Holocaust Museum Houston

NEXTGen’s Virtual Brunch with Holocaust Survivor Bill Orlin
2020-11-08 22:00 - 23:30 (America/Chicago) | Zoom
Join Holocaust Museum Houston’s young professionals group, NEXTGen, for a Virtual Brunch with Holocaust Survivor Bill Orlin. Between 1939 and 1945, Bill and his family lived on the run. Bill, the eldest son of Sender and Sonia Orlinski, was seven years old when German troops invaded Poland and occupied his hometown of Brok. The Jewish residents were forcibly marched to Ostrow Mazowiecki, about 50 miles northwest of Warsaw.
The forced march, although terrifying at the time, may have saved the family’s lives. Once Bill and his family were in Soviet-controlled Poland, they continued their eastward journey into the Soviet interior, where they remained in relative safety for the rest of WWII. When Germany invaded the USSR in June 1941 the family “ran,” recalls Bill. Although the family was together, life was tremendously difficult, suffering from hunger and malnutrition for the next several years.
NEXTGen encourages guests to support their favorite local restaurant by ordering brunch and then joining us virtually via Zoom. Guests will receive a private Zoom link, so advance registration is required. This virtual event is free for NEXTGen members. Guests from the general public may also attend by making a donation of their choice to ensure NEXTGen can continue offering these educational experiences. For more information, please contact Rocio Rubio, Corporate Relations Officer, at rrubio@hmh.org.
About NEXTGenNEXTGen is the Museum’s affinity group for young professionals ages 21-45 who share a common passion for the Museum and its mission. The goal of NEXTGen is to inspire young professionals to be Upstanders, people who stand up for social change, human rights and community progress. If you would like to become a NEXTGen member, please visit hmh.org/NEXTGen.

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Reading the Diary of Anne Frank on Robben Island with Dr. Roni Mikel Arieli
2020-11-05 18:30 - 19:30 | Zoom
The Indian South African anti-apartheid activist and youth leader, Ahmed Mohamed Kathrada, was sentenced to life in prison during the Rivonia trial (July 1963). Over the period of his 26-year imprisonment on Robben Island and in the Pollsmoor Maximum Security Prison, Kathrada kept seven secret notebooks in which he recorded quotations that he admired from books and newspapers smuggled into prison. Notebook number three contained thirteen entries that Kathrada selected from Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl (1952), which was smuggled onto Robben Island, and circulated among the prisoners there during the 1960s. This lecture traces the ways in which the Diary found its way into the leadership section on Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela, Govan Mbeki, Ahmed Kathrada, and other prominent opponents of apartheid were imprisoned. Using Kathradas insights about the Holocaust through a careful reading of the thirteen chosen extracts from the Diary, in conjunction with Mandela and Mbekis post-apartheid testimonies of their reading of the Diary, this lecture presents the significance of Anne Frank in the struggle against apartheid, as well as during the transition from apartheid to democracy.
Dr. Roni Mikel Arieli is a cultural historian, interested in the intersections between Holocaust memory, contemporary Jewish history, and human rights. She is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the International Institute for Holocaust Research at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.
This program is pre-recorded. Admission is free, but pre-registration is required. Donations are welcomed.

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Reading the Diary of Anne Frank on Robben Island with Dr. Roni Mikel Arieli
2020-11-05 12:00 - 13:00 | Zoom
The Indian South African anti-apartheid activist and youth leader, Ahmed Mohamed Kathrada, was sentenced to life in prison during the Rivonia trial (July 1963). Over the period of his 26-year imprisonment on Robben Island and in the Pollsmoor Maximum Security Prison, Kathrada kept seven secret notebooks in which he recorded quotations that he admired from books and newspapers smuggled into prison. Notebook number three contained thirteen entries that Kathrada selected from Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl (1952), which was smuggled onto Robben Island, and circulated among the prisoners there during the 1960s. This lecture traces the ways in which the Diary found its way into the “leadership” section on Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela, Govan Mbeki, Ahmed Kathrada, and other prominent opponents of apartheid were imprisoned. Using Kathrada’s insights about the Holocaust through a careful reading of the thirteen chosen extracts from the Diary, in conjunction with Mandela and Mbeki’s post-apartheid testimonies of their reading of the Diary, this lecture presents the significance of Anne Frank in the struggle against apartheid, as well as during the transition from apartheid to democracy.
Dr. Roni Mikel Arieli is a cultural historian, interested in the intersections between Holocaust memory, contemporary Jewish history, and human rights. She is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the International Institute for Holocaust Research at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.
Admission is free, but pre-registration is required. Donations are welcomed.

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In Conversation with David Marwell, author of “Mengele: Unmasking the Angel of Death”
2020-10-29 18:30 - 20:00 | Zoom
As chief of investigative research at the Justice Departments Office of Special Investigations in the 1980s, David G. Marwell worked on the Mengele case, interviewing his victims, visiting the scenes of his crimes, and ultimately holding his bones in his hand. Marwell examines in scrupulous detail Mengeles life and career. He chronicles Mengeles university studies, which led to two PhDs and a promising career as a scientist; his wartime service both in frontline combat and at Auschwitz, where his selections sent innumerable innocents to their deaths and his scientific pursuits?including his studies of twins and eye color?traumatized or killed countless more; and his postwar flight from Europe and refuge in South America. David G. Marwell is an American historian and the former director of the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City.
Admission is free, but pre-registration is required. Donations are welcomed.

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Today's Antisemitism & Its Relationship to Holocaust Denial and Distortion with Dr. Robert Williams
2020-10-28 18:00 - 19:00
Dr. Robert Williams
The Dismantling Bias: Antisemitism, White Supremacy, and Inequality Virtual Lecture Series explores the origins of racist ideologies and the construction of bias; examines the evolution and repercussions of antisemitism and white supremacy throughout history; and deconstructs the ways in which stereotypes, misconceptions, and prejudices shape contemporary society and culture.
Led by renowned historians, authors, and activists, the Dismantling Bias Virtual Lecture Series confronts the devastating consequences of racial bias while encouraging viewers to access and challenge their own bias. Through critical conversations and open dialogue, participants will consider their role in the antiracism movement and everyday actions they can take to dismantle inequality.
Dr. Robert Williams is Deputy Director for International Affairs at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and a U.S. delegate to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, where he chairs the Committee on Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial. He is also a member of the steering committee to the German government’s Global Task Force on Holocaust Distortion. Robert advises several international bodies on issues related to Holocaust remembrance and antisemitism, and he is currently overseeing a major international initiative that assesses those laws and regulations that seek to curb denial of genocide and the Holocaust. Robert’s research specialties include German political culture, US and Russian policy, and contemporary antisemitism. Outside of work, he is co-editing a volume for Routledge on the history of antisemitism.
Thanks to the generosity of H‐E‐B, this event is available at no cost to attendees, but registration is required.

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Nelson Mandela, the Civil Rights and Anti-Apartheid Movements, and Human Rights
2020-10-22 18:30 - 19:30 | Zoom
Click the play button to watch the recorded program.
Moderator: John Guess Jr., Chief Executive Officer Emeritus, Houston Museum of African American Culture
Participants: County Commissioner Rodney Ellis, Eileen and Kase Lawal and Dr. Cassius Lubisi.
Before serving as a County Commissioner, Rodney Ellis was elected to Houston City Council and served three terms before being elected to the Texas Senate in 1990 where he served for 26 years; Eileen & Dr. Kase Lawal are Houston entrepreneurs and philanthropists; Dr. Cassius Lubisi is the former Presidency Director-General for the Republic of South Africa.
Admission is free, but pre-registration is required. Donations are welcomed.

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The BLM Movement and the Power of Protest with Dr. Allyson Hobbs
2020-10-21 18:00 - 19:00 | Zoom
The Dismantling Bias: Antisemitism, White Supremacy, and Inequality Virtual Lecture Series explores the origins of racist ideologies and the construction of bias; examines the evolution and repercussions of antisemitism and white supremacy throughout history; and deconstructs the ways in which stereotypes, misconceptions, and prejudices shape contemporary society and culture.
Led by renowned historians, authors, and activists, the Dismantling Bias Virtual Lecture Series confronts the devastating consequences of racial bias while encouraging viewers to access and challenge their own bias. Through critical conversations and open dialogue, participants will consider their role in the antiracism movement and everyday actions they can take to dismantle inequality.
Dr. Allyson Hobbs is an Associate Professor of American History, the Director of African and African American Studies, and the Kleinheinz Family University Fellow in Undergraduate Education at Stanford University. She is a contributing writer to The New Yorker.com and a Distinguished Lecturer for the Organization of American Historians. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, The Nation, The Root.com, The Guardian, Politico, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. She has appeared on C-SPAN, MSNBC and National Public Radio. In 2017, she was honored by the Silicon Valley chapter of the NAACP with a Freedom Fighter Award. She has served on the jury for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize in History.
Thanks to the generosity of H‐E‐B, this event is available at no cost to attendees, but registration is required.

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NEXTGen’s Virtual Book Discussion of “How to be an Antiracist” by Ibram X. Kendi
2020-10-19 18:30 - 19:30 | Zoom
“Being an antiracist requires persistent self-awareness, constant self-criticism, and regular self-examination.” – Ibram X. Kendi
Holocaust Museum Houston’s young professionals’ group, NEXTGen, invites you to a Virtual Book Discussion of How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi. A digital copy of How to be an Antiracist is available for free in the Museum’s Boniuk Library’s collection, which is accessible to NEXTGen, Museum members, staff, and volunteers.
This virtual event is free for NEXTGen members. Guests from the general public may also attend by making a donation of their choice to ensure NEXTGen can continue offering these educational experiences. Guests will receive a private Zoom link, so advance registration is required. For more information, please contact Rocio Rubio, Corporate Relations Officer, at rrubio@hmh.org.
About How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. KendiAntiracism is a transformative concept that reorients and reenergizes the conversation about racism—and, even more fundamentally, points us toward liberating new ways of thinking about ourselves and each other. At its core, racism is a powerful system that creates false hierarchies of human value; its warped logic extends beyond race, from the way we regard people of different ethnicities or skin colors to the way we treat people of different sexes, gender identities, and body types. Racism intersects with class and culture and geography and even changes the way we see and value ourselves. In How to Be an Antiracist, Kendi takes readers through a widening circle of antiracist ideas—from the most basic concepts to visionary possibilities—that will help readers see all forms of racism clearly, understand their poisonous consequences, and work to oppose them in our systems and in ourselves.
Kendi weaves an electrifying combination of ethics, history, law, and science with his own personal story of awakening to antiracism. This is an essential work for anyone who wants to go beyond the awareness of racism to the next step: contributing to the formation of a just and equitable society.
About NEXTGenNEXTGen is the Museum’s affinity group for young professionals ages 21-45 who share a common passion for the Museum and its mission. The goal of NEXTGen is to inspire young professionals to be Upstanders, people who stand up for social change, human rights and community progress. If you would like to become a NEXTGen member, please visit hmh.org/NEXTGen.

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Social Innovator for Seniors
2020-10-18 15:00 - 17:00 | Zoom
In the midst of a global pandemic, we more than ever need innovators to help solve the worlds problems. Seniors are invited to join Holocaust Museum Houston to earn the Social Innovator badge by exploring issues they care about, brainstorming solutions, and pitching their ideas.
This session will be conducted virtually via Zoom. Materials will be provided via a link to a Google folder. A Google account is not necessary to participate.

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The Anti-Apartheid Movement in Houston
2020-10-15 18:30 - 19:30 | Zoom
Click the play button to watch the recorded program.
Dr. Gregory H. Maddox will review the anti-apartheid movement in the 1980s in Houston culminating with Mandela’s visit in 1990. He will highlight the role of community organizations such as SHAPE, the role of Mickey Leland, the divestment campaign, the controversy over the Fred Hartman Bridge, and comment on the de Menil-sponsored visit to Houston. He will explain that this movement was both about supporting change in South Africa and mobilizing an anti-racism movement domestically.
Dr. Gregory Maddox is Dean of the Graduate School and Professor of History at TSU.
Admission is free, but pre-registration is required. Donations are welcomed.

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An Evening with Dr. Gabriela González
2020-10-12 18:00 - 19:00 | Zoom
Dr. Gabriela González

Dr. Gabriela González

Join Holocaust Museum Houston for the final lecture in our 2020 Latinx Heritage Month Virtual Lecture and Film Series. This month we will be hosting authors and scholars who have contributed to highlighting Latinx history, identity, culture, and cross-cultural collaborations.
Dr. González will speak about her book Redeeming La Raza: Transborder Modernity, Race, Respectability, and Rights. This book examines the gendered and class-conscious political activism of Mexican-origin people in Texas from 1900 to 1950. In particular, it questions the intergenerational agency of Mexicans and Mexican Americans who subscribed to particular race, ethnic, class, and gender ideologies as they encountered barriers and obstacles in a society that often treated Mexicans as a nonwhite minority. Middle-class transborder activists sought to redeem the Mexican masses from body politic exclusions in part by encouraging them to become identified with the nation-state. Redeeming la raza was as much about saving them from traditional modes of thought and practices that were perceived as hindrances to progress as it was about saving them from race and class-based forms of discrimination that were part and parcel of modernity.
Dr. Gabriela González is associate professor of history at the University of Texas at San Antonio where she teaches courses on the US-Mexico borderlands, Latinx history, womens history and historical methods. She received her Ph.D. in U.S. history from Stanford University in 2005 and is a Ford Foundation Diversity Fellow.
This event is pre-recorded and will be followed by a LIVE Q&A with Dr. Gabriela González
Admission is free and open to the public. Donations are welcomed. Guests will receive a private Zoom link so advance registration is required.
This event will be simultaneously translated into Spanish, thanks to the services of GlobalSpeak Translations.
Este evento se traducirá simultáneamente al español, gracias a los servicios de GlobalSpeak Translations.

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Nelson Mandela 1918 - 2013: from Prisoner to President with Apartheid Museum Director Christopher Till
2020-10-08 18:30 - 19:30 | Zoom
Click the play button to watch the recorded program.
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela: an extraordinary man and symbol of freedom whose name echoes around the world. Mandela was the subject of the exhibition, first shown at the Apartheid Museum, Johannesburg in 2008, in celebration of his 90th birthday. The Apartheid Museum continues to partner with institutions internationally to present iterations of this exhibition. The exhibition brings Mandela into focus by examining his ethos, humanity and legacy in a contemporary moment. His legacy has an enduring relevance today, as powerful as it was three decades since the moment of his and our freedom. The exhibition depicts the rise and fall of Apartheid, echoing the struggles of others across the globe and underlining the critical need to continually evaluate ourselves against present-day injustices.
This program is pre-recorded. Admission is free, but pre-registration is required. Donations are welcomed.

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Bank of America Womens Leadership Series - Building Black and Asian Solidarity: Women Leading Across Race, History, and Culture
2020-10-08 18:30 - 19:30 | Online
Holocaust Museum Houston is a proud promotional partner for this program. Registration is free but required.
ScheduleThursday, October 8, 20206:30 p.m. CT Moderated Discussion7:10 p.m. CT Audience Q&A — Questions welcome via Vimeo
The Black Lives Matter movement that erupted following the death of George Floyd has forced our nation to confront systemic racial biases and to effect immediate change. People from all races, religions, and genders have been inspired to come together in solidarity and in support of Black lives. The U.S. also has a complicated history of anti-Asian discrimination which includes the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, the U.S.’s first federal law suspending immigration of an entire ethnic group, and the Japanese Internment Act of 1942, which led to the internment of thousands of Japanese residents and Japanese American citizens during World War II.
The dynamic of Asian and Black American communities in history is often overlooked. The Asian American movement and many of its grassroots organizations were inspired by the Black liberation movement. Often, Asian American women were at the forefront of building coalitions for civil rights across racial lines. Prominent examples are Yuri Kochiyama, who famously allied herself with the Civil Rights Movement and became a friend to Malcolm X, and Ina Sugihara, a civil rights organizer who became a founding member of the Congress of Racial Equity (CORE) and created multiracial coalitions through the Japanese American Citizens League. Sugihara emphasized the importance of multiracial alliances to fight discrimination, and has been quoted as saying “The fate of each minority depends upon the extent of justice given all other groups.”
During the current challenging times, solidarity, support, and strength between all communities are imperative to move the nation forward in the right direction. Join Asia Society as inspirational women leaders explore the depth of Black and Asian American experiences in the country, discuss how to overcome racial conflict and division between communities, and share their hopes for cross-racial understanding and collaboration as we build a just and equitable future together.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERSRuth J. Simmons serves as President of Prairie View A&M University. She was President of Brown University from 2001-2012. Under her leadership, Brown made significant strides in improving its standing as one of the world’s finest research universities.
Helen Zia is an activist, author, and former journalist. After twelve years in the making, Last Boat out of Shanghai: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Fled Mao’s Revolution is out! Helen’s latest book traces the lives of migrants and refugees from another cataclysmic time in history that has striking parallels to the difficulties facing migrants today. She interviewed more than 100 survivors of that exodus and countless others. Helen’s essay in the New York Times reveals her mother’s secret that inspired her to write this book.
ABOUT THE MODERATORJuju Chang is an Emmy Award-winning co-anchor of ABC News’ Nightline. She also reports regularly for Good Morning America and 20/20.

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Nelson Mandela 1918 - 2013: from Prisoner to President with Apartheid Museum Director Christopher Till
2020-10-08 12:00 - 13:00 | Zoom
Click the play button to watch the recorded program.
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela: an extraordinary man and symbol of freedom whose name echoes around the world. Mandela was the subject of the exhibition, first shown at the Apartheid Museum, Johannesburg in 2008, in celebration of his 90th birthday. The Apartheid Museum continues to partner with institutions internationally to present iterations of this exhibition. The exhibition brings Mandela into focus by examining his ethos, humanity and legacy in a contemporary moment. His legacy has an enduring relevance today, as powerful as it was three decades since the moment of his and our freedom. The exhibition depicts the rise and fall of Apartheid, echoing the struggles of others across the globe and underlining the critical need to continually evaluate ourselves against present-day injustices.
Admission is free, but pre-registration is required. Donations are welcomed.

Register

In Conversation with Jennifer Rosner, author of "The Yellow Bird Sings"
2020-10-07 19:00 - 20:00 | Virtual
Jennifer Rosner, author of The Yellow Bird Sings, in conversation with Houstons own, author Chris Cander.
As soldiers round up the Jews in their town, Ró?a and her 5-year-old daughter, Shira, seek shelter in a neighbor’s barn. Hidden in the hayloft, Shira struggles to stay still and quiet. To soothe her daughter, Ró?a tells her a story about a girl in an enchanted garden.
In this make-believe world, Ró?a can shield Shira from the horrors that surround them. But the day comes when their haven is no longer safe, and Ró?a must make an impossible choice: keep Shira by her side or give her the chance to survive apart.
Inspired by the true stories of Jewish children hidden during World War II, Jennifer Rosners fiction debut is a testament to the triumph of hope even in the darkest of times.

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Who Speaks: Poetry, Performance & the Parsley Massacre of 1937 with Jasminne Mendez
2020-10-06 18:00 - 19:00 | Zoom
Author, educator and performer Jasminne Mendez
Join Holocaust Museum Houston for the third lecture in our 2020 Latinx Heritage Month Virtual Lecture and Film Series. This month we will be hosting authors and scholars who have contributed to highlighting Latinx history, identity, culture, and cross-cultural collaborations.
The 1937 Haitian Massacre was a mass killing that took place October 2 – 5 1937 against Haitians living along the Dominican Republic’s northwestern frontier and in certain parts of the contiguous Cibao region. Dominican Army troops known as la guardia came from different areas of the country and carried out the massacre on the orders of Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo. In this multimedia presentation and poetry reading, author, educator and performer Jasminne Mendez will discuss the history of the events leading up to the Haitian Massacre and the devastating physical and psychological impact it left on both Haitians and Dominicans in its aftermath. Jasminne will also discuss her own connection to the massacre and her creative process while writing and assembling her forthcoming book Machete which uses persona poems and performance techniques to tell the story of the massacre.
Jasminne Mendez is a poet, educator and award-winning author. She is the author of two poetry/prose collections Island of Dreams(Floricanto Press, 2013) which won an International Latino Book Award, and Night-Blooming Jasmin(n)e: Personal Essays and Poetry(Arte Publico Press, 2018). She is an MFA graduate of the creative writing program at the Rainier Writing Workshop at Pacific Lutheran University and a University of Houston alumni. Her second YA memoir, A Bucket of Dirty Water: Memories of my Girlhood, and her debut picture book, Josefina’s Habichuelas (Arte Público Press), will be released in 2021.
Admission is free and open to the public. Donations are welcomed. Advance registration is required, as guests will receive a private Zoom link.
This event will be simultaneously translated into Spanish, thanks to the services of GlobalSpeak Translations.
Este evento se traducirá simultáneamente al español, gracias a los servicios de GlobalSpeak Translations.

Film Screening of "Adio Kerida" and Q&A with Dr. Ruth Behar
2020-09-30 18:00 - 20:00 | Zoom
Dr. Ruth Behar
Join Holocaust Museum Houston for the third event in our 2020 Latinx Heritage Month Virtual Lecture and Film Series. This month we will be hosting authors and scholars who have contributed to highlighting Latinx history, identity, culture, and cross-cultural collaborations.
Adio Kerida is a documentary about the search for identity and history among Sephardic Jews with roots in Cuba. The title is borrowed from a Sephardic love song in order to highlight the themes of expulsion, departure, and exile that are at the crux of the Sephardic legacy. At the same time, the title invokes the creative energy that is injected into a culture when it crosses racial, ethnic, and national lines. It also has a personal dimension and references the desire for reconciliation between the filmmaker and her Sephardic father.
Director/Filmmaker Ruth Behar is the Victor Haim Perera Collegiate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Michigan. The recipient of a MacArthur Fellows Award, she is known for her interdisciplinary thinking about the search for home in our global era and her bold approach to writing in blurred genres that mix ethnography, memoir, fiction, and poetry. Ruth frequently visits and writes about her native Cuba is the author of An Island Called Home: Returning to Jewish Cuba and Traveling Heavy: A Memoir in between Journeys.
This film will be followed by a Q&A with Dr. Ruth Behar.
Admission is free and open to the public. Donations are welcomed. Guests will receive a private Zoom link so advance registration is required.
This event will be simultaneously translated into Spanish, thanks to the services of GlobalSpeak Translations.
Este evento se traducirá simultáneamente al español, gracias a los servicios de GlobalSpeak Translations.

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Human Rights Expo presented by Perry Homes Foundation
2020-09-26 01:00 - 17:00 | Holocaust Museum Houston
Holocaust Museum Houston is hosting a Human Rights Expo presented by Perry Homes Foundation to celebrate the opening of the exhibition, Mandela: Struggle for Freedom. Enjoy free admission to the Museum, register to vote, and learn more about local organizations that are working to protect human rights and serve our community.
Advance registration is not required to attend this event. However, if you intend to visit the newly opened exhibition, Mandela: Struggle for Freedom, you will need to reserve a timeslot in advance.

RESERVE A TIMESLOT FOR MANDELA EXHIBITION

Participating Organizations

Second Servings redirects unserved and unsold food from retailers, sports venues, distributors, hotels, etc., to the people who really need it at shelters, soup kitchens, low-income housing and many other charities.
Hong Kong Dossier is a group of Houstonians who care deeply about Hong Kong and its struggles towards freedom and democracy.
Finca Tres Robles Urban Farm sustainably grows herbs, fruits, and vegetables to be sold directly to individual and families in the Houston area.
The Texas Organizing Project organizes Black and Latino communities in Dallas, Harris, and Bexar counties with the goal of transforming Texas into a state where working people of color have the power and representation they deserve.
Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston brings people of diverse faith traditions together for dialogue, collaboration, and service, as a demonstration of our shared beliefs.
The Montrose Center empowers our community—primarily lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) individuals and their families—to live healthier, more fulfilling lives.
United Against Human Trafficking is on a mission to end human trafficking through educating the community, preventing exploitation, and empowering survivors.
Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services promotes environmental protection through education, policy ​development, community awareness, and legal action.

New HMH protocols require all staff and guests above age 10 to wear a face mask upon entry and to practice social distancing. For those without a mask, one will be provided. Sanitizer stations are located by bathroom entrances, at the admissions desk, Museum store and café. For the safety of our patrons, HMH will provide a personal stylus and/or gloves or a finger glove to ensure participation without direct touch of the Museums’ interactive exhibit elements.

An Evening with Dr. Laura Limonic
2020-09-24 18:00 - 19:00 | Zoom
Join Holocaust Museum Houston for the second lecture in our 2020 Latinx Heritage Month Virtual Lecture and Film Series. This month we will be hosting authors and scholars who have contributed to highlighting Latinx history, identity, culture, and cross-cultural collaborations.
Author Laura Limonic offers a view into the lives of this designation of Jewish immigrants, highlighting the ways in which they adopt different identities (e.g., national, religious, or panethnic) in response to different actors and situations. Her book, Kugel and Frijoles: Latino Jews in the United States analyzes the changing construction of race and ethnicity in the United States through the lens of contemporary Jewish immigrants from Latin America. Since Latino Jews are not easily classified within the U.S. racial and ethnic schema, their ethnic identity and group affiliation challenge existing paradigms. (Published by Wayne State University Press)
Laura Limonic is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the College of Old Westbury of the State University of New York. Her research is in the area of contemporary immigration to the United States and the integration trajectories of ethnic and ethno-religious groups. Laura received her PhD in Sociology from the CUNY Graduate Center in 2014. She has a Bachelor of Arts de-gree in Latin American Studies from Brandeis University and a Master of International Affairs degree from Columbia University. In addition to academic research, Laura has an extensive background in public policy research and advocacy.
Admission is free and open to the public. Donations are welcomed. Guests will receive a private Zoom link so advance registration is required.
This event will be simultaneously translated into Spanish, thanks to the services of GlobalSpeak Translations.
Este evento se traducirá simultáneamente al español, gracias a los servicios de GlobalSpeak Translations.

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Stand with Survivors to Remove Holocaust Denial from Facebook
2020-09-23 18:30 - 19:30 | Zoom
Click the play button to watch the recorded program.
Stefanie Seltzer will discuss her childhood as a Survivor but will emphasize that even in the worst of times, there were people who did the right, the moral, the ethical thing—to save human lives. She will mention several examples of actions that helped her survive and how and why these have inspired her to carry on as she has. These include starting the World Federation of Jewish Child Survivors of the Holocaust & Descendants and her current involvement with the Claims Conference, including why the campaign to persuade Mark Zuckerberg to have Facebook remove its massive pages on Holocaust Denial is so important.
Stefanie Seltzer is the President of the World Federation of Jewish Child Survivors of the Holocaust & Descendants.

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Virtual Open House for Educators
2020-09-17 18:00 - 19:00, 2020-09-16 16:00 - 17:00 | Zoom
Join the HMH Education Team to get a preview of the new, free of charge Virtual Student Tours being offered this school year. Explore the Holocaust, Human Rights and Holocaust Art through virtual tours available at Holocaust Museum Houston!
Using interactive tours facilitated by Museum docents, students can experience the Museum online and engage in guided discussions on the lessons of the Holocaust.
In addition, learn about the Educator in Motion program that provides free instruction on the Holocaust, human rights and active citizenship. Educator in Motion sessions are aligned with the TEKS and include all materials at no cost. EIM has programs for Pre-K through 12th grade.

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An Evening with Dr. Paul Ortiz
2020-09-16 18:00 - 19:00 | Zoom
Dr. Paul Ortiz

Dr. Paul Ortiz

Join Holocaust Museum Houston for the first lecture in our 2020 Latinx Heritage Month Virtual Lecture and Film Series. This month we will be hosting authors and scholars who have contributed to highlighting Latinx history, identity, culture, and cross-cultural collaborations.
An African American and Latinx History of the United States is a revolutionary, politically charged narra-tive history which argues that the Global South was crucial to the development of America as we know it. The book spans more than 200 years and is told from the viewpoint of African American and Latinx activists. It reveals the radically different ways people of the diaspora addressed issues still plaguing the United States today.
Paul Ortiz is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Florida and Director of the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program. Ortiz has published and taught in the fields of African-American history, Latino Studies, the African Diaspora, Social Movement Theory, U.S. History, U.S. South, labor and documentary studies. He is the author of Emancipation Betrayed: The Hidden History of Black Organizing and White Violence from Reconstruction to the Bloody Election of 1920 and coeditor of the oral history Remembering Jim Crow: African Americans Tell About Life in the Segregated South.
Admission is free and open to the public. Donations are welcomed. Advance registration is required, because guests will receive a private Zoom link.
This event will be simultaneously translated into Spanish, thanks to the services of GlobalSpeak Translations.
Este evento se traducirá simultáneamente al español, gracias a los servicios de GlobalSpeak Translations.

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Science of Happiness for Cadettes
2020-09-13 15:00 - 17:00 | Zoom
In the midst of a global pandemic, we could all use a little more happiness. Cadettes are invited to join Holocaust Museum Houston to start a happiness adventure! Find out what makes you happy and learn how you can use this to help when things get tough. This session will provide a step-by-step process for a two-week exploration of your own personal happy place.
This session will be conducted virtually via Zoom. Materials will be provided via a link to a Google folder. A Google account is not necessary to participate.

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Inside Government for Juniors
2020-09-12 14:00 - 16:00 | Zoom
There is an election coming in November! But why are elections important? What do they have to do with you? Join Holocaust Museum Houston to find out while you earn the Inside Government badge. Learn about the offices that will be up for election in November, how they impact your life, and how to start if you want to run for office and make a change.
This session will be conducted virtually via Zoom. Materials will be provided via a link to a Google folder. A Google account is not necessary to participate.

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Celebrating the Life of Holocaust Survivor Naomi Warren, z"l
2020-09-05 13:00 - 17:00 | Holocaust Museum Houston Classroom
Naomi Warren, z”l
Please join us in celebrating Holocaust Survivor Naomi Warren’s life by signing her 100th birthday card; watching her video testimony; sharing photos, interviews and videos from her amazing life; and previewing a trailer of a new film, Finding Light, about Ballet Austin’s Light / The Holocaust and Humanity Project, which is dedicated to Naomi and based on her experiences.
Naomi Warren was born on September 1, 1920 and grew up in Wołkowysk, a small city in eastern Poland. Naomi was finalizing arrangements to attend a university in England when Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, her 19th birthday. Shortly after, Soviet troops marched into Poland from the east, occupying her hometown.
In the summer of 1941, Germany overran eastern Poland and began systematically isolating, interning and murdering its Jewish population. Naomi and her husband, Alexander, were sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau in January 1942, riding in an airless cattle car that was so crowded they could barely sit down. They were separated when they arrived and Alexander was sent to the men’s camp where he perished several months later. Selected for a labor detail, Naomi resolved to survive. Naomi endured almost three years in Auschwitz-Birkenau. As Soviet troops approached in the beginning of 1945, she and her fellow inmates were sent to Ravensbrück and then to Bergen-Belsen. When the British liberated her there in April 1945, Naomi felt as if “the whole world opened up” for her.
The following year, Naomi came to Houston with the help of her maternal uncle William Salman and her sister Elizabeth Brandon who had settled in the United States before the war. Naomi’s father Samuel had survived the war as an internee in Siberia and he came to the U.S. at the end of 1946. In 1949, Naomi married Martin Warren and together they established a business importing Danish hams to the United States. They had three children—Helen, Geri and Benjamin. Naomi’s legacy lives on at the Museum through the Warren Fellowship for Future Teachers, established by her family in 2000, in honor of her 80th birthday.

Author Talk with Jack Fairweather
2020-09-02 18:30 - 20:00 | Zoom
Journalist and award-winning author Jack Fairweather will discuss his book, The Volunteer: One Man, an Underground Army, and the Secret Mission to Destroy Auschwitz.The incredible true story of a Polish resistance fighters infiltration of Auschwitz to sabotage the camp from within, and his death-defying attempt to warn the Allies about the Nazis plans for a Final Solution before it was too late. Thirty-nine-year-old Polish resistance fighter, Witold Pilecki volunteered for the daring mission to infiltrate Auschwitz and report back to the underground on conditions within the camp. Over the next two and half years, Pilecki forged an underground army within Auschwitz that sabotaged facilities, assassinated Nazi informants and officers, and gathered evidence of terrifying abuse and mass murder. With exclusive access to previously hidden diaries, family and camp survivor accounts, and recently declassified files, Jack Fairweather offers an unflinching portrayal of survival, revenge and betrayal in mankinds darkest hour. And in uncovering the tragic outcome of Pileckis mission, he reveals that its ultimate defeat originated not in Auschwitz or Berlin, but in London and Washington.

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Implications of COVID-19 for Atrocity Prevention with Dr. James Waller
2020-08-12 18:00 - 19:30 | Zoom
Dr. James E. Waller
While COVID-19’s impact continues on a global scale – economically, socially, politically, and existentially – it will be particularly felt in deeply divided, fragile, conflict-prone, or at-risk societies. In such societies, it is absolutely vital that policy measures be taken for preventive action before risk escalates to the point of mass atrocity. This presentation will review some of those pressure points related to governance, economic conditions, and social fragmentation. The pandemic, and its potential to serve as a trigger for mass violence, makes our shared work of atrocity prevention more urgent than ever.
Dr. James Waller is Cohen Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Keene State College (NH), home to the nation’s only undergraduate major in Holocaust and Genocide Studies. He also serves as Director of Academic Programs for the Auschwitz Institute for the Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities, a leading international NGO in the field. He is the author of six books, most notably Becoming Evil: How Ordinary People Commit Genocide and Mass Atrocity (Oxford University Press, 2007). His newest book, due out later this year from Oxford University Press, is A Troubled Sleep: Risk and Resilience in Contemporary Northern Ireland.

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Educator Day at HMH
2020-08-08 10:00 - 17:00 | Holocaust Museum Houston
Educators interested in learning more about Holocaust Museum Houston are invited to visit the Museum for free all day on Saturday, August 8, 2020 from 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Educators will be able to tour the Museum’s galleries, including Bearing Witness: A Community Remembers (Holocaust Gallery), the Lester and Sue Smith Human Rights Gallery, and the Samuel Bak Gallery and Learning Center. Information about the Museum’s education programming, including virtual offerings, will be provided.
Please register online before attending and bring your school or district ID with you.
The first 20 registrants will receive a complimentary HMH tote bag.

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Educator Evening at HMH
2020-08-06 17:00 - 19:00 | Holocaust Museum Houston
Educators interested in learning more about Holocaust Museum Houston are invited to visit the Museum for free on Thursday, August 6, 2020 from 5:00-7:00 p.m. This private event will allow educators to tour the Museum’s galleries, including Bearing Witness: A Community Remembers (Holocaust Gallery), the Lester and Sue Smith Human Rights Gallery, and the Samuel Bak Gallery and Learning Center. Information about the Museum’s education programming, including virtual offerings, will be provided.
Please register online before attending and bring your school or district ID with you.
The first 20 registrants will receive a complimentary HMH tote bag.

Register
