USC Shoah Foundation Center for Advanced Genocide Research to Honor Holocaust Scholar David Cesarani

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Aug 10, 2016, 01:57 ET

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 10, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The USC Shoah Foundation Center for Advanced Genocide Research will host a symposium to honor the work of leading Holocaust scholar David Cesarani from Great Britain, who died last year just weeks after being named the Center's inaugural Sara and Asa Shapiro Scholar in Residence.

A prolific researcher and author, Cesarani's books include Eichmann: His Life and Crimes; Arthur Koestler: The Homeless Mind; Justice Delayed: How Britain Became a Refuge for Nazi War Criminals; Major Farran's Hat: Murder, Scandal and Britain's War Against Jewish Terrorism 1945-1948; Disraeli: The Novel Politician (Jewish Lives); and Final Solution: The Fate of the Jews 1933–1949.

In addition to his teaching and research as a professor at Royal Holloway, University of London, Cesarani was an active public intellectual and historical advisor on many film, TV and radio documentaries in the United Kingdom. He was also an early supporter of USC Shoah Foundation.

Wolf Gruner, founding director of the USC Shoah Foundation Center for Advanced Genocide Research, praised Cesarani's contributions to the study of the Holocaust.

"We selected David Cesarani as the inaugural Shapiro scholar because of his merits as an internationally renowned scholar of the Holocaust and Jewish history," Gruner said. "He combined limitless curiosity and thorough research, trying to understand the development of the Holocaust, but always with a special emphasis on the experience of the Jewish people."

After Cesarani's sudden death in October 2015, the USC Shoah Foundation and the Center decided to host a symposium to honor him and his significant contributions to the field of Holocaust studies. The one-day symposium in honor of the inaugural Shapiro Scholar will be held in September and will feature renowned international scholars such as David Silberklang (Yad Vashem) and Todd Endelman (University of Michigan), who will discuss Cesarani's work, his impact on Holocaust studies, and the connections between their own work and his contributions to the field.

The Sara and Asa Shapiro Annual Holocaust Testimony Scholar and Lecture Fund enables one senior scholar to spend up to one month in residence at USC Shoah Foundation's Center for Advanced Genocide Research. This prestigious fellowship is only available through an invitation by the director of the Center, in consultation with the executive office of the USC Shoah Foundation. The fellowship, which replaces the USC Shoah Foundation Yom Hashoah Scholar in Residency, offers fellows the opportunity to use the Holocaust and genocide resources at USC, including the USC Shoah Foundation's Visual History Archive, which contains more than 53,000 testimonies of witnesses and survivors of the Holocaust, including the testimony of Sara Shapiro.

About USC Shoah Foundation
USC Shoah Foundation — The Institute for Visual History and Education is dedicated to making audio-visual interviews with survivors and other witnesses of the Holocaust and other genocides, a compelling voice for education and action. The Institute's current collection of more than 53,000 eyewitness testimonies contained within its Visual History Archive preserves history as told by the people who lived it, and lived through it. Housed at the University of Southern California, within the Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, the Institute works with partners around the world to advance scholarship and research, to provide resources and online tools for educators, and to disseminate the testimonies for educational purposes.

Visual History Archive® is a registered trademark of USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education Reg. U.S. Pat & Tm. Off.

About Center for Advanced Genocide Research
The USC Shoah Foundation Center for Advanced Genocide Research is dedicated to advancing new areas of interdisciplinary research on the Holocaust and other genocides. One area of research addresses the fundamental question of what enables people to oppose or resist racist ideologies, state discrimination practices, or the active participation in mass atrocities. Other research interests include Research on Violence, Emotion and Behavioral Change and Digital Genocide Studies.

Contact: Josh Grossberg 213-740-6065
[email protected]
Rob Kuznia 213-740-0965
[email protected]

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SOURCE USC Shoah Foundation