Ackerman Chronicle

Tuesday, October 3

7 p.m. lecture, followed by a reception

JO 4.102, UT Dallas Campus

Providence Nkurunziza was eleven the night Hutu radicals began massacring members of her ethnic group, the Tutsis, in Rwanda. While Provie escaped with her aunt, most of the rest of her family was slaughtered in a horrific event the world now recognizes as the 1994 genocide against Tutsis. A woman of faith and thankful to have survived, now Provie considers it both a privilege and her duty to testify—about social justice, community healing, and those mass killings still going on in the world today—until her last breath. Learn more on the event's page.

October 11-13

In-person Conference

U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO

The Ackerman Center and the United States Air Force Academy are jointly presenting this special conference, which will feature presenters from multiple disciplines from across the globe on topics pertaining to the nature of war, genocide, and the preservation of human rights.

We invite you to learn more on the conference webpage and join us in Colorado Springs.

October 14-15

Virtual Conference

The Ackerman Center is proud to co-sponsor, with the Global Center for Religious Research, the 2023 International eConference on Holocaust Studies. This virtual multidisciplinary conference will bring together historians, specialists, and researchers from all over the world to discuss the need to preserve Holocaust memories. The theme of this year's conference is "Holocaust Memory: Embodying the Past and the Aesthetics of Performance."

As the conference is held online, scholars and students can participate/attend it from the comfort and safety of their own homes without having to worry about travel and lodging expenses. Learn more on the conference website.

Sunday, October 29

4 p.m. Film Screening, followed by a talkback by writer Clark Young

Studio Movie Grill at Spring Valley

In a virtuoso solo performance, Academy Award nominee David Strathairn portrays Jan Karski in this genre-defying true story of a reluctant World War II hero and Holocaust witness. After surviving the devastation of the Blitzkrieg, Karski swears allegiance to the Polish Underground and risks his life to carry the first eyewitness reports of war-torn Poland to the Western world and, ultimately, the Oval Office. Escaping a Gestapo prison, bearing witness to the despair of the Warsaw Ghetto and confronted by the inhumanity of a death camp, Karski endures unspeakable mental anguish and physical torture to stand tall in the halls of power and speak the truth. Strathairn captures the complexity and legacy of this self-described “insignificant, little man” whose timely story of moral courage and individual responsibility can still shake the conscience of the world.

View the film's trailer online.

This event is being presented free of charge, but registration is required as space is limited. More information will be posted shortly.

Wednesday, November 1

7 p.m. Lecture, followed by a reception

UT Dallas Campus

In this lecture, Dr. Rebecka Katz Thor addresses what new monuments are expected to do. Examples from across Europe show the contestations around state-funded commemorations dedicated to difficult heritage, which challenge who and what is commemorated, how historic violence is made visible and how the historical narratives are constructed in public spaces. Drawing upon Marianne Hirsch’s work on postmemory and James Young’s discussion of countermonuments, the lecture considers monuments in terms of different "posts", reparation and multidirectionality.

There will be a reception in the Ackerman Center (JO 4.800) following the lecture.

Sunday, November 12

1 p.m. Lecture, followed by a reception

Jonsson Performance Hall, UT Dallas Campus

Military historian John C. McManus sheds new light on this often-overlooked aspect of the Holocaust. Drawing on a rich blend of archival sources and thousands of firsthand accounts―including unit journals, interviews, oral histories, memoirs, diaries, letters, and published recollections― Hell Before Their Very Eyes focuses on the experiences of the soldiers who liberated or witnessed Ohrdruf, Buchenwald, and Dachau and their determination to bear witness to this horrific history.

Learn more in the event's page.

The Ackerman Center is in the process of scheduling additional fall events, which we will be adding to our Upcoming Events Page as they are finalized.

The Ackerman Center Podcast, edited and produced by UTD graduate students, can be found wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. Listen to all of the episodes of the Ackerman Center Podcast by clicking here or on the thumbnail image to the left.

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Cynthia Seton-Rogers, Academic and Outreach Events Manager