Events

The Holocaust Awareness Institute is dedicated to furthering education about the Holocaust and its significance for current and future generations. Our public programs present new scholarship and perspectives on the Holocaust, commemorate the countless lives lost, and pay tribute to the stories of those who survived.

HAI also works to inform our community about other local events that relate to Holocaust awareness and education. Our calendar of events includes important dates that are commemorated throughout the year.

  • Yom HaShoah

    Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, is observed as a day of commemoration for the people who perished in the Holocaust and marks the anniversary of the uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto. The day is observed on the 27th of Nisan, the seventh month on the Hebrew calendar.

    Yom HaShoah will be observed on the following days on the Gregorian calendar:

    2021: Thursday, April 8
    2022: Thursday, April 28
    2023: Tuesday, April 18

  • International Holocaust Remembrance Day

    International Holocaust Remembrance Day is observed on January 27, and is designated by UN General Assembly Resolution in 2005 to commemorate the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in 1945.

    HAI is proud to co-sponsor Holocaust remembrance events throughout the Denver metro area. Please email us at hai@du.edu for more information.

    HAI is proud to co-sponsor Holocaust Remembrance Events throughout the Denver metro area. For more information on how to receive sponsorship for your event or to request a speaker from our Survivors Speakers Bureau, please email us at HAI@du.edu.

    For resources on Remembrance Days, including how to mindfully organize a remembrance event, check out the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

    Learn More About HAI's Survivor Speakers Bureau

Marcus Memorial Holocaust Lecture

Fred Marcus Memorial Holocaust Lecture

The Marcus Lecture was created in 2003 in memory of Fred Marcus, a Jewish educator who was born in Berlin and spent the war years in Shanghai as a refugee from Nazi Germany. Fred served as a member of the Speakers Bureau of the Holocaust Awareness Institute for many years, educating students and members of churches and synagogues about the Holocaust.

Presented in partnership with the Mizel Arts and Culture Center's annual JAAMM Festival, the Marcus Lecture highlights new scholarship and perspectives on the Holocaust and illuminates its continuing significance today. The lecture is offered in the fall to provide educational programming to the community around the anniversary of Kristallnacht (November 9–10, 1938).

Holocaust Memorial Social Action Site

Holocaust Memorial Social Action Site

The Holocaust Memorial Social Action Site (HMSAS) is a space dedicated to inclusivity and diversity through learning, intercultural dialogue and social justice initiatives. The mission of the site is to honor and remember those who lost their lives in the Holocaust by dedicating ourselves to acts of learning, dialogue and bridge-building aimed at making the world a better place today and into the future.

Our vision is linked to the Hebrew expression, "Hineni": "Here I am," a post-Holocaust ethical teaching about the infinite responsibility that each one of us has for the other. In post-Holocaust Jewish philosophy, this expression conveys a strong message; the words "Here I am" are words of ethical response—they mark the infinite responsibility that each of us has to the person standing before us. In this spirit, the site calls us to action, while emphasizing learning and dialogue.

Upcoming Center for Judaic Studies Events

Portrait of Emil Gold and Zesa Starr

April 20 - May 10, 2022

THE TRIUMPHANT SPIRIT: PORTRAITS & STORIES OF HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS

In commemoration of Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Holocaust Awareness Institute presents an exhibition of portraits from The Triumphant Spirit: Portraits & Stories of Holocaust Survivors by Denver photographer Nick Del Calzo, on loan from the collection of Michael Feiner.

The Triumphant Spirit presents the stories of witnesses to one of the darkest chapters in human history. Each story tells of tragedy and suffering, but also of determination, devotion and survival.

  • 7 a.m.–10 p.m. daily
  • Community Commons Gallery