Alabama Holocaust Education Center

Website http://www.ahecinfo.org

Events from this organizer

Today

  • The Future of Holocaust Remembrance with Dr. Lauren Bairnsfather

    Homewood Public Library 1721 Oxmoor Road, Birmingham

    Twenty-five years ago, Dr. Lauren Bairnsfather wrote an oral history of the “second generation,” children of Holocaust Survivors, in the United States. How did they think of themselves as individuals and as a group? How were they viewed from the outside of the close-knit communities that Holocaust Survivors formed in this country? How did they rise to meet the expectations of their legacy? In the 1970s, objecting to their being defined by a psychological profile of Survivors that focused on damage and trauma, the second generation formed organizations of their own. Yet, due to conflicting identities, priorities, and personalities, these groups often disbanded. What has lasted are nearly 100 museums and education centers across the United States. Holocaust remembrance has been institutionalized, from small towns to the National Mall. But who carries the torch now? In this talk, Dr. Bairnsfather will revisit the topic of Holocaust remembrance in 2026. To what extent does Holocaust remembrance rest in the hands of the third and fourth generations? How can the work of memorializing the Holocaust, viewed as sacred by many, rise to meet the growing need to counter rising antisemitism across the globe?

    $10

  • AHEC Holocaust in Film Series: Life is Beautiful

    Sidewalk Film Center & Cinema 1821 2nd Avenue North, Birmingham

    The AHEC invites you to join us for the second screening of our 13th annual Holocaust in Film Series: Rescue, Escape and Liberation, sponsored by the Perlman Donor Advised Fund. On March 3rd at Sidewalk Film Center & Cinema, we will screen the award-winning classic film “Life is Beautiful.” This film explores how Jewish parents during the Holocaust struggled to shield their children from Nazi brutality and how all Jewish individuals found ways to mentally and emotionally escape the brutality and deprivations they experienced in concentration camps, labor camps, and ghettos. Following the screening, Michele Forman—a second-generation Survivor, award-winning documentarian, and UAB media studies professor—will lead a discussion about the film to deepen audience understanding of the various ways people escaped or found freedom during the Holocaust.  Tickets are $10 per person. Buy your tickets today! 

    $10

  • AHEC Holocaust in Film Series: No Place on Earth

    Sidewalk Film Center & Cinema 1821 2nd Avenue North, Birmingham

    The AHEC invites you to join us for the third screening of our 13th annual Holocaust in Film Series: Rescue, Escape, and Liberation, sponsored by the Perlman Donor Advised Fund. On March 17, at Sidewalk Film Center & Cinema, we will screen the powerful and deeply moving documentary “No Place on Earth.” Based on the memoir of Holocaust survivor Esther Stermer, this documentary tells the shocking story of three Jewish families—38 people in total—who escaped the Nazis and survived the Holocaust by hiding in a cave in Ukraine. Following the screening, Michele Forman—a second-generation Survivor, award-winning documentarian, and UAB media studies professor—will lead a discussion about the film to deepen audience understanding of the extreme strength and sacrifices needed to escape the Nazi regime and survive the Holocaust, as well as the role documentaries must play in preserving Holocaust memory.  Tickets are $10 per person. Purchase your tickets today! 

    $10

  • AHEC Holocaust in Film Series: Everything is Illuminated

    Sidewalk Film Center & Cinema 1821 2nd Avenue North, Birmingham

    The AHEC invites you to join us for the final screening of our 13th annual Holocaust in Film Series: Rescue, Escape, and Liberation, sponsored by the Perlman Donor Advised Fund. On March 31 at Sidewalk Film Center & Cinema, we will screen the emotional and thought-provoking film “Everything is Illuminated." The film follows Jonathan, whose grandfather was a Holocaust survivor, as he struggles to uncover his family’s history and learn the lessons this history has to teach him.  As Jonathan’s journey unfolds, the story asks what escape or liberation truly means to those who survived the Holocaust yet remain haunted by memories of their trauma and immense losses. Following the screening, Michele Forman—a second-generation Survivor, award-winning documentarian, and UAB media studies professor—will lead a discussion about the film to deepen audience understanding of the struggles survivors and the descendants of survivors continue to face, as well as how we can work together to build a better and brighter future.  Tickets are $10 per person. Purchase your tickets today! 

    $10

  • Alabama Holocaust Education Center Yom HaShoah Commemoration

    Virginia Samford Theatre 1116 26th Street South, Birmingham

    Yom HaShoah, also known as Holocaust Remembrance Day, is a solemn day of reflection observed each spring to honor the memory of the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, as well as the millions of other victims of Nazi persecution. The date follows the Hebrew calendar and marks the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and symbolizing Jewish resistance in the face of annihilation. Each year, the Alabama Holocaust Education Center commemorates Yom HaShoah with a powerful public program that centers on personal testimony. The event always includes descendants of Alabama Holocaust Survivors who share deeply moving stories that preserve memory and inspire future generations. These first-person narratives offer a rare and intimate window into the lived experiences of courage, survival, and loss. Stories of liberation, resistance and rescue are also featured. Through music, historical reflection, and storytelling, AHEC’s Yom HaShoah Commemoration brings our community together to remember, to educate, and to affirm our shared responsibility to stand against antisemitism, hatred, and indifference in all its forms.

    Free