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 8–9, 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

2021 Annual RMJHS Heritage Awards

Monday, May 24

2021 Annual RMJHS Heritage Awards

Join RMJHS as we step back into Colorado Jewish History! Donors are cordially invited to attend a virtual event in honor of three outstanding women, featuring a screening of the 35-minute film "A Legacy of Leadership: Colorado Jewish Women Over 150 Years."

  • 7 p.m.
  • Virtual Dinner

Learn More and RSVP

June 1, 2021

Rosenzweig for the Contemporary Moment: A Roundtable Celebration of "Star of Redemption"

This year's program is presented by the 2021 Week of Jewish Philosophy in partnership with the Political Theology Network. Please join us for a special, virtual roundtable conversation on the contemporary moment in dialogue with Franz Rosenzweig's "Star of Redemption" in celebration of this important Jewish philosophical text's 100th anniversary.

Co-leads: Elias Sacks (CU, Jewish Studies & Religious Studies) and Sarah Pessin (DU, Judaic Studies & Philosophy)

Panelists: Martin Kavka (Florida State University) Leora Batnitzky (Princeton University) Larisa Reznik (Pomona State) Randi Raskhover (College of William and Mary)

  • 2:00-3:30 p.m. MST
Inside the Writer's Studio with Edwidge Danticat

October 1, 2021

Inside the Writer's Studio with Edwidge Danticat

Lighthouse Writers Workshop and the Center for Judaic Studies, the Department of English & Literary Arts, and the College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences at DU are excited to welcome Edwidge Danticat, winner of the Neustadt International Prize for Literature.

19th Annual Fred Marcus Memorial Holocaust Lecture

October 2021, Date TBD

19th Annual Fred Marcus Memorial Holocaust Lecture

Fred Marcus was a beloved Jewish educator who was born in Berlin and spent the war years in Shanghai, China 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. Stay tuned for an announcement of the date and this year's speaker.