BU’s Holocaust and Genocide Studies Minor Has Celebratory Kickoff

Armenian Genocide Among Courses Offered

BOSTON, Mass. (A.W.)—Boston University’s new minor in Holocaust and Genocide Studies, which was launched in September, had a celebratory kickoff last month, with a preview screening of the feature film “Denial,” based on Deborah E. Lipstadt’s book History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier, starring Rachel Weisz as the author.

Lipstadt, a professor of modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies, attended the screening at the Coolidge Corner Cinema and spoke at the reception that followed, according to BU Today.

According to its description on the Elie Wiesel Center website, the minor in Holocaust and Genocide Studies will offer students “an opportunity to acquire basic academic tools of description and analysis of the various factors that contribute to the emergence of ultranationalist regimes and their genocidal policies.”

The minor, which is being offered through the Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies is also designed to help students “develop an awareness of the value of pluralism and an acceptance of diversity, as well as to explore the dangers of remaining silent, apathetic, and indifferent to the vilification and oppression of others.”

Students minoring in Holocaust and Genocide Studies are required to complete six four-credit courses (two required and four open electives). Among the courses are The Armenian Genocide, European Fascism, Prevention of Genocide, History of International Human Rights, and Jewish Bioethics and Holocaust Studies.