Past Regional Programs

Pacific Northwest

The Citizen Other: Nazi Germany and the Pacific Northwest

From 2020–2023, the Regional Programming Initiative engaged with institutions in British Columbia, Idaho, Northern California, Oregon, and Washington around discussions about the history of racism and antisemitism in Nazi Germany and the Pacific Northwest. Our work in the Pacific Northwest focused on the “citizen other,” their struggles for equal rights, and recognition of their persecution. 

By exploring emerging research in different disciplines, this initiative examined the lasting impact of persecution on the memory and identity of targeted communities. Drawing upon historical examples of persecution of communities throughout the Pacific Northwest, as well as victims of National Socialism in the Third Reich and Nazi-occupied and victims of National Socialism across Europe, participants and audiences grappled with how, when, and why governments and ordinary people supported, complied with, ignored, or resisted targeted oppression and racial violence in different historical contexts.

Deep South

Race and Society in Nazi Germany and the Jim Crow South

From 2017–2018, the Regional Programming Initiative engaged with institutions in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, and Tennessee around discussions about the history of racism in Nazi Germany and the racially segregated South during the 1930s and 1940s. Although different in many respects, these histories were also connected in several important ways. Both histories can trace their roots to the rise of the new science of eugenics, which became an international movement used to give legitimacy to racial policies. Racism, including racial antisemitism, was the core element of Nazi ideology and the driving force behind the Holocaust. Racism also legitimized the continued subjugation and persecution of African Americans long after the end of slavery. This Regional Programming Initiative engaged college and university students, scholars, and community members in responsible, informed, and meaningful dialogue on the involvement of governments and citizens in two distinct systems of targeted oppression and racial violence within their different historical contexts.