Michael Bryant
Historian Michael Bryant will deliver a lecture titled, “Malevolent Intentions and the Play of Circumstance: the Pogrom of November 1938 and Hitler’s Plan for the Jews,” at 6 p.m. this evening in Daemen University’s Wick Social Room.
Bryant, a professor of history and legal studies at Bryant University in Smithfield, RI, specializes in the impact of the Holocaoust on law and human rights. His lecture will commemorate the Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass), which occurred the night of Nov. 9, 1938, and led to the Holocaust.
Bryant will also discuss his book, Hitler’s Mein Kampf and the Holocaust: A Prelude to Genocide.
The event is free and open to the public, and is sponsored by Daemen’s History and Political Science Department and Global Studies program, along with the Robert H. Jackson Center, Anne Frank Project, Academy of Human Rights, Holocaust Resource Center of Buffalo, and Wise Democracy Fund.
“Professor Bryant’s lecture deals with the anti-Semitic rhetoric and hate-filled violence in Nazi Germany that culminated in the Holocaust,” said Andrew Wise, professor of history at Daemen. “In today’s troubled world, it is important for students to learn about the words and actions that led Germany down that path.”
Although Bryant’s lecture will tie in with the curriculum of many courses taught in Daemen’s History and Political Science Department, all students from any major can benefit from the lecture, said Penny Messinger, associate professor of history and chair of the History and Political Science Department.
“Authoritarianism is on the rise around the world, including in the U.S.,” said Messinger. “This lecture will help us interpret the events of our own time and see the impact that violent and hate-filled rhetoric can have.”
She added, “The heart of our department’s mission is educating Daemen students about civil society and helping them to understand the complexities of past and present events and issues across the world.”
Those interested in attending the event can RSVP here.