Scholar Michael Dobbs from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum will discuss his new book, “The Unwanted: America, Auschwitz and a Village Caught in Between,” for the 16th annual Richard J. Yashek Memorial Lecture at Albright College, Thurs., March 26, at 7:30 p.m., in the college’s Wachovia Theatre. The event is free and open to the public and books will be on sale after the lecture.
“The Unwanted” explores America’s response to the refugee crisis of the 1930s and 1940s, drawing on previously unpublished letters, diaries, interviews and visa records. The book is an intimate account of Jewish families from a small village who desperately pursued American visas to flee the Nazis. Battling formidable bureaucratic obstacles, some made it to the United States while others were unable to obtain the necessary documents. Some were murdered in Auschwitz with their applications for American visas still “pending.”
Thanks to the generous support of Rosalye Yashek and her daughters in memory of their husband and father, Richard, the Richard J. Yashek Memorial Lecture is now in its 16th year of bringing distinguished scholars from across the country to Albright College to discuss Holocaust related topics. Students in the college’s Holocaust Studies program explore the Holocaust to confront issues such as prejudice, racism and stereotyping, as well as silence and apathy.
Dobbs is appearing as a part of Literatour Berks, a program of the Jewish Federation of Reading/Berks in partnership with Exeter Community Library, Sinking Spring Public Library and the Jewish Book Council.
