Nazi Germany Expert to Speak at the UA
Patricia Heberer, a specialist with the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and will speak about abuses against the disabled community.
Patricia Heberer, a United States Holocaust Memorial Museum historian, will be giving a lesson at The University of Arizona on an often unspoken topic.
The public is invited to Hebererâs free lecture on Friday titled â'Deadly 'Medicine': The Nazi Persecution of Persons with Disabilities.â The lecture will be held from 10 a.m. to noon.
Michael A. Rembis, the Disability Studies Initiative director who invited Heberer to speak at the UA, said the talk is âextremely important, and there is a lot of interest in the community and academic world in the study of the Holocaust and in the persecution of those perceived to have disabilities.â
Members of the initiative are attempting to create an interdisciplinary disabilities studies program at the University.
Coordinating Hebererâs visit is just one extension of the initiativeâs efforts, Rembis said.
âOur mission is to bring more attention to disability students in the academic field,â he said. âDr. Hebererâs work incorporates disability studies into history.â
Heberer has served as historian for the museum in Washington D.C. since 1994. There, she serves as the museumâs specialist on medical crimes the Nazis committed, and also on eugenics during Nazi Germany.
Rembis said Nazis would abuse and kill those perceived to have disabilities, and in some cases, individuals who were disabled.
âThat piece of the story is often left out,â he said. âThere was a significant number of people with disabilities who were viewed as unworthy of citizenship and the right to live. That is another angle to explore.â
Extra info
What
Deadly 'Medicine': The Nazi Persecution of Persons with DisabilitiesWhere
Highland Commons, 1224 E. Lowell St., in the B307 Conference Room.When
Nov. 15, 10 a.m. to noonShare
Resources for the media
Michael A. Rembis
Disability Resource Center
520-621-3268
University of Arizona in the News