Bucks County Community College is introducing History of the Holocaust, a three-credit course offered for the first time in the spring semester.
In addition, later in the spring, the college is hosting a panel discussion with the author of the book Life in a Jar: The Irena Sendler Project, which tells the story of a Polish woman who saved several hundred Jewish children from the Warsaw ghetto.
Professor Paula Raimondo, who first proposed the new course last summer, said students will explore the history of the Holocaust through multiple perspectives, and as a framework for interpreting modern genocide.
“Studying the Holocaust is a starting point for looking at such a broad range of human behavior,” said Raimondo, who is a Ph.D. candidate in Holocaust and genocide studies at Gratz College. “For instance, think about all of the human rights and the democratic institutions that we take for granted, how fragile they are, and how important it is to protect them.”
Some of the topics to be discussed are the motivations, roles and responsibilities of individuals, groups and governments when confronted with civil and human rights violations, war crimes and genocide.
“What you stand to learn in a class like this is so much more than history,” said Raimondo. “You’ll learn critical thinking skills and information literacy skills. You will really start to build a framework for interpreting the world and how we should treat other people.”
According to Kevin Antoine, J.D., the college’s associate vice president for external affairs and chief diversity officer, the course comes at the right moment.
“For some historians, the 2020s are echoing themes that started the rise of antisemitism in the 1920s,” he said. “In this course, students will be exposed to the brutality of falsehoods that led to the genocide of a people. The course will examine how to prevent the Holocaust from happening again, and how to build trust and civility between people of faith who worship differently.”
History of the Holocaust meets Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 10:50 a.m. to 12:05 p.m., starting Jan. 18 and concluding May 9 (no classes during spring break, March 19 and 21). Tuition is $165 a credit for Bucks County residents, plus additional fees. The course is open to guest students, so no prerequisite or placement testing is required. To register, visit bucks.edu/spring and look for course number HIST 133.
As for the free panel discussion with Life in a Jar author Jack Mayer, this is set for April 16. As part of a secret World War II organization called Zegota, Irena Sendler (1910-2008) rescued several hundred Jewish children from the Warsaw ghetto, providing false identities and hiding places in orphanages, convents and private homes. Mayer’s book weaves Sendler’s story with that of the Kansas students who helped tell it to the world.
“We will unpack what it means to resist, rescue and build community in times of war and conflict with the panelists,” Raimondo said.
In addition to the author, the panel will feature:
- Rabbi Anna Boswell-Levy, of Kol Emet, Yardley
- Barbara Simmons, adjunct professor, International Peace and Conflict Resolution, Arcadia University, and executive board of NAACP, Bucks County Chapter
- Nancy Isserman, co-director, Transcending Trauma Project, director, Operation Home and Healing, Council for Relationships and Faculty, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Gratz College
The panel takes place at 6 p.m. in the Zlock Performing Arts Center on the Newtown Campus of Bucks County Community College, 275 Swamp Road. Admission and parking are free.
To learn more about the History of the Holocaust course or the panel discussion, contact the Department of Social and Behavioral Science at [email protected] or 215-968-8270.
