Cohen Institute for Holocaust & Genocide Studies

Check out the latest episode of "Memory. Evidence. Change." - "From Cambodia to New Hampshire: Bodie Barton's Journey of Survival, Family, and Gratitude" 🎙️

The Cohen Institute's podcast, produced in partnership with the KSC Department of Journalism, continues to spotlight voices shaping the fields of Holocaust and Genocide Studies. In this third episode, Bodie Barton reflects on his childhood in Cambodia, the sudden violence that shattered his family's life, and the years of displacement, hunger, and loss that followed under the Khmer Rouge regime.

Learn more and listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/from-cambodia-to-new-hampshire-bodie-bartons-journey/id1864755599?i=1000773006392

Please follow or subscribe — and share with others who might be interested in listening! Links in bio.

Not just studying history -- working with it. 📜

Students regularly work with the Holocaust and Genocide Special Collection at the KSC Archives by handling artifacts, analyzing primary sources, and engaging with the realities of genocide in a tangible way.

Your support helps preserve these collections and sustain the teaching archive for future students. Make your gift at: https://giving.keene.edu/holocaust-and-genocide-special-collection-gift-fund/

Edward Shumaker was a combat photographer in the 166th Signal Photo Company during WWII. His collection is comprised of photographs taken at the Dachau concentration camp as proof of the mass atrocities the Nazi’s were carrying out. This was a part of a larger initiative led by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, where he set out to document the horrific conditions of the camp, to ensure that future accounts would not call the events of the Holocaust “propaganda."

Your gift can help preserve critical history like Shumaker's photos and story for future generations to come. Make your gift at: https://giving.keene.edu/holocaust-and-genocide-special-collection-gift-fund/

We're excited to announce the launch of a new Holocaust and Genocide Special Collection Gift Fund to ensure archival materials are preserved and accessible for generations to come! 🎉

Housed in the KSC Archives in partnership with the Cohen Institute, this special collection holds one-of-a-kind artifacts, testimonies, and documents that preserve the realities of genocide and mass violence. At Keene State College, faculty and students utilize this teaching collection regularly in classes.

Materials like this original sculpture cast for the menorah outside the Knesset in Israel, made by Benno Elkan, shape how history is understood, taught, and remembered. These materials also require funding to support their care and use. This fund ensures that students, researchers, and future generations can continue to learn from and access these critical materials.

Be part of sustaining this work by making a donation at: https://giving.keene.edu/holocaust-and-genocide-special-collection-gift-fund/

✨Cohen Institute Intern Spotlight: Meet Amarrah!✨

For the past three years, Amarrah has served as the Archive Intern for the Cohen Institute. Throughout her internship, Amarrah developed open-access learning activities for educators based on the Grubman Family Collection, collaborated with the Grubmans to record an oral history testimony, and helped build and digitize a rich archival collection from their family materials. A History and Holocaust & Genocide Studies double major, she will be graduating from Keene State College next week.

We are so grateful for Amarrah's dedication and passion, and we wish her all the best in her next chapter!

Celebrate scholarship, remembrance, and achievement at the 2026 Holocaust and Genocide Studies Awards Night. Join us on tomorrow, April 16 from 5:00 to 5:45 p.m., as we honor the recipients of the Charles Hildebrandt Holocaust Studies Award, the Susan J. Herman Award for Leadership in Holocaust and Genocide Awareness, and the Excellence in Teaching Award. The program also includes the induction ceremony for Zeta Chi Rho (ZXP), the Holocaust & Genocide Studies Honor Society.

This event is open to everyone and will include light refreshments. Learn more and register to join us either in-person of via livestream at: https://www.keene.edu/news/events/detail/19969/

Join the Cohen Institute tomorrow, Tuesday, April 14, from 6:00 - 7:00pm for a special event featuring James Amari ’26, this year’s winner of the Herman Award for Leadership in Holocaust and Genocide Awareness.

James recently attended the 5th Global Peace Summit hosted by Humanitarian Affairs Asia at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok, Thailand. At this event, he will present photos and insights from his experiences at the Summit as well as some key takeaways for other students.

This event is free and open to everyone. Advanced registration is requested since seating is limited. This event will be held in person in Mason Library 240. Light refreshments will be provided as we gather to celebrate James’s work.

Learn more and register here: https://www.keene.edu/news/events/detail/23049/

Join the Harriet & Kenneth Kupferberg Holocaust Center, today, 4/13, from 6:00-7:00 pm, for a special event being held in commemoration of Yom HaShoah.

Dr. Samuel Gruber, President of the International Survey of Jewish Monuments, will discuss how since the end of World War II Holocaust memorial monuments have been made in scores of shapes, sizes, forms, and with text in many languages. Initially designed for Jewish audiences, and then in more recent decades for a wider public, they are often intended to teach broader lessons or meet political objectives.

Learn more and register here: https://www.keene.edu/news/events/detail/22749/

This event is being held in commemoration of Yom HaShoah. It is organized by the Harriet & Kenneth Kupferberg Holocaust Center (KHC) and is underwritten by the Yehoshua and Edna Aizenberg Holocaust Memorial Fund. It is co-sponsored by Cohen Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Keene State College and many other organizations across the country.