Robert Melson to Give 2003 Phyllis Freed Sollod Memorial Lecture at UNCA April 24

Jewish studies expert Robert Melson will give a talk on "False Papers: The Tension Between Testimony and Story in a Holocaust Memoir" at 8 p.m. Thursday, April 24, at UNC Asheville's Owen Conference Center. His talk, the 2003 Phyllis Freed Sollod Memorial Lecture, is presented by UNCA's Center for Jewish Studies. The event is free and open to the public.

The story of Melson and his family's survival during the Holocaust is told in his book "False Papers," which was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award. Melson is the vice-president of the International Association of Genocide Scholars. He is a professor of political science and former director of the Jewish Studies Program at Purdue University. Melson's major area of teaching and research is ethnic conflict and genocide. His interest in such topics are derived from his own personal experience, as well as his fieldwork in Nigeria in 1964-65, a year before the onset of the Nigerian-Biafran civil war. His book "Revolution and Genocide: On the Origins of the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust" won the 1993 international PIOOM Award in Human Rights.

The Phyllis Freed Sollod Annual Memorial Lecture is made possible through an endowment established by Norman Sollod in memory of his wife, who was an active leader in the Asheville Jewish Community. 

The talk is part of UNCA's annual Holocaust Education Week. For more information about other Holocaust Education Week Events, click on www.unca.edu/cjs or call UNCA's Center for Jewish Studies at 828/251-6576.

Media Contacts:

• Dr. Richard Chess, UNCA Jewish Studies Program Director, 828/251-6576
• Jill Yarnall, UNCA Public Information Assistant Director, 828/251-6526