Redefining Antisemitism through the Stories of Jews and Muslims during the Holocaust

Dr. Mehnaz M. Afridi, assistant professor of religious studies at Manhattan College, discusses antisemitism through stories of Jews and Muslims during the Holocaust.

Afridi, who also is director of Manhattan College’s Holocaust, Genocide, and Interfaith Education Center, which promotes interfaith dialogue among Muslims, Jews, and Christians based on the educational mission of the college, focuses on Muslim identity with an emphasis on Europe and Islam, Muslims and Jews in Italian culture and the way that antisemitism has been expressed by her contemporaries.

She is the author of “The Shoah Through Muslim Eyes” (forthcoming 2016) and the co-editor, with David M. Buyze, of “Global Perspectives on Orhan Pamuk​: Existentialism and Politics” (2012). She currently serves on the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Committee on Ethics, Religion and the Holocaust.

In her lecture, Afridi will discuss her work as a Muslim on the Holocaust and its implications for interreligious dialogue today. She also will examine antisemitic propaganda in the Islamic context and explore overlooked stories of cooperation between Jews and Muslims during the Holocaust.

This annual lecture has been made possible through the generosity of Janice Weinman Shorenstein.