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X-WR-CALNAME:The Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre
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X-WR-CALDESC:Events for The Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre
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DTSTART:20240101T000000
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20250504T110000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20250504T123000
DTSTAMP:20260430T161055
CREATED:20250415T071441Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250415T071442Z
UID:10363-1746356400-1746361800@jhbholocaust.co.za
SUMMARY:Book Launch: Poetry Non-Scenes
DESCRIPTION:In April 2024\, a group of aspiring poets of all ages and from all walks of life\, came together for a series of poetry writing workshops held at the Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre. The poems focused on a range of issues which inform the South African experience\, including human rights\, race\, gender and mental health. \n\n\n\nPoetry Non-scenes: New performance poems beyond the struggle (2024) offers an exciting taste of the poems produced during the workshops. Join anthology’s editors: Tom Penfold\, Adam Levin and Deirdre Byrne as they reflect on the workshops\, the publication of the anthology and the future of the Poetry Nonscenes project. They will be joined by some of the anthology’s contributors who will perform their poems.
URL:https://jhbholocaust.co.za/event/book-launch-poetry-non-scenes/
LOCATION:Issy’s Coffee & Gift Shop\, 1 Duncombe Road\, Forest Town\, 2193\, South Africa
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20250506T170000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20250506T180000
DTSTAMP:20260430T161055
CREATED:20250425T064604Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250425T064610Z
UID:10370-1746550800-1746554400@jhbholocaust.co.za
SUMMARY:Antisemitism in Australia and Working to Counter It
DESCRIPTION:Join us for a conversation with Rabbi Ralph Genende on Antisemitism in Australia and Working to Counter It: The challenges of Jewish identity today \n\n\n\nRabbi Ralph Genende is a well-known Modern Orthodox Rabbi with a passion for social justice and creating bridges between different cultures and faiths. For him the purpose of religion is to create a better society for all people and to engage with the critical issues facing Australian society. The role of the Rabbi is\, in his words\, to challenge the comfortable and comfort the challenged. \n\n\n\n Rabbi Genende is the Interfaith and Community Officer of AIJAC (Australian Israel Jewish Affairs Council) and on its editorial board. He was Senior Rabbi to Jewish Care\, Victoria\, Melbourne’s largest Jewish organisation\, and is now its Consultant. Ralph is Principal Rabbi to the Australian Defence Force\, Member of the Religious Advisory Council to the Minister of Defence (RACS)\, and board member of and member of the Premier’s Multi Faith Advisory Group. He has served as President of the Jewish Christian Muslim Association (JCMA)\, was a long-time executive member of the Rabbinical Association of Victoria\, and was formerly a member of Swinburne University’s Research Ethics Committee. He is a member of the Department of Health Ethics Committee and of Glen Eira City Council’s Reconciliation Action Plan for recognition and integration of our First Peoples. \n\n\n\n In 2018\, Rabbi Genende was awarded an OAM for his services to multi-faith relations\, and to the Jewish community of Victoria. He is a trained counsellor with a Masters degree from Auckland University. \n\n\n\n In August 2022\, Rabbi Genende published his debut book\, Living in an Upside-Down World \, an anthology gathered over 20 years of writing that examines the many crises and challenges of the 21st century – from polarisation to asylum seekers\, loneliness to climate change. 
URL:https://jhbholocaust.co.za/event/antisemitism-in-australia-and-working-to-counter-it/
LOCATION:Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre\, 1 Duncombe Rd\, Johannesburg\, Gauteng\, 2193\, South Africa
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20250507T220000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20250507T233000
DTSTAMP:20260430T161055
CREATED:20250430T075726Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250430T075727Z
UID:10383-1746655200-1746660600@jhbholocaust.co.za
SUMMARY:Virtual Book Discussion Two Sisters: Betrayal\, Love\, and Resistance in Wartime France
DESCRIPTION:Join us for a compelling virtual discussion with journalist and historian Rosie Whitehouse as we delve into her latest book\, Two Sisters: Betrayal\, Love\, and Resistance in Wartime France. \n\n\n\nThis powerful true story follows Marion and Huguette Müller\, two sisters whose lives were shattered when the Nazis invaded France in 1940. Through meticulous research and gripping storytelling\, Whitehouse uncovers their harrowing journey — one marked by loss\, resilience\, and the courageous efforts of those who risked everything to save them. \n\n\n\nPerfect for history enthusiasts\, Second World War scholars\, and anyone moved by stories of survival and resistance\, this discussion will offer unique insights into the moral complexities of war\, the strength of human connection\, and the enduring quest for justice. \n\n\n\nRosie Whitehouse is an experienced journalist with a distinct focus on exploring the tapestry of Jewish life in the aftermath of the Holocaust. Her insightful writing features in respected publications including BBC Online\, The Observer\, The Independent\, Tablet magazine\, The Jewish Chronicle\, Haaretz\, and others. A proud alumna of the London School of Economics\, Rosie also serves as a historical advisor to Centropa\, a leading Jewish history institute based in Vienna.
URL:https://jhbholocaust.co.za/event/virtual-book-discussion-two-sisters-betrayal-love-and-resistance-in-wartime-france/
LOCATION:Online
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20250514T190000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20250514T213000
DTSTAMP:20260430T161055
CREATED:20250430T080328Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250430T080329Z
UID:10386-1747249200-1747258200@jhbholocaust.co.za
SUMMARY:Online Roundtable: Holocaust Literature and Connective Histories of Other Genocides
DESCRIPTION:This online roundtable explores how Holocaust literature has shaped\, and been shaped by in return\, other histories of extreme violence. The speakers will discuss literature from Rwanda\, Australia\, and Yugoslavia\, and highlight the complex and nuanced ways it engages with the Holocaust and Holocaust literature.  \n\n\n\nThis roundtable is part of an ongoing series featuring original research from the forthcoming Cambridge History of Holocaust Literature. For more information\, you can visit the website Rethinking Holocaust Literature: Contexts\, Canons\, and Circulations. \n\n\n\nSpeakers: Zoë Norridge Reader in African and Comparative Literature and Visual Cultures\, Kings College London; Kirril Shields Director of Education and Regional Policy\, Asia-Pacific Centre for the Responsibility; Stijn Vervaet Associate Professor in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian and Balkan Studies\, University of Oslo. Chaired by Stuart Taberner – Professor of German\, University of Leeds.
URL:https://jhbholocaust.co.za/event/online-roundtable-holocaust-literature-and-connective-histories-of-other-genocides/
LOCATION:Online
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20250520T180000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20250520T210000
DTSTAMP:20260430T161055
CREATED:20250429T083646Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250429T083647Z
UID:10379-1747764000-1747774800@jhbholocaust.co.za
SUMMARY:Session 3 - Othering\, Occupation\, Violence\, and Denial
DESCRIPTION:INTERNATIONAL HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE ALLIANCE GRANT PROGRAM WINNER 2023 \n\n\n\nJoin us for the IHRA Webinar Series\, in collaboration with the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre (JHGC)\, Eastern European Holocaust Studies: Interdisciplinary Journal of the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center (EEHS)\, Ukraina Moderna website (UM)\, and Austrian Service Abroad (ASA) on the theme of “Othering\, Occupation\, Violence\, and Denial”. Topics that will be engaged with under the central theme include the way in which historical analogies and presentism in studying the history of the Holocaust are used to foster deeper understanding and critical thinking about the Holocaust\, current armed conflicts and the rise of hate speech. Ways in which oversimplifications\, misrepresentations\, distortions\, and denial of these topics can be challenged and safeguarded against will also be grappled with\, alongside testimonies\, resistance\, education\, remembrance\, and the collection and preservation of history. \n\n\n\nThis third webinar in the series deals with the theme of Violence\, featuring speakers: Prof Andras L Pap on “Law as a tool for Identifying\, Classifying\, Othering and Annihilating: Legislation and the Hungarian Holocaust”\, Anna Furman on “Babyn Yar as a place of violence”\, Prof Kai Struve on“Soviet Propaganda\, Holocaust Memory\, and Ukrainian Nationalism: Shaping Western Perceptions from the Cold War to the Present”\, and Prof IIdikó Barna on “Tracing Violence from Language to Atrocity: Learning from Testimonies\, Research\, and AI.” \n\n\n\nAndrás L. Pap is Research Professor and Head of Department for Constitutional and Administrative Law at the (formerly Hungarian Academy of Sciences\, currently) HUN-REN Centre for Social Sciences\, Institute for Legal Studies\, as well as Professor of Law at the Faculty of Economics at Eötvös University (ELTE) in Budapest. For 25 years\, until its recent closing in 2025\, he was Adjunct (Recurrent Visiting) Professor in the Nationalism Studies Program at the Central European University (CEU) in Budapest and Vienna. A former visiting scholar at New York University School of Law Global Law Program\, and a SASPRO-Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at the Institute of Sociology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava\, his research interest include comparative constitutional law\, human rights\, law enforcement\, and the conceptualisation of race and ethnicity. He worked as rapporteur\, consultant\, senior expert\, project manager and lead researcher in various projects commissioned by the European Union\, the Council of Europe and the UN. He served as expert witness for courts in the UK and the US and habitually works with international NGO’s and think tanks. He is a member of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee. In 2018 he founded the International Association of Constitutional Law (IACL) Research Group on identity\, race and ethnicity in constitutional law. He is also a recurrent evaluator for a variety of EU grants. He has taught over 85 courses\, delivered over 250 presentations and published over 100 articles and book chapters in international academic forums. \n\n\n\nAnna Furman has been the Chief Executive Officer of the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center since 2025\, with expertise in cultural management\, international cooperation\, and digital transformation. She brings over a decade of executive experience leading large-scale cultural and social initiatives both in Ukraine and abroad. Under her leadership\, the Center digitised over 7 million archival documents\, launched the first online martyrology of civilian victims of the war in Ukraine\, and received global accolades\, including the Red Dot and Webby Awards. Anna co-authored the Center’s artistic vision\, curated impactful exhibitions\, and led strategic cooperation with state institutions and archives. She is also a prominent international representative of the institution. Prior to her work at Babyn Yar\, she held leadership roles in the legal and educational sectors. She has a Master of Laws degree and researches Human Rights. \n\n\n\nKai Struve is a Senior Research Fellow at Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich and a Privatdozent at the Institute of History of Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. He received his Ph.D. from the Free University of Berlin in 2002 and has previously worked at the Herder Institute in Marburg and the Simon Dubnow Institute for Jewish History and Culture in Leipzig. He has also held fellowships at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum\, the German Historical Institute in Warsaw\, and the Université Paris II Panthéon-Assas. His research focuses on the history of Ukraine and Poland in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries\, particularly World War II and the Holocaust\, but also on questions how societies remember and interpret mass violence in the twentieth century. Among his most important publications are Deutsche Herrschaft\, ukrainischer Nationalismus\, antijüdische Gewalt. Der Sommer 1941 in der Westukraine\, Berlin 2015 (Ukrainian translation: Nimets‘ka vlada\, ukraïns‘kyi nacionalizm\, nasyl‘stvo proty ievreïv. Lito 1941 roku v Zakhidnii Ukraïni\, Kyïv 2022)\, and the edited volume (with Gelinada Grinchenko): Krieg und Okkupation. Deutschland und die Ukraine 1941-44\, Leipzig 2025 (forthcoming). \n\n\n\nIldikó Barna is a sociologist and professor at ELTE University\, Faculty of Social Sciences\, Department of Social Research Methodology\, Budapest. Her research topics include antisemitism\, memory politics\, post-Holocaust studies\, and quantitative research on archival sources. In recent years\, her interest has turned to automated text analytics\, applying natural language processing to complement traditional quantitative and qualitative approaches in these areas. Dr. Barna has been awarded numerous research grants\, including the MTA Bolyai János Research Grant of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (2017–2020). She has also held several prestigious fellowships\, such as the Visiting Research Fellowship at the Malach Centre for Visual History in Prague (2020)\, the European Holocaust Research Infrastructure (EHRI) Research Fellowship at the Arolsen Archive in Bad Arolsen and the Wiener Holocaust Library in London (2017)\, and the Visiting Fellowship at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC (2015). She is the author of numerous publications and\, together with her co-authors\, received the Károly Polányi Prize from the Hungarian Sociological Association in 2003\, 2017\, and 2023 for the best publication of the previous year.
URL:https://jhbholocaust.co.za/event/session-3-othering-occupation-violence-and-denial/
LOCATION:Online
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20250521T210000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20250521T220000
DTSTAMP:20260430T161055
CREATED:20250430T082241Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250430T082242Z
UID:10390-1747861200-1747864800@jhbholocaust.co.za
SUMMARY:“Echoes Across Time: Voices of Survival and Lessons for Our Future” Session 4
DESCRIPTION:As we stand on the cusp of history\, the voices of Holocaust and genocide survivors grow ever more urgent\, reminding us of the cost of silence\, the value of empathy\, and the power of resilience. Echoes Across Time invites audiences to explore the crucial lessons these testimonies offer—on values\, democracy\, and the warning signs of oppression. Through monthly episodes\, each centred around a survivor’s testimony about their life experiences\, this series poses the question: Are we truly listening? \n\n\n\nJoin us as we amplify stories from the Holocaust to Rwanda\, Cambodia\, and beyond\, engaging with survivors\, scholars\, and advocates who work tirelessly to preserve these legacies and inspire a more compassionate future. \n\n\n\nOn Darkness and Light: The inspiring story of the survivors \n\n\n\nFeaturing Prof. Hanna Yablonka is affiliated with the History Department at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Her research has focused on the cultural and social impact of the Shoah on Israeli society. She pioneered the research field dealing with the survivors of the Holocaust after 1945. In her research\, she has emphasized the resilience and activism of the survivors\, instrumental in the building of the State of Israel. Prof. Yablonka was also the founder and Chair of the Israel Studies department. Hanna Yablonka is the author of over 40 scientific articles\, The editor of 4 books\, and the author of six books including: Survivors of the Holocaust (1999) awarded the Ish Shalom prize Yad Ben Zvi\, The History of the War Veterans Association (1999\,) The State of Israel vs. Adolf Eichmann (2004) awarded the Buchman prize Yad Vashem\, Off the beaten track: the Mizrahim and the Shoah (2008). Her last book: Yeladim Besseder Gamur (children by the book) became a best seller. It is the collective biography of the generation of the first native Israelis born in the state of Israel between 1948 – 1955. It was awarded as the best book in Israel for the years 2019 – 2020 by Yad Ben Zvi.  \n\n\n\nAmong her many affiliations she currently is a member of the Yad Vashem Council and was the academic advisor of Yad Vashem’s exhibition marking the 50th and 60th anniversary of the State of Israel. Hanna Yablonka is the chair of Governors of the Memorial Museum of the Hungarian Speaking Jewry in Safed and the chief Historian of the Ghetto Fighters Museum for the last 25 years. \n\n\n\nOpening Remarks by Yigal Cohen director of Ghetto Fighters House.
URL:https://jhbholocaust.co.za/event/echoes-across-time-voices-of-survival-and-lessons-for-our-future-session-4/
LOCATION:Online
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20250522T180000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20250522T190000
DTSTAMP:20260430T161055
CREATED:20250505T110755Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250505T110756Z
UID:10393-1747936800-1747940400@jhbholocaust.co.za
SUMMARY:Laughing against Hitler: Soviet Yiddish Jokes and Songs of World War II
DESCRIPTION:Historian Anna Shternshis (University of Toronto) bring to life long lost Yiddish songs of World War II in this interactive lecture program\, entitled  Laughing Against Hitler: Yiddish Humor During WWII in the Soviet Union.  Can humour be a weapon? If yes\, is it effective? Based on Yiddish jokes and anecdotes recorded between 1943 and 1945\, the program tells the story of what Jews found funny\, and why\, as they lived through the darkest period of modern Jewish history in Europe. \n\n\n\nNone of the jokes and songs\, all presented in Yiddish complete with English and Russian translations\, was known until they were accidentally discovered in the basement of the Ukrainian National Library in the 1990s. \n\n\n\nAnna Shternshis is the J. Richard and Dorothy Shiff Chair in Jewish Studies and director of the Anne Tanenbaum Centre for Jewish Studies at the University of Toronto. She received her doctoral degree (DPhil) from Oxford University in 2001. Shternshis is the author of critically acclaimed monographs\, including Soviet and Kosher: Jewish Popular Culture in the Soviet Union\, 1923 – 1939 (Indiana UP\, 2006)\, When Sonia Met Boris: An Oral History of Jewish Life under Stalin (Oxford UP\, 2017)\, and most recently co-author (together with Oleg Budnitsky\, David Engel and Gennady Estraikh) of Jews in the Soviet Union: A History: War\, Conquest\, and Catastrophe\, 1939–1945 (New York UP\, 2022). Her latest book Jews in the Soviet Union: Post-War Life\, Hopes\, and Fears\, 1945-1953 is in preparation with New York University Press.  She is the author of more than 30 articles on the Soviet Jews during World War II\, Russian Jewish culture\, post-Soviet Jewish diaspora and Yiddish culture of the Holocaust. Together with artist Psoy Korolenko\, Shternshis created and directed the Grammy-nominated Yiddish Glory project\, an initiative that brought back to life forgotten Yiddish music written during the Holocaust in the Soviet Union. A recipient of 2020 Guggenheim Fellowship and President’s Impact Award at the University of Toronto\, she is currently finishing her book tentatively entitled Last Yiddish Heroes: A Lost and Found Archive of the Holocaust in the Soviet Union about Yiddish music created in Nazi-occupied Ukraine.
URL:https://jhbholocaust.co.za/event/laughing-against-hitler-soviet-yiddish-jokes-and-songs-of-world-war-ii/
LOCATION:Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre\, 1 Duncombe Rd\, Johannesburg\, Gauteng\, 2193\, South Africa
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DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20250525T190000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20250529T190000
DTSTAMP:20260430T161055
CREATED:20250509T050346Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250528T060714Z
UID:10396-1748199600-1748545200@jhbholocaust.co.za
SUMMARY:Special stagings of Sarajevo
DESCRIPTION:Theatre is where we gather — to remember\, to feel\, to face ourselves. It is not a place of escape\, but of confrontation. In Sarajevo\, we return to the stage not just to recount history\, but to mourn the fragile thread between love and violence\, and to ask: how does friendship survive when the world demands enemies? \n\n\n\nThis is not just a war story. It is a story of three friends — Mirela\, Aleksander\, Slobo. Bound by childhood\, separated by war. Torn by belief\, fear\, and duty. Through them\, we witness how easily a friend becomes a stranger — and how unspeakably hard it is to unmake that distance. \n\n\n\nBut theirs is not the only gaze. Peter\, a foreign conflict journalist\, enters their lives with a camer  and a thirst for the story. In documenting the war\, he becomes part of it. The line between witness and participant blurs. What is the role of the outsider? Of the lens? What does it mean to observe suffering — and when does observation become intrusion? \n\n\n\nTheatre lets us feel what headlines numb. In the flicker of a glance\, in a trembling breath on stage\, we see ourselves — not as soldiers or civilians\, not as victims or monsters\, but as people once held by love\, now lost in the storm of identity\, ideology\, and narrative. \n\n\n\nThis play asks you to come closer. To sit with discomfort. To hold your breath in silence as a friendship breaks — and a camera rolls. And maybe\, in that shared silence\, to remember our shared humanity. \n\n\n\nBecause theatre\, at its best\, breaks the spell of forgetting.And friendship\, at its truest\, defies the logic of war. \n\n\n\nSuggested donation/ tickets: R165 \n\n\n\nRead the review in the Mail & Guardian \n\n\n\n\nHell is others: Sarajevo and the tragedy of intimacy
URL:https://jhbholocaust.co.za/event/special-stagings-of-sarajevo/
LOCATION:Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre\, 1 Duncombe Rd\, Johannesburg\, Gauteng\, 2193\, South Africa
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