Holocaust scholar to deliver 2012 Balmuth talk

Historian Stephen Berk, the Henry and Sally Schaffer Professor of Holocaust and Jewish Studies at Union College, will discuss "Our People Are Your People ? American Jews and the Struggle for Civil Rights 1954-1965" at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 17, at Skidmore College. The talk, Skidmore's 2012 Daniel Balmuth Lecture, will be in Davis Auditorium of Palamountain Hall. Admission is free and open to the public. 

Berk will discuss Jewish involvement in the Civil Rights movement. He explained, "African Americans played the major role in the Civil Rights movement. They provided the leadership and the foot power and experienced most of the suffering in the period 1954-1965. Jewish Americans also contributed mightily to the struggle for Civil Rights. They, too, provided foot power as well as literary, spiritual, and financial support to the struggle. This lecture discusses Jewish involvement in this noble battle to right a terrible wrong."

Widely known for his expertise on the Holocaust, Russia, and the Middle East, Berk has said that the Holocaust teaches a number of important lessons, including the "pernicious impact of racism and demonological thinking in general, the role of personality in history, the need to confront evil, and the meaning of heroism."

Berk earned a B.A. degree in history from the University of Pennsylvania, a master's degree from the University of Chicago, and a Ph.D. degree from Columbia University. He also earned a certificate in Russian studies at Columbia. He joined the Union College faculty in 1967 and was invested as the Schaffer Professor of Holocaust and Jewish Studies in 2003.

The Skidmore talk honors Daniel Balmuth, professor emeritus of history, who taught at the college for 40 years. Inaugurated in 2000, the lecture is supported by the Daniel Balmuth Fund for Jewish Studies, established by David Moses, a 1984 Skidmore graduate who studied with Balmuth.