Learning from the Past: Facing Difficult History in the U.S. and Germany Presented by Tom White

February Docent Enrichment 2-18-21
Tasked by Hitler to develop race laws, Nazi thinkers specifically and repeatedly cited the American precedent as the world leader in white supremacist legislation. As the Nazis began researching American race laws, they discovered that immigration, naturalization, and marriage laws were more useful than the Jim Crow laws in crafting what became the infamous Nuremberg Laws. How did American racism influence German race policy and how does the contemporary German encounter with its Nazi past help Americans confront their difficult history of slavery? How do we encounter the past to promote competencies for democratic citizenship?
Tom White is the Coordinator of Educational Outreach for the Cohen Center for Holocaust Studies at Keene State College. He has served as a researcher for Stephen Hooper's documentary film: An American Nurse At War and as historical consultant for David DeArville's documentary film, Telling Their Stories: NH Holocaust Survivors Speak Out. He served on the Diocese of Manchester's Diocesan Ecumenical Commission for Interfaith Relations; is the co-chair and producer of the Cohen Center’s annual Kristallnacht Remembrance; serves on the Board of Directors of the Association of Holocaust Organizations (AHO); has participated as observer and facilitator in the Global Raphael Lemkin Seminar for Genocide Prevention at the Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation; received NEA New Hampshire’s Champion of Human and Civil Rights Award in 2009; in 2015 was named a Peace Ambassador by the Center for Peacebuilding from Bosnia and Herzegovina; and serves on the NH Commission for Holocaust and Genocide Education.