, workshops, discussions, and other events dealing with the Holocaust and with genocides such as those in Armenia, Bosnia, Cambodia, Darfur, and Rwanda.

It enriches Drew’s undergraduate and graduate coursework by bringing notable scholars and speakers to campus, by supporting faculty research, and by providing additional resources that enhance the study of Holocaust and genocide.

The mission of the Drew University Center for Holocaust/Genocide Study is to COMMEMORATE those who perished in the Holocaust and to CELEBRATE those who survived; to EDUCATE upcoming generations to “remember for the future”; and to DEDICATE our energies to ongoing research and scholarship. The Center’s moral imperative to action is inspired by John Donne: “Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.” Our mission includes those genocides that foreshadowed the Holocaust, those that followed it, and those that continue to erupt. As a part of Drew University, the Center for Holocaust/Genocide Study supports and abides by the mission and by-laws of the University.

The material found within these collections ranges from academic publications on the Holocaust to survivor testimony to Nazi material culture (including uniforms and ephemera). There is also a large amount of visual, verbal, and written evidence of the atrocities that occurred in Europe during World War II. Within the boxes and folders that house the Drew University Center for Holocaust/Genocide Study Collections are stories of horror and sadness, but there are also stories of heroism, strength, and triumph. These include testimony from Holocaust survivors, stories of rescuers who put their lives on the line to save their fellow citizens, and tales of liberation from the most dire of situations. The collections show that while there is certainly madness, anger, and cruelty in the world, it can be overcome by the goodness, faith, and strength of humanity at its best.

Perspectives on the Holocaust: A Bi-Annual Publication