JHGC in Conversation with ...

The JHGC's education officer Mdu Ntuli, is in conversation with youth leaders Wandile Nzuza and Cassidi Beck. Cassidi and Wandile have been chosen as Youth Action Fellows for the Together We Remember Coalition,  a non-profit organisation which aims to foster collective memory and inspire collective action. They tell us what messages they have for other young leaders about leadership, democracy and making choices, in South Africa and abroad.

~ Please share your comments and questions! If you have any questions about the content of this podcast or our Centre please email Mduduzi@jhbholocaust.co.za or connect with JHGCentre on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

JHGC in Conversation with Wandile Nzuza and Cassidi Beck on Youth Leadership

David Fox-Estrin speaks about his journey creating, launching, and running ‘Together We Remember’, a Non-Profit Organisation designed to foster collective memory and inspire collective action. As a grandson of four Holocaust survivors, the importance and meaning of “never again” is a powerful one in David’s life and vision. He launched ‘Together We Remember’ in 2017 and it has since become a global coalition of human rights-based NGOs, organisations and individuals who have responded to David’s vision. 

David tells us more about what ‘Together We Remember’ is, his intention for creating it, and the journey to the successful global coalition it has grown to be today. He also discusses the partnership with the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre and the 24 hour global vigil held in April for Genocide awareness month.

You can learn more about the TWR’s Youth Action Fellowship and Founding Fellows in our podcast here: https://soundcloud.com/user-858426360/project-38-cassidi-and-wandile

~ Please share your comments and questions! If you have any questions about the content of this podcast or our Centre please email Mduduzi@jhbholocaust.co.za or connect with JHGCentre on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. ~

JHGC in Conversation with David Fox-Estrin on Together We Remember Part 2

David Fox-Estrin speaks about his journey creating, launching, and running ‘Together We Remember’, a Non-Profit Organisation designed to foster collective memory and inspire collective action. As a grandson of four Holocaust survivors, the importance and meaning of “never again” is a powerful one in David’s life and vision. He launched ‘Together We Remember’ in 2017 and it has since become a global coalition of human rights-based NGOs, organisations and individuals who have responded to David’s vision. 

David tells us more about what ‘Together We Remember’ is, his intention for creating it, and the journey to the successful global coalition it has grown to be today. He also discusses the partnership with the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre and the 24 hour global vigil held in April for Genocide awareness month.

You can learn more about Together We Remember by visiting their website: https://togetherweremember.org

~ Please share your comments and questions! If you have any questions about the content of this podcast or our Centre please email Mduduzi@jhbholocaust.co.za or connect with JHGCentre on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. ~

JHGC in Conversation with David Fox-Estrin on Together We Remember Part 1

From April to July every year the world commemorates the 100 days of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.

The Gacaca is a community-based restorative justice system which had existed in Rwanda for many decades. It was this method of seeking justice and reconciliation that became the most useful and effective system to restore the country and its people after the genocide against the Tutsi in 1994.

In part 1 of this podcast, the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre talks to three experts:

Prof Phil Clark, political scientist and professor of International Politics at the SOAS, University of London, which is the world's leading institution for the study of Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Prof. Clark specialises in conflict and post-conflict issues in Africa, particularly questions of peace, truth, justice and reconciliation.

Dr Sara Brown, is Executive Director at the Center for Holocaust, Human Rights & Genocide Education. She is the author of Gender and the Genocide in Rwanda: Women as Perpetrators and Rescuers and the co-editor of the forthcoming Routledge Handbook on Religion and Genocide.

Prof Hollie Nyseth Brehm, is Associate Professor in the Sociology Department at Ohio State University, and her interests are in tackling the fundamental questions of why and how atrocities occur and who commits them and the process of transitional justice after atrocities, including how societies rebuild.

Tune in to listen to part 2 of this amazing conversation.

Please share your comments and questions! If you would like to know more about the content of this podcast, or the JHGC please email Mduduzi@jhbholocaust.co.za or connect with JHGCentre on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

JHGC in Conversation with Phil Clark, Sara Brown & Hollie Nyseth Brehm on Genocide in Rwanda Part 1

From April to July every year the world commemorates the 100 days of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.

The Gacaca is a community-based restorative justice system which had existed in Rwanda for many decades. It was this method of seeking justice and reconciliation that became the most useful and effective system to restore the country and its people after the genocide against the Tutsi in 1994.

In part 2 of this podcast, the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre continues our conversation with three experts:

Prof Phil Clark, political scientist and professor of International Politics at the SOAS, University of London, which is the world's leading institution for the study of Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Prof. Clark specialises in conflict and post-conflict issues in Africa, particularly questions of peace, truth, justice and reconciliation.

Dr Sara Brown, is Executive Director at the Center for Holocaust, Human Rights & Genocide Education. She is the author of Gender and the Genocide in Rwanda: Women as Perpetrators and Rescuers and the co-editor of the forthcoming Routledge Handbook on Religion and Genocide.

Prof Hollie Nyseth Brehm, is Associate Professor in the Sociology Department at Ohio State University, and her interests are in tackling the fundamental questions of why and how atrocities occur and who commits them and the process of transitional justice after atrocities, including how societies rebuild.

Please share your comments and questions! If you would like to know more about the content of this podcast, or the JHGC please email Mduduzi@jhbholocaust.co.za or connect with JHGCentre on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

JHGC in Conversation with Phil Clark, Sara Brown & Hollie Nyseth Brehm on Genocide in Rwanda Part 2

In this week's podcast the JHGC focuses on the Hochfeld family's travelling exhibition currently on display at the Centre, titled, "The German-Jewish Dilemma: The Story of the Hochfeld Family from the 18th Century until Today".

In February 2019, the JHGC was pleased to house the travelling exhibition about the Hochfeld family for the first time. This exhibition explores the story and journey of the Hochfeld family from the 18th century to the present and also touches on the challenges of Jewish families in small German towns. This year the JHGC is once again pleased to house this exhibition for the second time. To tell us more about this travelling exhibition and this amazing relationship with the JHGC, we chat to Steve Hochfeld, who is the former Managing Director at Hochfeld Grains based in Johannesburg, his wife Penny Hochfeld, and Jürgen Scheffler, former Director of the Lemgo Municipal Museum and the Frenkel House Memorial based in Germany, and the curator of this exhibition.

You can hear a recording from the opening of the exhibition at the JHGC in 2019 here: https://soundcloud.com/user-858426360/3-feb-opening-of-the-exhibition-the-german-jewish-dilemma

Please share your comments and questions! If you would like to know more about the content of this podcast, or the JHGC generally please email Mduduzi@jhbholocaust.co.za or connect with JHGCentre on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

JHGC in Conversation with Steve & Penny Hochfeld, and Juergen Scheffler on the German-Jewish Dilemma

In this week's podcast the JHGC focuses on the topic of transgressive Holocaust literature, and speaks to Daniella Hovsha, the projects and events officer at the JHGC, and also an expert in the study of transgressive Holocaust literature, having done her masters dissertation on this topic titled “Tipping into Transgressiveness”. 

The Holocaust is the most documented genocide in history, and the fiction which has emerged in its wake plays an integral part in the ways in which we understand its history. However, the way in which we write about the Holocaust can be seen as stagnant, recycling the same tropes and, knowingly or not, has contributed to re-traumatisation of new generations. In the last few decades a new type of literature has emerged, one that is dark, liminal, irreverent and even, funny. This literature is called dangerous by some, and applauded by others. In today’s podcast we will focus on the impact of transgressive literature about Holocaust history and look at some examples of this type of literature.  Daniella will unpack this topic and also speak to us about how this type of Holocaust literature shapes the memory of the holocaust.

Please share your comments and questions! If you would like to know more about the content of this podcast, or the JHGC generally please email Mduduzi@jhbholocaust.co.za or connect with JHGCentre on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

JHGC in Conversation with Daniella Hovsha on Transgressive Holocaust Literature

Each year the 20th of June marks World Refugee Day. It is a special day when the world takes time to recognise the resilience of forcibly displaced people throughout the world. World Refugee Day is celebrated annually to honour the courage, strength and determination of women, men and children who are forced to flee their homes under threat of persecution, conflict and violence. 

To mark this day, the JHGC talks to Kate Pond, the spokesperson of the United Nations Human Rights Commissioner for Refugees(UNHCR, Refugee Agency in South Africa). Ms Pond talks about the experiences of refugees in South Africa and how we can be more aware of their plight and what we can do to engage in efforts that can assist in protecting their human rights.

To follow the UNHCR on social media and keep up with their planned events, follow them on Twitter: @unhcrsafrica

Please share your comments and questions! If you would like to know more about the content of this podcast, or the JHGC generally please email Mduduzi@jhbholocaust.co.za or connect with JHGCentre on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

JHGC in Conversation with Kate Pond on World Refugee Day

The persecution of the Jews during the Second World War by the Vichy Colonial Regime in West Africa is an unfamiliar history to many in South Africa, Africa and around the world. Our focus in this week's podcast is to shed more light on this history and to unpack it’s intricacies. Joining us to do this is South African visual artist Joe Turpin. 

Joe was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1995. His practice focuses on narratives and semiotics charged and informed by history, and the physical expansion of painting as practice. Turpin graduated from the University of the Witwatersand in 2018 with a degree (BA Hons) in Fine Art, and has participated in a variety of exhibitions and residencies internationally, as well as being featured in various online and printed publications. Joe talks to us about his extraordinary exhibition which will be housed at the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre in July, which focuses on this history, after Joe undertook research during an Artist Residency in February 2020, with RAW Material Company in Dakar, Senegal’s capital and largest city.

Follow Joe on Instagram: @joegturpin

Please share your comments and questions! If you would like to know more about the content of this podcast, or the JHGC generally please email Mduduzi@jhbholocaust.co.za or connect with JHGCentre on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

JHGC in Conversation with Visual Artist Joe Turpin on his Exhibition

In 1941 the Nazis began a genocidal process aimed at killing every Jewish man, woman and child in Europe. They called this the ‘Final Solution’. Six Killing Centres, also known as “Death Camps” or “Extermination Camps”, were created in German-occupied Poland. These Killing Centres were designed for mass murder of human beings as efficiently and quickly as possible in gas chambers or vans. Chelmno, was the first operational killing centre, opened in December 1941. The other five killing centres were  Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka, Majdanek and Auschwitz. 

This podcast focuses on Belzec and its memorial, in conversation with Barbara Buntman, a scholar and a long-time volunteer at the JHGC. Barbara unpacks some facts about Belzec and also talks to us about her recent publication with the JHGC on the same topic.

~ Please share your comments and questions! If you would like to know more about the content of this podcast, or the JHGC generally please email Mduduzi@jhbholocaust.co.za or visit our website: www.jhbholocaust.co.za

JHGC in Conversation with Barbara Buntman on Belzec Killing Centre

On 1st September 1939, Germany invaded Poland, marking the beginning of the second world war. A month later the Nazis began their occupation of the city of Warsaw, the capital of Poland. This history of Poland and Warsaw are of critical importance in our understanding of the second world war and the Holocaust, and is featured in the permanent exhibition of the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre. 

Film maker Eric Bednarski’s extraordinary film, Warsaw: A City Divided, is one that sheds more light on the history and current reality of Warsaw. The film premiered in South Africa on the 29th of July 2021. It explores the creation of the Warsaw Ghetto, as seen from both sides of the ghetto wall, as well as its legacy in today’s city. This powerful exploration sheds new light on a tragic time of division, destruction and mass murder, incorporating unknown amateur footage and survivor testimony. In this podcast we speak to film maker Eric Bednarski about his film, the history and present of Warsaw.

www.ericbednarski.com
To watch the film Warsaw: A City Divided, go to: logtv.com

~ Please share your comments and questions! If you would like to know more about the content of this podcast, or the JHGC generally please email Mduduzi@jhbholocaust.co.za or visit our website: www.jhbholocaust.co.za

JHGC in Conversation with Eric Bednarski

The history of the persecution of Jewish people by the Vichy Colonial Regime in West Africa and specifically, in Senegal is an unfamiliar history to most people. Previously, we had a conversation with artist Joe Turpin, who created an amazing exhibition which documents this history. In this podcast we continue our focus on this history striving to shed more light and unpack its intricacies. Joining us to do this is Prof Alioune Dème from the History and Anthropology department at the Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, Senegal.

~ Please share your comments and questions! If you would like to know more about the content of this podcast, or the JHGC generally please email Mduduzi@jhbholocaust.co.za or visit our website: www.jhbholocaust.co.za

JHGC in Conversation with Prof. Alioune Dème on Africa and the Holocaust

On 13 October 2021, Sweden hosts the Malmö International Forum on Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Antisemitism, titled  Remember ReAct. This is a  high-level forum, that includes heads of state and government, researchers, experts and civil society representatives from around 50 countries. 

The purpose of the Forum is to make forward-looking commitments to ensure that memory of the Holocaust is not lost and to combat antisemitism in a society in which racism is on the rise and in which many people suffer from hate, threats and abuse on a daily basis. 

In this special podcast, the JHGC speaks to two expert historians and thought leaders in the field of Holocaust history, memory and education about antisemitism: its roots, rise and current methods of monitoring and responding to it and its destructive influence and the importance of remembering and teaching about the Holocaust. 

Tali Nates is the Founder and Executive Director of the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, in South Africa, and chair of the South African Holocaust & Genocide Foundation. Prof. Dina Porat is Professor Emeritus of Modern Jewish History at the Department of Jewish History and Head of the Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at Tel Aviv University. And since 2011 she has served as Chief Historian of Yad Vashem.

For more information on the Malmö Forum, click here:
https://www.government.se/articles/2021/10/the-programme-of-the-malmo-forum/

~ Please share your comments and questions! If you would like to know more about the content of this podcast, or the JHGC generally please email Mduduzi@jhbholocaust.co.za or visit our website: www.jhbholocaust.co.za

JHGC in Conversation with Tali Nates and Prof Dina Porat on the Malmö Forum in Sweden

The haunting legacy of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda continues to be a lesson and a warning, about what could happen when hate and division are allowed to thrive. From April to July 1994 approximately a million people were murdered, most of whom were Tutsi but also Hutu and Twa, by Hutu extremists in Rwanda.  

In this podcast we focus on the Arusha peace process that preceded the genocide and probe deeper into the causes that led to the genocide. Joining us is Dr Leon Hartwell, a Non-resident Senior Fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA). His 2019 doctoral thesis analysed the use of mediation in the resolution of armed conflicts. 

~ Please share your comments and questions! If you would like to know more about the content of this podcast, or the JHGC generally please email Mduduzi@jhbholocaust.co.za or visit our website: www.jhbholocaust.co.za

JHGC in Conversation with Dr Leon Hartwell on the Arusha Peace Process

When we engage with the histories of genocide, crimes against humanity and mass atrocities and their aftermaths, the need for reparations, in whatever form, always becomes one of the prominent and topical issues. Usually, reparations are viewed in monitory or economic ways. Honouring, commemorating and memorialising the lives and struggles of those who perished or survived these mass atrocities and genocides may also offer healing and can be viewed as a form of reparation to the survivors and communities and families of those who perished. 

In this podcast, we will delve deeper into this often over-looked contribution by museums, memorials and Centres of memory, to emotional, cultural and psychological reparations. Joining us is Tali Nates, the Director of the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, Catherine Boyd who manages the Centre’s education department, and Mdu Ntuli, the Centre's Education Officer.

Link to accessing Portraits of Survivors volume 1 books: https://www.jhbholocaust.co.za/remembrance/online-publications/

JHGC in Conversation with Tali Nates, Catherine Boyd and Mdu Ntuli on Commemoration and Reparations

76 years after the end of the Holocaust and World War 2, many scholars continue to research and uncover new information about this period. Also, Holocaust and Genocide studies has become a global focus of academic and research inquiry by scholars of diverse backgrounds and nationalities. 

In this podcast, we focus on Holocaust and antisemitism awareness in India and Asia. Joining us is Prof. Navras Aafreedi, an Assistant Professor in the Department of History at Presidency University, Kolkata, where he teaches courses in Jewish History, Genocide Studies, Interfaith Relations, and Minority Studies. He is also a Research Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP), New York.

~ Please share your comments and questions! If you would like to know more about the content of this podcast, or the JHGC generally please email Mduduzi@jhbholocaust.co.za or visit our website: www.jhbholocaust.co.za

JHGC in Conversation with Prof. Navras Aafreedi on Holocaust Education in India Part 1

JHGC in Conversation with Prof. Navras Aafreedi on Holocaust Education in India Part 2

The Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre in partnership with the Austrian Service Abroad, is pleased to introduce Ruben Schaller.

Ruben is currently in Johannesburg to work as an intern (or Gedenkdiener) at the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre as part of his Austrian Service Abroad. Austrian Service Abroad is a non-profit organisation founded by Dr. Andreas Maislinger, an Austrian historian and political scientist in 1998. The organisation sends young Austrians to work in partner institutions worldwide in the field of Holocaust commemoration.

~ Please share your comments and questions! If you would like to know more about the content of this podcast, or the JHGC generally please email Mduduzi@jhbholocaust.co.za or visit our website: www.jhbholocaust.co.za

Meet our Intern Ruben Schaller

In this podcast we are thrilled to be talking to Dr Greg Mills who heads the Johannesburg-based Brenthurst Foundation. The Foundation was established in 2005 by the Oppenheimer family to strengthen African economic performance. 

Mills holds degrees from the Universities of Cape Town (BA Hons) and Lancaster (MA cum laude, and PhD), and was first, the director of Studies and then the national director of the SA Institute of International affairs from 1994-2005. His latest book, Expensive Poverty, was launched this year at the JHGC and details the failings of aid to Africa, and suggests several ways to improve development outcomes. Expensive Poverty is a no-holds barred account of why trillions of dollars have failed to move the needle when it comes to human development, based on decades of research and experience on the ground from Afghanistan to all corners of Africa.

~ Please share your comments and questions! If you would like to know more about the content of this podcast, or the JHGC generally please email Mduduzi@jhbholocaust.co.za or visit our website: www.jhbholocaust.co.za

JHGC in Conversation with Dr Greg Mills on Expensive Poverty

The JHGC’s Education Officer, Mdu Ntuli is in conversation with Dr Karen Murphy, Director of International Strategy for Facing History and Ourselves.  Facing History and Ourselves (FHAO) is a global non-profit organisation founded in 1976, which uses the lessons of history to challenge teachers and their students to stand up to bigotry and hate. The organisation is based in Brookline, Massachusetts, but has trained more than 300,000 educators around the world. Dr Murphy talks about  FHAO, the longstanding relationship she has with South Africa and the JHGC, and the power of learning and teaching history.
Thank you to the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation and Dr Karen Murphy for making this podcast possible.

Learn more about the work of "Facing History and Ourselves" by visiting  https://www.facinghistory.org 

You can see a recording of Dr Murphy's webinar here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiH8pL4Tes8

~ Please share your comments and questions! If you have any questions about the content of this podcast or our Centre please email Mduduzi@jhbholocaust.co.za or connect with JHGCentre on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

JHGC in Conversation with ...

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