PLU Holocaust and Genocide Studies

09/25/2026

Please join us for the 18th Annual Powell-Heller Conference for Holocaust Education: “More Than Dust: Reclaiming LGBTQ+ Voices of the Holocaust” from November 4-6, 2026.

This year’s conference focuses on LGBTQ+ experiences of the Holocaust. We will welcome historian Anna Hájková as our Raphael Lemkin speaker. Her book, People Without History Are Dust: Q***r Desire in the Holocaust, serves as the foundation for this year’s programming. The conference features a special theater performance and a film screening alongside its academic components. Thanks to the generosity of donors, this event is free and open to the public.

Register here: https://www.plu.edu/holocaustconference/

05/05/2026

Tonight!
We hope to see you here!

Please join us for the 2026 Natalie Mayer Lecture in Holocaust and Genocide Studies, as we present " My Underground Mother", a film by Marisa Fox.

Tuesday, May 5th - 6:30 pm - Xavier Hall, Room 201.

“You think you know your mother until you don’t,” says filmmaker Marisa Fox. Tamar was a New York doctor’s wife who claimed she fled her native Poland on the cusp of World War II and was never a Holocaust “victim.” Twenty years after her death, Fox, a journalist and mother, learns Tamar had a secret identity and chases down leads that span the globe, uncovering a story of N**i trafficking and a defiant band of sisters in a women’s forced labor camp. Dogged research, extraordinary archival imagery and staggeringly candid interviews reveal a portrait of a woman who dared to be the hero of her own story, transforming herself from N**i slave to freedom fighter, from refugee to spy and saboteur, ultimately reinventing herself as a matriarch in America. A real-life story of a daughter coming to terms with a woman who went to extraordinary lengths not to be defined by trauma.”
To learn more, and to register for this remarkable event, please visit:
https://www.plu.edu/hgst/natalie-mayer-endowed-lecture-series/

05/04/2026

Tomorrow night!
Registration is still open!
You won't want to miss this fabulous opportunity.

Please join us for the 2026 Natalie Mayer Lecture in Holocaust and Genocide Studies, as we present " My Underground Mother", a film by Marisa Fox.

Tuesday, May 5th - 6:30 pm - Xavier Hall, Room 201.

“You think you know your mother until you don’t,” says filmmaker Marisa Fox. Tamar was a New York doctor’s wife who claimed she fled her native Poland on the cusp of World War II and was never a Holocaust “victim.” Twenty years after her death, Fox, a journalist and mother, learns Tamar had a secret identity and chases down leads that span the globe, uncovering a story of N**i trafficking and a defiant band of sisters in a women’s forced labor camp. Dogged research, extraordinary archival imagery and staggeringly candid interviews reveal a portrait of a woman who dared to be the hero of her own story, transforming herself from N**i slave to freedom fighter, from refugee to spy and saboteur, ultimately reinventing herself as a matriarch in America. A real-life story of a daughter coming to terms with a woman who went to extraordinary lengths not to be defined by trauma.”
To learn more, and to register for this remarkable event, please visit:
https://www.plu.edu/hgst/natalie-mayer-endowed-lecture-series/

05/04/2026

Final Day For Submissions!

Putting out the call for 2026 Kurt Mayer Summer Scholars submissions.

The Kurt Mayer Summer Scholars program offers generous financial support for PLU students who complete substantive research projects in Holocaust Studies. Up to 2 fellowships of up to $2500 will be awarded this summer for research, reading, and writing, which must lead to the creations of a major paper on a Holocaust topic.

To learn more about the scholarship requirements and for the submission link, please visit:
https://www.plu.edu/holocaustconference/kurt-mayer-scholarship/

04/30/2026

Monday, May 4th is the deadline!

Putting out the call for 2026 Kurt Mayer Summer Scholars submissions.

The Kurt Mayer Summer Scholars program offers generous financial support for PLU students who complete substantive research projects in Holocaust Studies. Up to 2 fellowships of up to $2500 will be awarded this summer for research, reading, and writing, which must lead to the creations of a major paper on a Holocaust topic.

To learn more about the scholarship requirements and for the submission link, please visit:
https://www.plu.edu/holocaustconference/kurt-mayer-scholarship/

04/20/2026

Putting out the call for 2026 Kurt Mayer Summer Scholars submissions.

The Kurt Mayer Summer Scholars program offers generous financial support for PLU students who complete substantive research projects in Holocaust Studies. Up to 2 fellowships of up to $2500 will be awarded this summer for research, reading, and writing, which must lead to the creations of a major paper on a Holocaust topic.

To learn more about the scholarship requirements and for the submission link, please visit:
https://www.plu.edu/holocaustconference/kurt-mayer-scholarship/

04/20/2026

Today!
Don't miss this incredible event.

04/13/2026

Please join us for the 2026 Natalie Mayer Lecture in Holocaust and Genocide Studies, as we present " My Underground Mother", a film by Marisa Fox.

Tuesday, May 5th - 6:30 pm - Xavier Hall, Room 201.

“You think you know your mother until you don’t,” says filmmaker Marisa Fox. Tamar was a New York doctor’s wife who claimed she fled her native Poland on the cusp of World War II and was never a Holocaust “victim.” Twenty years after her death, Fox, a journalist and mother, learns Tamar had a secret identity and chases down leads that span the globe, uncovering a story of N**i trafficking and a defiant band of sisters in a women’s forced labor camp. Dogged research, extraordinary archival imagery and staggeringly candid interviews reveal a portrait of a woman who dared to be the hero of her own story, transforming herself from N**i slave to freedom fighter, from refugee to spy and saboteur, ultimately reinventing herself as a matriarch in America. A real-life story of a daughter coming to terms with a woman who went to extraordinary lengths not to be defined by trauma.”
To learn more, and to register for this remarkable event, please visit:
https://www.plu.edu/hgst/natalie-mayer-endowed-lecture-series/

04/13/2026

03/11/2026