SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – For 80 years, Holocaust survivors have shared stories of the horrors they faced. Historian Christopher Browning has made it his mission to understand the many ways those stories have been used and how they are affected by the limitations of human memory.
Browning will share his insights June 2 in the latest “For the People” presentation at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. The event is free and includes a visit to the ALPLM exhibit “Stories of Survival: Object. Image. Memory.”
Stories of the Holocaust have been used in many ways: to tell the world what had happened, to convict Nazis in murder trials, as inspiration for books and movies, to build vast archives that deniers could not dismiss. Browning will explore those changes, as well as how historians use eyewitness accounts despite occasional gaps and contradictions created by human memory.
Browning, professor emeritus of history at the University of North Carolina, is the author of “Remembering Survival: Inside a Nazi Slave-Labor Camp.” He also wrote “Ordinary Men: Reserve Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland” and “The Origins of the Final Solution.” All three won a National Jewish Book Award.
Reserve a free seat at www.PresidentLincoln.Illinois.gov/events. Doors open at 6 p.m. Guests are invited to visit "Stories of Survival" until the program begins at 7.
Educators who attend this event and complete an evaluation survey will receive 1.5 CPDUs
“Stories of Survival” was created by Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center. It will be at the ALPLM through Jan. 22, 2023. The exhibit is included with the regular museum admission price.
The mission of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is to inspire civic engagement through the diverse lens of Illinois history and sharing with the world the life and legacy of Abraham Lincoln. We pursue this mission through a combination of rigorous scholarship and high-tech showmanship built on the bedrock of the ALPLM’s unparalleled collection of historical materials.
For more information, visit www.PresidentLincoln.Illinois.gov or follow the ALPLM on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.