Toronto Symposium and Lecture Series 2010

From February 11 through February 21, 2010 project members reassembled in Toronto for a follow-up symposium. This gave participants the opportunity to present the results of their project work begun during the summer field study in Europe.

The theme of the 2010 Symposium was:

The Holocaust: Facts, Fictions, and Denials.

Part of the symposium featured closed workshop sessions for project participants; part was be open to the public. Project participants had the opportunity to reflect on the lessons of the 2009 European Field Study, to present their curricular projects, to participate in workshops at York, and to visit school classes and various faith communities in the Toronto area.

The public lecture series highlighted the eminent British lawyer, academic, and public intellectual Anthony Julius. Dr. Julius successfully defended historian Deborah Lipstadt when David Irving sued her for libel for having called him a Holocaust denier. Julius also acted for Princess Diana and is now vice-president of the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund.

A visiting professor at Birkbeck College, University of London, Julius was on the Metropolitan Police Race and Faith Inquiry and has spoken out against racism and antisemitism in all forms, including calls to boycott Israel. His Ph.D. dissertation from Jesus College, Cambridge appeared as T.S. Eliot, Anti-Semitism and Literary Form. His new book, Trials of the Diaspora: A History of Anti-Semitism in England, is about to be published by Oxford University Press and will be available for signing at the lectures.

Dr. Julius presented two lectures:

• Holocaust Denial: What's the Point? (Saturday, February 13, 8:00 pm)
• How Can Good Literature Be Bad for the Jews? (Sunday, February 14, 2:30 pm).