Full House at the event, "The Future of Memory," with Serge and Beate Klarsfeld, in conversation with Clémence Boulouque

There was a full house at the Maison Française last night for the event, "The Future of Memory" with Serge and Beate Klarsfeld, in conversation with Clémence Boulouque.

Serge and Beate Klarsfeld reflected on their work devoted to tracking down Nazi criminals and restoring the memory of the lives of Jews who died in the Holocaust. They also discussed the importance of transmitting this work of memory to subsequent generations.

Serge and Beate Klarsfeld have devoted their lives to bringing fugitive Nazis to justice, a mission they pursued for more than half a century. Their work has also focused on restoration of the names and faces of the victims of the Holocaust. Their joint memoir, Hunting the Truth: Memoirs of Serge and Beate Klarsfeld is being honored as the Jewish Book of the Year by the Jewish Book Council. They are also being honored by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum with its highest honor, the Elie Wiesel Award, while will be presented to them in April 2019.

Above is a photo of Serge and Beate in 1972 protesting at the funeral of Xavier Vallat, who had been the Commissioner-General for Jewish Questions in Vichy France from 1941-1942. At this funeral, Serge and Beate had with them a yellow wreath shaped like the Star of David; they also bore the yellow Stars of David on their jackets.  This was a symbolic choice to stand in solidarity with the French Jews who were forced by Nazis to wear these stars in Vichy France.

Beate and Serge Klarsfeld also discussed their recent call on Europeans to reject extremists at the upcoming EU elections.

This event was co-sponsored by the Columbia Maison Française, GEG Columbia, European Institute, History Department, and Columbia European Society. It was made possible by support from the Knapp Family Foundation.

To view more photos from this event see our album on Flickr.