Auschwitz - What We Know Now, What We Knew Then with Michael Berenbaum

2021 Morgenthau Holocaust Collections Project (MHCP) Conference:
"Examining American Responses to the Holocaust: Digital Possibilities"
October 12-15, 2021
Michael Berenbaum examines the factual accuracy of Elie Wiesel’s account (in his memoir, All Rivers Run to the Sea) of a conversation with President Jimmy Carter about aerial photographs of Birkenau. Taken in 1944 and showing evidence of the gas chambers, the images were not developed until 1977. Referencing memos from the time, Berenbaum questions Wiesel’s depiction of the conversation - that President Carter admitted these aerial photographs had been available to FDR in 1944, and the President knew “what was going on in Auschwitz” and “nevertheless he did nothing” - asserting that both men would have been aware that the photos were not developed until the later date. He further examines why Weisel might have altered the facts.
Speaker:
Michael Berenbaum
Director, Sigi Ziering Institute, Professor of Jewish Studies, American Jewish University
Moderator:
Paul Sparrow
Director, FDR Presidential Library and Museum
Live-Streaming Schedule:
Tuesday, October 12
10:00 a.m.
"Non-Governmental Organizations (Rescue/Relief) During and Immediately After WWII"
Moderator: Anat Kutner
Presenters: Ron Coleman, Isabelle Rohr, Ludwig Decke, Roman Vater, Abby Gondek
LINK: • NGOs (Rescue/Relief) D...
Tuesday, October 12
1:00 p.m.
"Myths and Realities of American Responses to the Holocaust, 1938-1945"
Moderator: Barry Trachtenberg
Presenters: Richard Breitman, Rebecca Erbelding, Meredith Hindley
LINK: • Myths and Realities of...
Wednesday, October 13
10:00 a.m.
"Forced Academic Migration of Refugee Scholars"
Moderator: Rachel Deblinger
Presenters: Stefanie Mahrer, Sinja Clavadetscher, Stefanie Salvisberg, Laurel Leff, John Wihbey
LINK: • Forced Academic Migrat...
Wednesday, October 13
1:00 p.m.
"The Last Mission - FDR, Ibn Saud and the Question of Israel"
Moderator: Paul Sparrow
Presenter: David Woolner
LINK: • The Last Mission - FDR...
Thursday, October 14
10:00 a.m.
"New Intersections - Holocaust Studies & Digital Humanities"
Moderators: Michael Haley Goldman, Michael R. Levy
Presenters: Abby Gondek, Richard Marciano, William Underwood, Teddy Randby
LINK: • New Intersections - Ho...
Friday, October 15
10:00 a.m.
"NARA and FDR Library Holocaust Resources"
Moderator: Kirsten Carter
Presenters: Jeff Urbin, Sylvia Naylor, Nikola Zimring, Abby Gondek
LINK: • NARA and FDR Library H...
Friday, October 15
3:00 p.m.
"Auschwitz - What We Know Now, What We Knew Then"
Moderator: Paul Sparrow
Presenter: Michael Berenbaum
LINK: • Auschwitz - What We Kn...