Jewish youth caught ‘Between Hitler and Stalin’ to be lecture topic

Jeffrey Koerber, research associate in Chapman’s history department and Ph.D. candidate at Clark University, will present a lecture, “Between Hitler and Stalin: Jewish Youth in the Polish-Soviet Borderlands,” at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 16, in the Bush Conference Center, Beckman Hall 404.

Koerber joined Chapman University in fall 2011 as the first research associate affiliated with the Rodgers Center for Holocaust Education.  His appointment began as an innovative educational partnership between two universities and their centers on opposite coasts – the Rodgers Center at Chapman University and the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University – both dedicated to excellence in Holocaust education and scholarship.

Koerber will discuss his pioneering research on young Jews growing up during the 1930s under Polish anti-Semitism and Soviet political oppression, and the influences of these experiences on their subsequent responses to the Holocaust.

Before embarking on his Ph.D. studies, Koerber was a successful preservation architect.  He is a graduate of the University of Illinois, Urbana and is the recipient of numerous fellowships, including a Fulbright Fellowship to Belarus and Poland.

The lecture is free and open to the public. For more information: 714-628-7377.