This lecture explores the destruction in 1942 of the largest Jewish cemetery in the world by Greek fascists, not, as was claimed after the war, by the Nazi occupation forces. It was long forgotten and the Aristotle University built on its ruins without any commemorative notice. Two years ago, after considerable agitation, a memorial to the cemetery was opened with much fanfare but without acknowledging Greek responsibility for what had happened or for the long history of forgetting.
Thomas Laqueur is the Fawcett Distinguished Professor of History at UC-Berkeley and specializes in the cultural history of the body, the history of humanitarianism, and the history of popular religion and literacy.
Sponsored by the Visiting Scholar Program of the Phi Beta Kappa Society and the History Department.
