Thomas M. White “The Power of Place: Encountering Auschwitz 70 Years After Liberation”

Thomas M. White is the Coordinator of Educational Outreach for the Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Keene State College. He based his talk upon his visit to Auschwitz I and II in November 2014 with the Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation (AIPR). White explored how ordinary people committed extraordinary evil.  Weaving together archival images from a project by two Nazi photographers from the  lab/identification service project in Auschwitz with pictures from the 2014 trip, he explored the process of genocide and the “moral universe” the perpetrators created. He explored the deliberate structures created to serve the needs of the SS, architects and businessmen in exploiting and destroying human beings. He also explored the challenges of encountering such a place, making room for mourning, and refusing to normalize the feelings of outrage. Finally he asked, “Where do we go from here?”