Alabama Holocaust Education Center

Historians have long debated whether the collapse of the Weimar Republic was inevitable or the result of actions taken by Germany’s political elites. This session will focus on the circumstances that surrounded the birth of Weimar democracy at the end of World War I. It will also examine how Germany’s experiment in democracy was affected by the course of German economic development in the 1920s and 1930s. Lastly, it will explore the opportunities this afforded the Republic’s enemies, with particular emphasis on the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in what proved to be a successful crusade against Weimar democracy.

A look at how Nazis leveraged fear, nationalism, and antisemitism to scapegoat Jewish people and other minorities. What societal and psychological dynamics made this strategy so effective?

Join the Montreal Holocaust Museum on Zoom for a virtual lecture with Deborah Barton, Associate Professor of modern European history at the Université de Montréal. Professor Barton will discuss the loss of women’s rights, particularly for Jewish, Black, and political opponents in 1930s Germany. She will also talk about so-called Aryan women who were able to negotiate roles for themselves and who became a part of Nazi processes of perpetration. The event is organized in the context of a partnership between Holocaust museums and education centres across North America on a powerful webinar series exploring how democracy eroded and extremism took root in 1930s Germany – and the urgent lessons we can draw today.

How educational institutions and intellectuals responded to the rise of Nazism. What lessons can be learned from the role of academia then and what are the implications for today?

Join the Alabama Holocaust Education Center for our annual Kristallnacht Commemorative lecture, in partnership with the UAB Department of History. In this lecture, Holocaust historians Wendy Lower and Jonathan Petropoulos will map the infamous SS leader Heinrich Himmler’s journey during his last days, as he left the Führerbunker and fled to various outposts and hiding spots in the north of Germany. As they trace Himmler’s final movements and discuss how his tentacles of power unraveled, they will also explore the physical and psychic unraveling of this mass murderer, who became the most hunted war criminal in history. Finally, they will recount Himmler’s eventual capture, his interrogation, his suicide in British custody, and extraction of his brain after his death to study evil.

Throughout the 1930s, German Jews were caught in a cycle of relentless terror created by the Gestapo and targeted laws designed to strip away their dignity. As they desperately sought escape and refuge, most countries made immigration exceedingly difficult. Neighbors who were once friends now ostracized them. Their children were pushed to the back of classrooms, they were banned from park benches, and they lost their jobs. Amid constant persecution and prejudice, Jews fought to carve out small crevices where their humanity and identity could survive. They formed creative support networks, shared information, and leaned on community resilience. In these acts, we see the ingenuity and courage with which Jews created spaces of dignity, connection, and hope.