During an \u201cOn the Issues with Mike Gousha\u201d discussion at Eckstein Hall on Sept. 11, Michael Berenbaum, a prominent scholar of the Nazi Holocaust, described the Wannsee Conference held near Berlin on Jan. 20, 1942, when 15 leaders from branches of the German government met to develop ways to cooperate effectively in killing Jews by the hundreds of thousands. The leaders did not set the policy of killing Jews, he said, but they greatly increased the pace and efficiency of the genocide. At the time of Wannsee, four out of five of the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust were still alive, Berenbaum said. Fifteen months later, four of five were dead.<\/p>\n
What Berernbaum noted about the conference was that all 15 participants had university degrees. Eight had doctorates. Seven were lawyers.<\/p>\n
A responsibility of all teachers, he said, is \u201cto make sure that we do not create educated monsters who have all the skills and the abilities of modern men and women, all the genius of modern technology, all the capacity for creative thought, and no moral core.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to make sure that I don\u2019t educate monsters,” Berenbaum said in summarizing his goal as an educator.<\/p>\n
Berenbaum previously taught at Georgetown University, a Jesuit institution, and now is director of the American Jewish University\u2019s Sigi Ziering Institute in southern California. He said he enjoys teaching at religious institutions that have a mission to enhance the character and decency of people and not just give them technical abilities.<\/p>\n
Berenbaum is best known for his close involvement in launching the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., and his research work. He is author of 21 books and other scholarly works.<\/p>\n
The last survivors of the Holocaust are now elderly people, Berenbaum said, and the way people will learn from the events of that time is changing. \u201cWe\u2019re going from living memory to historical memory,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are about to lose the last survivors.\u201d He added, \u201cI hope we don\u2019t lose the soul\u201d of survivors\u2019 personal testimony.<\/p>\n
He has been involved in responding to and increasing awareness of other terrible mass killings, such as the genocidal killings of hundreds of thousands of Tutsi and moderate Hutu in Rwanda in 1994. Understanding \u201cthe other\u201d and treating people different from us as brothers and sisters created in the image of God is one of the biggest issues at a time when new means of communication have created \u201can increased freedom to express hatred\u201d globally, Berenbaum said.<\/p>\n
Berenbaum said the Catholic Church provides the best example of change in the last few decades that has increased understanding of others. He praised Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II as leaders in improving human relations. On the other hand, he said, the many centuries of moderate and accepting practices in the world of Islam are being undermined by the vicious intolerance and actions of some Islamic groups. \u201cWe have to recover that tradition\u201d and find \u201cthe common language of moderation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Asked whether he shared concerns expressed by some that anti-Semitism is on the rise in Europe, Berenbaum said, \u201cYes, no, and maybe.\u201d He said much of the anti-Semitism recently is \u201cin Europe, but not of Europe.\u201d It has significant differences from what led to the rise of Nazi Germany. \u201cThe anti-Semitism of today is not the anti-Semitism of the 1930s,\u201d Berenbaum said. \u201cIt\u2019s the anti-Semitism of 2014. That doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s not a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
In introducing Berenbaum, Marquette University President Michael Lovell praised him as \u201carguably the most notable scholar on the Holocaust in the United States.\u201d Lovell also expressed appreciation to Marianne Lubar, whose support made Berenbaum\u2019s visit to Milwaukee possible.<\/p>\n