USD Department of History to Host 2026 Joseph and Rebecca Meyerhoff Annual Lecture
This year, the theme of the lecture is “Landscapes of the Holocaust: Buried History in Eastern Europe.” The lecture sets out to explore questions around physical landscapes that continue to act as a witness to crimes committed by Nazis during the Holocaust.
Speakers include Caroline Sturdy Colls, Ph.D., director of the Centre of Archaeology and professor of Holocaust Archaeology and Genocide Investigation at the University of Huddersfield, and Anne Kelly Knowles, Ph.D., McBride professor of history emerita at the University of Maine and the Holocaust Memorial Museum’s 2026-2027 Ina Levine Invitational Scholar.
Elise Boxer, Ph.D., director of the USD Institute of American Indian Studies and associate professor of history and Native American Studies, will moderate the event, while Gerald J. Steinacher, Ph.D., a James A. Rawley professor of history at the University of Nebraska Lincoln, will serve as commentator.
As a part of its mission to prepare students to engage thoughtfully in a complex, global world, USD supports opportunities for faculty, staff, students and the public to confront difficult and consequential moments in history.
This lecture is one of many events intended to promote academic inquiry, faculty expertise and global awareness—particularly in a rural and regional context where access to these conversations may otherwise be limited. By drawing on nationally connected scholars and research-driven perspectives, USD provides students and community members with the opportunity to examine historical realities and reinforcing the role of higher education as a space for learning, reflection and informed dialogue.
About the Joseph and Rebecca Meyerhoff Annual Lecture
Joseph and Rebecca Meyerhoff of Baltimore, Maryland, were active philanthropists in the U.S. and abroad, focusing especially on Jewish learning and scholarship, music, the arts and humanitarian causes. Their children, Eleanor Katz and Harvey M. Meyerhoff, former member and chairman emeritus of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, have endowed this lecture.
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