What's the Harm in Holocaust Fiction? Dinner and Discussion

The Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies invites you to dinner and a discussion, with Jewish Studies faculty member Professor Jennifer Casenave (CAS Romance Studies).

The Tattooist of Auschwitz, a novel by Heather Morris, rose to the top of the New York Times bestseller list in November 2018. It tells the love story of Lale and Gita Sokolov, set in the Auschwitz concentration camp, where they were both held prisoner. The novel is “based on a true story” told in Morris’ interviews with now-deceased Holocaust survivor Lali Sokolov. Public criticism about the accuracy of the novel from both members of Sokolov’s family as well as historians, has not prevented the success of the book, nor the commissioning of a sequel.

Over the past seventy years, genocide prevention and education has taken on a survivor-centered approach. As the last survivors of the Holocaust pass away, we must consider how their stories will be told moving forward. What role will fiction play in the transmission of Holocaust history and experiences in years to come? Should a testimony even become fiction -- and a novel centered on a love story in a concentration camps, no less? How might a shift away from a survivor-centered approach impact how genocides and mass murders are both researched and taught?

Have you read The Tattooist of Auschwitz? What did you think? Bring your questions, your comments, and your appetite. A pizza dinner will be served!

Open to all Boston University students.

When 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm on Thursday, September 5, 2019
Building 147 Bay State Road Boston, MA 02115
Room 2nd Floor Library
Contact Name Katherine Gianni
Phone 617-353-8096
Contact Email ewcjs@bu.edu
Contact Organization Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies
Fees Free
Open To Students