In simple terms, genocide is the mass killing of a specific group because of who they are or because of who the killers believe they are. In its terrible lived realities and its legal definition, genocide is so much more. As a Holocaust historian, Dr. Gibbs speaks about the origins of the term genocide in … Read more
Despite increasing distance in time and the passing of last witnesses and veterans, World War II still defines how Americans see themselves, how they view their own military, and how they think of their role in the world. The war in Europe, though only part of this worldwide inferno, is at the core of those … Read more
What did the National Socialist German Workers Party, NSDAP, or Nazi Party actually believe? What was the role of Adolf Hitler in shaping those views, and how did he and others at the top shape and use those ideas to lead Germany to total war and genocide? As white nationalist and white supremacist groups continue … Read more
For all too long, focus on Holocaust history excluded real explorations of Jewish resistance to Nazi tyranny and mass murder. The misunderstood reality is that Jews resisted Nazi actions at every turn. From early legal challenges and protests when it seemed there was still a state to listen, to later escape, evasion, and armed uprisings, … Read more
Nazi Germany murdered 6 million Jews and a total of 11 million people, counting all of its chosen so-called racial enemies, from 1933 to 1945. The German state did this with its own armed forces, the help of collaborators, and the silence of bystanders. How did the Nazi Party lead a nation to this devastation? … Read more
One of the most compelling testimonies to the horrors of the holocaust are the more than 30,000 surviving works created by artists while imprisoned in ghettos and concentration camps during the years of the Nazi Third Reich. Many of these artists perished, others survived. The body of work they created is extraordinary in its quality … Read more
Isabel Whaley Sloan started teaching ballroom dancing and social etiquette in Columbia when she was 17 years old in 1914. For three-quarters of a century, generations of children, including Gov. Henry McMaster, flocked to her classes. Sloan was also well-known for organizing dances and social events for thousands of servicemen who were stationed at Fort Jackson during World … Read more
The years 1933-1939 must be studied to enable an understanding of what came later. The Final Solution, implemented in late 1940-1941, was slowly realized through these early years. Hitler’s appointment as Chancellor in January 1933 paved the way for the Nazis to continue on their path of human destruction, but the economic woes of Germany … Read more
Film is a major component of society’s understanding of history. How have films about the Holocaust changed over time, and how have these films changed our understanding of the Holocaust? Films such as The Diary of Anne Frank in 1959 hardly touched on the Jewish catastrophe and, in fact, eliminated much that was Jewish in the film, … Read more
