Herman P. and Sophia Taubman Foundation Endowed Symposia in Jewish Studies at UCSB
and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum present

Alvin Rosenfeld:

"The Anne Frank We Remember"

Tuesday, May 11, 2004 / 7:30 P.M. / Free
UCSB Hillel
(781 Embarcadero Del Mar in Isla Vista: directions)
(UCSBHillel.org; Hillel calendar)

Description: This lecture treats changing images of the Holocaust's most famous victim over time and attempts to explain why one particular version of Anne Frank has been favored over others. While framed as a scholarly lecture, this talk will be accessible to community audiences as well as of interest to a campus audience.

Speaker Profile: Alvin H. Rosenfeld is Professor of English and Director of the Institute of Jewish Culture and the Arts at Indiana University, Bloomington.  A noted Holocaust scholar, author and lecturer, he served for thirty years as Director of the Robert A. and Sandra S. Borns Jewish Studies Program at Indiana University. In 1992 he was appointed by President George W. Bush to the council that oversees the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.  Rosenfeld has been described by Elie Wiesel as "A man of vision and dedication, who has tirelessly worked on behalf of Memory."

He is the author of Imagining Hitler (1985) and A Double Dying: Reflections on Holocaust Literature (1980, 1988). He edited Thinking About the Holocaust: After Half a Century (1997) and coedited Confronting the Holocaust: The Impact of Elie Wiesel (1979).  He translated (with Erna Rosenfeld) The Murders at Bullenhuser Damm: The SS Doctor and the Children by Gunther Schwarberg (1984). Rosenfeld founded the Jewish Studies Program on the Bloomington campus in 1973, when such programs were rare in academia. Almost single-handedly, he raised the funds for academic positions and student scholarships to launch what would become recognized as one of the most outstanding Jewish studies programs in the country. In his 30 years as director of the Robert A. and Sandra S. Borns Jewish Studies Program, Rosenfeld brought international acclaim to the university, along with a great measure of good will and tangible support. He has served as an editorial board member of various scholarly journals, including Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Shofar, and American Poetry Review.   He has served as well as a board member and scholarly consultant to various Jewish institutions and organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee, the Lilly Endowment, the Wexner Heritage Foundation, the Koret Foundation, the National Polish American-Jewish American Council, the Center for Jewish History Academic Council, and the Academic Committee of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.  Rosenfeld is the recipient of fellowship grants from the American Council of Learned Societies, the National Foundation of Jewish Culture, and the National Endowment of the Humanities.  He has also received two awards from Indiana University for distinguished service. Rosenfeld received his Ph.D. from Brown University in 1967 and has taught at Indiana University since 1968.  He has also been a Visiting Professor at the University of Kiel in Germany and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Sponsorship: The Herman P. and Sophia Taubman Foundation Endowed Symposia in Jewish Studies (link) at the University of California, Santa Barbara is cosponsored by UCSB Arts & Lectures, Department of Religious Studies, Hillel, and Interdisciplinary Humanities Center. This event is cosponsored by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Note for Hist 133p students: a 2002 proseminar paper on Anne Frank cites Rosenfeld (link: scroll down about a page to the heading "Advantages and Disadvantages..."); the same student previously used his Anne Frank essay in her 133q paper (link).