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.
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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:
2023: Tuesday, April 18
2024: Monday, May 6
2025: Thursday, April 24 -
International Holocaust Remembrance Day
Designated by UN General Assembly Resolution in 2005, International Holocaust Remembrance Day is observed on January 27 in commemoration of 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.
For resources on Remembrance Days, including how to mindfully organize a remembrance event, please visit the website of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

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
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

Saturday, April 1, 2023
The Vinnik Evening of Jewish Culture: CJS and Denver Film present the film “I Am Not”
Join us for a film screening and discussion with acclaimed Israeli documentary filmmaker Tomer Heymann.
Born in Guatemala, Oren is adopted by an Israeli family as a baby. He struggles to find his place in society, until he decides to take up a video camera and document his own life, embarking on a quest to the country of his birth to seek out his biological family in the hopes of better defining his own identity. “I Am Not” follows his life-changing journey.
A limited number of tickets are reserved for DU students, faculty and staff! Contact the Center for Judaic Studies at cjs@du.edu or 303-871-3020 to request.
- 7 p.m. (Doors open at 6:30)
- Sie Film Center | 2150 E Colfax Ave, Denver CO 80206

Tuesday, April 18, 2023
The Racism of People Who Love You: A Conversation with Samira Mehta
The Center for Judaic Studies, the Gender & Women's Studies program, and Critical Race & Ethnic Studies welcome Dr. Samira Mehta for a conversation about her latest book.
The Racism of People Who Love You: Essays on Mixed Race Belonging has been proclaimed "the epitome of a book meeting a moment" by Oprah Daily. Dr. Mehta is Assistant Professor of Women & Gender Studies and Director of Jewish Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her research focuses on the intersections of religion, culture, and gender in the U.S.
- 4 p.m.
- University of Denver Chambers Center for the Advancement of Women, Rm 190 | 1901 E Asbury Ave, Denver, CO 80210