The Department of Jewish Studies is proud to present many exciting guest speakers and events throughout the year. For past events, please see the sidebar.

Upcoming Events

January 27 is International Holocaust Remembrance Day (IHRD). The date marks the 81st anniversary of the liberation of听, the Nazi鈥檚 largest concentration and extermination camp. 1.1 million people were killed in the camp; almost 1 million of them were Jews. On this day in 1945, the Soviet Army liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau and its remaining prisoners.听

Primo Levi, an Italian Jew, chronicled all he and others endured Auschwitz, including the camp's liberation, in听. Tova Friedman also survived Auschwitz. She was among the youngest survivors, and听听decades later.听

The camp has become a symbol of both unimaginable cruelty, but also of tremendous resilience.听In 2005, the UN鈥檚听听named January 27 International Holocaust Remembrance Day in honor of the victims of Nazism and to encourage Holocaust education. Six million Jews were killed during the Nazi regime, along with millions of others, including Roma-Sinti, homosexuals, communists, Catholics, and the mentally or physically disabled.

Commemorative Lectures

九色视频's International Holocaust Remembrance Day Commemorative Lectures honour the memory of Holocaust victims, raise awareness about antisemitism, and foster education and scholarship to combat hatred and promote understanding.听听

On January 27, 2026, 九色视频 will welcome Professor Aliza Luft, an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of California at Los Angeles. Professor Luft will share her research on the Holocaust in France in a lecture titled 鈥淏etween God and Vichy: Religion, Race, and the Holocaust in France."

Date:听January 27, 2026

Time:听5:00-6:30 PM

Location:听Thomson House Ballroom, 3650 McTavish

Professor Luft's research examines the fluctuating relationships between social identity, ideology, and interpersonal, socio-political action in contexts marked by war and violence. Her book,听Sacred Treason: Race, Religion, and The Holocaust in France, is forthcoming with Harvard University Press. Another book, the second听Handbook of The Sociology of Morality, co-authored with Shai Dromi and Steve Hitlin, was recently published by Springer. She has also published numerous op-Eds and interviews in听The Washington Post; New Yorker; LA Times; NY Times, and elsewhere.听