Lunch & Learn - Women and the Holocaust: An Exploration through Original Poetry with Jane Saginaw

This Lunch and Learn examines the experiences of women in the Holocaust through poetry. Jane Saginaw, PhD candidate at the University of Texas Dallas (UTD), shared her original poems and spoke about the courageous women who inspired them. These deeply moving poems explore the powerful mechanisms of resistance women developed as they fought to survive starvation, fatigue, and the brutalities of the Holocaust. Jane was joined in conversation by Dr. Sarah Valente, Visiting Assistant Professor, Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies at UTD.
This program was hosted on May 13, 2021.
Jane Saginaw is a student in the PhD Program in Humanities at the University of Texas at Dallas, where her interests include creative writing and the history of the Holocaust. Before returning to graduate school, she was a trial lawyer with the law firm of Baron and Budd in Dallas. She served in the Clinton Administration as the Regional Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region Six. Her memoir, Because the World is Round, is the story of a family trip around the world in 1970 with her wheelchair-bound mother who was paralyzed by polio.
Dr. Sarah Valente is visiting assistant professor of Holocaust Studies at the Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies at the University of Texas at Dallas. She teaches courses on Jewish and Latin American history, literature, and cultural memory. Her fields of interest include Holocaust Studies, Translation Studies, and Human Rights in South America. Dr. Valente has published about Holocaust memoirs and Jewish memory in book chapters and peer-reviewed journals such as her most recent publication, “Post-World War II Brazil: A New Homeland for Jews and Nazis?” in Comparative Cultural Studies-European and Latin American Perspectives. Dr. Valente is the creator, producer, and host of several podcasts including the Ackerman Center Podcast, where she explores Holocaust-related topics during the time of our new shared virtual realities.
Thank you to our Community Partners:
Congregation Shearith Israel
Legacy Senior Communities
Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission