The CJM

How can we deepen our empathy and expand our understanding of difficult history by engaging with works of art? How might artists offer unique vantage points into the complexities of inherited memory? The Holocaust, the systematic genocide against Jews and other minorities, is one of the most traumatic events in Jewish and world history. Beginning in the mid 1990s, museums and Holocaust Memorials began to center victims’ points of view in Holocaust narratives. Building on this approach, The Contemporary Jewish Museum (The CJM) has presented exhibitions that tell the stories of the Holocaust through art and the experiences of artists. In this course, we will engage with examples from past CJM exhibitions that offer personal reflections on the Holocaust from those who experienced it firsthand, along with the work of contemporary artists who are second- and third-generation survivors grappling with this collective trauma. Artists will include Roman Vishniac, Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore, Charlotte Salomon, Mark Rothko, Christian Boltanski, Lisa Kokin, and Guy Goldstein.

This eight-week course is led by Ron Glait, The CJM's Adult Learning Program Manager, and is offered as part of the Fromm Institute's fall semester. The class will meet in person every Tuesday at the Fromm Institute for an engaging lecture and conversation based in art and history.

This eight-week course meets in person at the Fromm Institute. Enrollment is $125. Click below to enroll in the course.

CJM Members receive a 10% discount on course enrollment. Contact membership@thecjm.org before enrolling to receive your discount code.

Classes will meet in Fromm Hall at Park Avenue and McAllister Street, on the University of San Francisco campus. Fromm Hall is located on the ground floor and is fully accessible.

Ron Glait is the Adult Learning Program Manager and the Museum Technology Manager at The Contemporary Jewish Museum. He holds a Master of Education in Visual Literacy and Museum Studies. His academic research around the Holocaust and collective memory was inspired by his familial story. As a third generation of Holocaust survivors, Glait examined the connections between visual representation of the Holocaust in Israel and the development of a personal memory of the Holocaust in relation to collective memory.

The Fromm Institute, a "University within a University," stages daytime courses for retired adults over fifty years of age. Founded by Alfred and Hanna Fromm in 1976, the Institute offers intellectual stimulation and introduces its members to a wide range of college level learning opportunities with access to the facilities and services at the University of San Francisco.

Let’s Talk About the Holocaust: Reexamining our Collective Memory and Engaging with History Through Art