Resisting the Holocaust from within the SS – The Story of Kurt Gerstein

The BHEC presents its annual Kristallnacht Commemorative Lecture: the story of Kurt Gerstein, an SS officer, who was a committed & outspoken opponent of the Nazi Regime, and his unique path of resistance, emphasizing the contradictions & mysteries of this enigmatic man.

Presented by: - Dr. Valerie Hébert, an associate professor of history & interdisciplinary studies at Lakehead University Orillia in Ontario, Canada where she teaches on modern European history, Nazi Germany and the Holocaust, and the photography of human rights violations and international conflict.

On November 9-10, 1938, Nazi leaders unleashed a series of pogroms (organized massacre) against the Jewish population in Germany and recently incorporated territories. This event came to be called Kristallnacht (The Night of Broken Glass) because of the shattered glass that littered the streets after the vandalism and destruction. Thousands of Jewish homes and businesses were ransacked, hundreds of synagogues were burned, and hundreds were murdered. Police records also document a high number of rapes and suicides. Additionally, 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and deported to concentration camps. The events of Kristallnacht represented one of the most important turning points in National Socialist antisemitic policy. This lecture series, co-sponsored by the BHEC and UAB, seeks to explore current research on the events of the Holocaust.