USHMM | Older Jews and the Holocaust

During the Holocaust, older Jews were among the first to be targeted for death or deportation to killing centers. Some wrote about their experiences in diaries and letters, and information can be found in other documentation and postwar testimony. Still, little is known about how older Jews endured persecution, how they responded, and their survival strategies. This symposium will explore new research on the experiences of the elderly during and after the Holocaust, preceding the publication of an edited volume on the same topic. Instead of focusing solely on their vulnerability and death, the speakers will discuss how older individuals lived through genocide and navigated its aftermath, as well as how others reacted to the needs of older Jews.

Introductory and Closing Remarks/Panelists

Elizabeth Anthony, Director, Visiting Scholar Programs, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Christine Schmidt, Deputy Director and Head of Research, The Wiener Holocaust Library, London
Joanna Sliwa, Historian and Administrator of the Saul Kagan Fellowship in Advanced Shoah Studies and the University Partnership in Holocaust Studies, Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany

Panelists and Chairs

Rebecca Carter-Chand, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Kierra Crago-Schneider, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Maria Ferenc, Jewish Historical Institute, Warsaw, and University of Wrocław
Katharina Friedla, Stanford University
Michael Geheran, US Military Academy, West Point
Niamh Hanrahan, University of Manchester
Borbála Klacsmann, University College Dublin
Natalya Lazar, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Roxzann-Rio Moore, Royal Holloway, University of London
Katarzyna Person, Warsaw Ghetto Museum
Patricia Heberer Rice, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Dan Stone, Royal Holloway, University of London
Xin Tong, Shanghai International Studies University
Anna Ullrich, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Lidia Zessin-Jurek, Masaryk Institute and Archives, Czech Academy of Sciences and Stockton University

Event Schedule

10:30–10:45 a.m. Introductory Remarks
10:45 a.m.–12:15 p.m. Panel I: Contexts of Persecution
12:15–12:30 p.m. Break
12:30–2 p.m. Panel II: Older People and Migration
2–3 p.m. Lunch Break
3–4:30 p.m. Panel III: Older Jews among the “Displaced”
4:30–4:45 p.m. Break
4:45–6 p.m. Panel IV: Older Jews after the Holocaust
6–6:15 p.m. Closing Remarks

This program is free and open to the public, but registration is required. If you wish to view the program virtually, you will receive a YouTube link upon registration.

To register, click here.