HEFNU Regional Institute

The Holocaust Educational Foundation at Northwestern University (HEFNU) offers Regional Institutes designed to cultivate regional networks of Holocaust scholars and educators. Each intensive seminar brings together leading experts on Holocaust-related topics with professors who teach—or wish to teach—Holocaust-focused courses. In addition to deep, focused discussion, participants have the opportunity to learn from and engage with one another while building local and national support for Holocaust education.

Loyola Marymount University is honored to host the 2026 HEFNU Regional Institute. The public is warmly invited to attend select conference sessions on Sunday, March 1, 2026, featuring distinguished scholars whose work explores survivor testimony, gender and sexuality, memory, and the evolving relationship between survivors and scholars.

 

Sunday, March 1, 2026 | University Hall, Roski

Anna Hájková is a scholar of modern European and Holocaust history whose work focuses on everyday life, gender, and sexuality during the Nazi era. She is also the playwright of The Amazing Life of Margot Heuman, based on the true story of Margot Heuman, a young Jewish woman and lesbian who survived Auschwitz, Groß-Rosen, and a death march. The play (and filmed version) explores survival, identity, friendship, and moral complexity through Margot’s remarkable life story.

Doris Bergen is one of the world’s leading historians of the Holocaust and the author of the widely acclaimed and internationally used textbook War and Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust. Her scholarship has shaped contemporary understanding of religion, gender, and mass violence in Nazi Germany and occupied Europe. In this keynote, Bergen will explore the theme of survivors and scholars and the changing nature of their relationships, drawing on her extensive research and experience in Holocaust history.