Philip Spencer, founding director of the Helen Bamber Centre for the Study of Rights, Conflict and Mass Violence at Kingston University, will lecture on “Understanding the Holocaust and Modern Genocide at 3:30 p.m., Monday, Oct. 28, in the College of Health and Human Services, Room 281.
An expert who has written and spoken widely on the Holocaust and modern genocide, Spencer also will present “Kristallnacht in the Legacy of the Holocaust” at 7 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 27, at Temple Israel (Shalom Park, 4901 Providence Rd., Charlotte).
Spencer’s visit to Charlotte is in advance of the community commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the tragedy of Kristallnacht – the Night of Broken Glass, a Nazi-coordinated assault on the Jews of Germany and Austria that occurred Nov. 9-10, 1938.
Educated at Oxford University, Spencer has taught at Kingston, located outside London, for 25 years and founded the human rights center in 2004. His own research interests include the Holocaust, comparative genocide and anti-Semitism. He also is director of Kingston's European Research Department, which studies European political and cultural identity.
The UNC Charlotte Department of Global, International and Area Studies and its Center for Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights Studies in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences is sponsoring Spencer’s Oct. 28 lecture; Temple Israel of Charlotte is cosponsoring the Oct. 27 event. Both talks are free and open to the public.