The Harris Center supports and presents various lectures, book talks, and other discussions on timely topics relating to Judaic Studies.
Lunch and Learn: "Rescued or Ruin: Orphan Life During the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust"
Andrea Wagh
November 5, 2025
11:45 am
Wagh is a PhD student in the Department of History. This lecture showcases her ongoing dissertation research, which is an examination on how orphanages were used to either rescue victims of genocide or perpetrate genocidal policies against them. Through a comparative study of the Armenian genocide (1915-1918) and the Holocaust (1933-1945), she explores how orphanages were manipulated in each case. By understanding the role these institutions played, we can better understand how children are uniquely targeted in mass violence and how orphanages have served as spaces for both good and evil.
The political upheaval in Israel in 1977, its causes and impact
Eran Eldar, Tulane University
November 13, 2025
7:00 pm
Professor Eran Eldar is the author of:
- Attrition, Army and Civilians on the Northeast Front, 1967-1970 (Bar-Ilan University Press, 2023) which won the Moldovan Prize for Military Literature and a special mention of excellence from the Yitzhak Sade Prize for Military Literature, and was included in the list of the best books of the year by the newspaper "Haaretz"
- The Road to '77, The Collapse of the Hegemony of the Labor Party, 1965-1977 (Am-Oved, 2018)
- By Its Own Efforts: The Urban Development of Tel Aviv in the Twilight of the British Mandate and the First Decades of the State of Israel (Resling, 2013)
He is also a co-author of The History of Tel Aviv, vol. 3, A Rejuvenating City (Ramot, Tel Aviv University) and recently published a chapter called: "Between Holiness and Secularity: Jerusalem Versus Tel Aviv – image, relations and economy" in the Jerusalem Book 1948-1973, Yad Ben-Zvi, Jerusalem, 2023.
Eldar received his Ph.D. in Jewish History from Tel Aviv University. He served as a visiting professor at many universities in Israel, Europe, Canada and the United States (Tel Aviv University, Paris 8 University, Calgary University, University of Maryland and more). He published many academic articles in English, Hebrew and French that were highly praised in academic journals.
Family and the Global History of the Holocaust
Jan Lanicek, University of New South Wales, Sydney
November 19, 2025
4:30 p.m.
Dr. Lanicek joined the School of Humanities and Languages at USNW Sydney in 2012 as a postdoctoral fellow in Jewish history. From 2015 he has worked as Lecturer (2017 Senior Lecturer) in modern European and Jewish history. He has published in the fields of Holocaust studies and Jewish history, and is currently working on several research projects. The first major project deals with post-Holocaust reconciliation and transitional justice in Czechoslovakia (The Holocaust on Trial: Post-Holocaust reconciliation in Czechoslovakia, 1945-53).
Most recently, Dr. Lanicek has been working on a project that offers a novel perspective on Australia’s historical connections with the Holocaust (The Holocaust as an Australian Story). Focusing on family networks and connections between prewar Jewish refugees and their family members back in Europe, he aims to show that Australia and its population were part of the global Holocaust geography already during the war. Since 2016, he has also been a co-organizer of a project on humanitarian aid for Jews incarcerated in the ghettos and concentration camps during the Second World War (together with Jan Lambertz and Gerald Steinacher). Dr. Lanicek is also active in public history, as a member of the board of the Australian Association for Jewish Studies (as the VP for NSW between 2013-2021) and member of the General Council of the History Council of New South Wales.