Conference Examines Film Interpretations Of The Holocaust

After Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in 1933, the Nazis issued every person a permanent identity card. A "J" on the cover indicated that the person was Jewish. Each Jewish man’s name was prefaced with "Israel" and each woman’s name with "Sarah." Permanent yellow armbands were issued at a later time. Card courtesy of the Neufeld Family Archive, a collection of Holocaust and family artifacts donated by Anne Neufeld Levin. The collection is housed at Special Collections in UCSC’s McHenry Library.

A conference on film and the Holocaust takes place Wednesday, April 22, through Thursday, April 23, at UCSC. The conference coincides with Yom Hashoah–the international day of remembrance for victims of the Holocaust.

Leading Holocaust and film scholars from around the country will convene for the conference, titled "Film and the Holocaust: A Conversation," to discuss representations of the Holocaust in film. A keynote speech, "Images of Jews and the Holocaust in Film," will be presented at 7:30 p.m. on April 22 in Kresge 321 by Sharon Rivo, director of the National Center for Jewish Film at Brandeis University. The conference continues at Stevenson College at 9 a.m. on April 23.

In the days leading up to the conference, films related to the Holocaust will be screened at UCSC. Films will be shown at 7 p.m. April 18-21 at Kresge College. All events are free and open to the public. The conference is made possible through support from the Neufeld-Levin Chair in Holocaust Studies.