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The campus community is invited to attend a presentation by Eric Schmalz, historian and lead curator of History Unfolded: US Newspapers and the Holocaust. The presentation will take place from 12:10 p.m. to 1 p.m. during a Journalism 240 (Journalism Principles) class. A reception will follow in the Hamilton Hall commons.

In “Midwestern Newspaper Reporting on the Holocaust,” Schmalz will address themes of facts, propaganda and the First Amendment freedoms of speech and press. He will present case studies of newspaper coverage on the mistreatment of Jews in early 1933 with the rise of the Third Reich and Father Charles Coughlin’s radio addresses after Kristallnacht, the Nazi attack on German Jews, their synagogues, and Jewish-owned businesses, in late 1938. Coughlin, a Catholic priest, hosted a controversial radio program in the U.S. in the 1920s and 30s.

History Unfolded is a project of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. It asks students, teachers, and history buffs throughout the United States what was possible for Americans to have known about the Holocaust as it was happening and how Americans responded. Participants look in local newspapers for news and opinion about 34 different Holocaust-era events that took place in the United States and Europe, and submit articles they find to a national database, as well as information about newspapers that did not cover events. History Unfolded raises questions for scholars and will inform the Museum’s initiative on Americans and the Holocaust.

For more information about this event, contact Julie Roosa, jroosa@iastate.edu.