What History Teaches: Scapegoating and the Politics of Othering
About the Event
In this recording of “What History Teaches: Scapegoating and the Politics of Othering,” you will learn:
- How the Nazis leveraged fear, nationalism, and antisemitism to scapegoat Jewish individuals and other minorities
- How scapegoating became a powerful tool to deflect blame from the Nazi government and justify their authoritarianism
- What societal and psychological dynamics made this strategy of scapegoating so effective
The recording culminates in a thought-provoking Q&A that gives viewers the chance to reflect on what they have learned.
About the Speakers
Dr. Beth Griech-Polelle
Beth is the Kurt Mayer Chair of Holocaust Studies and Associate Professor of History at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, WA. She earned her MA and PhD at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Dr. Griech-Polelle began her teaching career at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. Her most recent publication is a revised and expanded edition of Antisemitism and the Holocaust: Language, Rhetoric and Traditions of Hatred. She has also published Bishop von Galen: German Catholicism and National Socialism, she has edited a revised and expanded the second edition of The Nuremberg War Crimes Trial and Its Policy Consequences Today as well as editing, Trajectories of Memory, an examination of the Holocaust in History and in the Arts. She has published numerous articles, chapters in books and book reviews. Her most recent research involves examining the persecution of “Catholic non-Aryans” in Nazi Germany.