Wendy Lower will discuss “Hitler’s Furies: German Women in the Nazi Killing Fields” at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 16 at the Holocaust Museum and Learning Center, 12 Millstone Campus Drive.

 Drawing from wartime documents, postwar trials, private letters, diaries and interviews, the lecture will focus on outstanding cases of women who became direct witnesses, accomplices and perpetrators of the Holocaust. 

In the colonial outposts of the Nazi East, German women were an integral part of the society of perpetrators. They enjoyed privileges as members of the new ruling elite, and they possessed extreme power over the lives of Jews and other victims of the Holocaust. What some of these women chose to do with this newfound power during the war and how they distorted their criminal behavior after the war are the main themes of this presentation.

 Lower is the acting director of the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies. Her research and teaching focus on the history of genocide, the Holocaust and human rights. Lower’s lecture shares its title with her 2013 book, which was a finalist for the National Book Award. Lower is a professor of history at Claremont McKenna College. 

 A reception will follow the lecture; dietary laws observed. This presentation is free and open to the public. Seating is limited; RSVPs are required. For more information or to RSVP, contact Andrew Goldfeder at 314-442-3711 or [email protected].

This program is supported by Devy and Jerry Goldenberg, as well as Julia and Scott Williams in honor of Dr. Steven Lauter on the occasion of his retirement.