'Paragraph 175' documentary to open Holocaust series

An impressive lineup of events, film screenings and guest speakers, including a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient,is planned for Chapman University’s 2011-2012 series of Holocaust education events and observances.

Titled “The Holocaust: History, Memory, Interpretation,” the series opens at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 4, with the free screening of
Paragraph 175,
a Sundance-honored documentary about the plight of homosexuals persecuted during Nazi rule because of Paragraph 175 of the German penal code.

The series is planned and hosted by The Rodgers Center for Holocaust Education, The Stern Chair in Holocaust Education and the Sala and Aron Samueli Holocaust Memorial Library. All events are open to the public. Admission is free. Save the date for:

• “Corporate Complicity in the Holocaust: German Business and Nazi Crimes,” 7 p.m., Monday, Oct. 10, Fish Interfaith Center, Wallace All Faiths Chapel. Speaker Peter Hayes, Ph.D., professor of history at Northwestern University and author of Industry and Ideology: IG Farben in the Nazi Era.
• “Antisemitism and Homophobia in Nazi Germany: Commonalities and Differences,” 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 11, Fish Interfaith Center. Peter Hayes, Ph.D., speaking.
• “The Secret Jews of Italy: A Journey of Discovery,” 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 18, Fish Interfaith Center, Wallace All Faiths Chapel. Rabbi Barbara Aiello, founder and director of the Italian Jewish Cultural Center of Calabria.
• Lecture and screening of the Academy Award-winning documentary “Loss, Liberation, and Love: One Survivor Remembers,” 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 8, Memorial Hall, Chapman Auditorium. Book signing to follow with Gerda Weissmann Klein, recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and author of All But My Life and co-author of The Hours After: Letters of Love and Longing in War’s Aftermath.
• An Interfaith Service of Remembrance for Kristallnacht, 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 11, Fish Interfaith Center, Wallace All Faiths Chapel, 7 p.m. Guest speaker Engelina Billauer, Holocaust survivor and Kristallnacht witness.
• Lecture by Jeffrey Koerber, visiting fellow, Department of History, 7 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 16, Beckman Hall, Room 404.

More information about the series is available by calling the Rodgers Center at 714-628-7377.