Lecture by Professor Hasia Diner
Free and Open to the Public
In commemoration of the Holocaust, the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) will host a free talk by Dr. Hasia Diner, professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies and History and Paul S. and Sylvia Steinberg Professor of American Jewish History at New York University, and director of the Goldstein-Goren Center for American Jewish History, on Tuesday, April 21, at 1 pm.
Professor Diner will speak on “What the World Lost: The Holocaust and the Destruction of European Jewry.” Her lecture will look at the Holocaust in terms of those who perished and how their deaths profoundly reshaped the Jewish world. Who were the victims? What experiences had they had before they met their deaths? This lecture will not focus on how they died, but rather on how they lived.
Diner’s work is located at the intersection of American and Jewish history. In a series of projects since the publication of her first book, which explored the ways in which American Jews engaged with the issues surrounding the condition of black Americans in the early 20th century, she has been interested in the mutual impact of America and the Jews. Her subsequent books look at the histories of other European immigrant groups in the United States. She is currently completing a book on global Jewish migrations and the history of Jewish peddling.
Throughout the day on April 21(9 am–1 pm and 2 pm–6 pm), members of the FIT community will read the names of Holocaust victims in the David Dubinsky Student Center dining hall. Additionally, from April 20 to 24, the exhibition, Lost in the Holocaust: Dreams, Talent and One True Story, an adapted display based on the original exhibition Stitching History from the Holocaust developed by the Jewish Museum Milwaukee, will be on view in the Dubinsky Student Center lobby. The exhibition, exploring the life and work of Hedy Strnad before she was killed in the Holocaust, features the re-creation of Strnad’s dresses from her sketches. Desperate to obtain an affidavit to escape the onslaught of Nazi Germany, Strnad’s husband sent these sketches to a cousin in Milwaukee in the hopes that these examples of her work would provide evidence of their financial independence.
Lecture and Event Details
WHEN: Tuesday, April 21, 1-2 pm
WHERE: FIT, Seventh Avenue at 27 Street
Lecture: Haft Auditorium, Marvin Feldman Center
Reading of Names and Exhibition: David Dubinsky Student Center