PROGRAM GUIDE
January - July 2026
The Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum is supported, in part, through the generosity of its members and donors, including Cinemark USA, Inc.; City of Dallas Office of Arts and Culture; The Meadows Foundation; Louis L. Borick Foundation; The Katz Foundation; Donald Family Designated Fund II; The David M. Crowley Foundation; Katherine Carmody Trust, Bank of America, N.A., Trustee; The Roy and Esther Barzune Stein Endowment Fund; and Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas.
2026 PROGRAMS
JANUARY
Sunday, January 11, 2 p.m. Film Screening: Four Winters
Sunday, January 25, 2 p.m.
International Holocaust Remembrance Day Commemoration
FEBRUARY
Wednesday, February 11
6 p.m. Reception | 7 p.m. Program
50 Children: The Rescue Mission of Mr. and Mrs. Kraus
Sunday, February 22
2:00 p.m. Reception | 2:30 p.m. Workshop
From Generation to Generation: Preserving Family Testimonies
January - July
MARCH
Sunday, March 8, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Student Day at the Museum
Thursday, March 12
6 p.m. Reception | 7 p.m. Program Special Exhibition Opening: The Walt Disney Studios an d World War II
March 16 - 20, 1 p.m. Spring Break Survivor Speaker Series
APRIL
Sunday, April 12, 7 p.m. Yom HaShoah Commemoration
Wednesday, April 22
6 p.m. Reception | 7 p.m. Program Funk Family Upstander Speaker Series: Courage Behind Closed DoorsJan Langbein
Tuesday, April 28
6 p.m. Reception | 7 p.m. Program The Animated Life of Willie Ito
All times listed are Central time zone. All programs are free, unless noted otherwise.
2026 PROGRAMS
MAY
Wednesday, May 6, 7 p.m.
Genocide, Nazi Medicine, and Postwar Justice
Tuesday, May 12
6 p.m. Reception | 7 p.m. Program
Rule of Law Series: The Pursuit of LibertyA Conversation with Jeffrey Rosen
Wednesday, May 20
5:30 p.m. Reception | 7:30 p.m. Performance
Spring Fundraiser: Wicked
JUNE
Wednesday, June 3, 1 p.m.
Summer Survivor Speaker Series
Monday, June 8, 1 p.m.
Auschwitz Through the Lens of the SS
Tuesday, June 9, 1 p.m.
Meet the Author: Alan Gratz
Monday, June 15, 1 p.m.
Summer Survivor Speaker Series
Wednesday, June 24, 7 p.m.
How Sports Unify and Inspire Refugees Worldwide
Friday, June 26, 1 p.m.
Summer Survivor Speaker Series
January - July
JULY
Tuesday, July 7, 1 p.m.
Summer Survivor Speaker Series
Monday, July 13, 1 p.m.
Summer Survivor Speaker Series
Tuesday, July 21, 1 p.m.
Meet the Author: Christopher Paul Curtis
Wednesday, July 22, 1 p.m.
Enslaved Frontier: Women and the Institution of Slavery in Texas
Sunday, July 26, 2 p.m.
Film Screening: Disposable Humanity
Friday, July 31, 1 p.m.
Summer Survivor Speaker Series
UPSTANDER FUNK FAMILY SPEAKER SERIES
2025 Upstander Speaker Series speaker Jeanne Celestine Lakin shares her story.
COURAGE BEHIND CLOSED DOORS: Jan Langbein
Wednesday, April 22 | 6 p.m. Reception | 7 p.m. Program
In person at the Museum
$10 per person | Free for members
At a time when domestic violence was largely hidden behind closed doors, Jan Langbein stepped forward to break the silence. Since becoming CEO in 1991, she has grown Genesis Women’s Shelter & Support with unwavering determination from a modest seven-room emergency shelter into one of the nation’s most comprehensive and respected fullservice response centers for survivors of domestic abuse.
Her work has provided a lifeline to women and children in North Texas, and challenged communities to confront deep-rooted cultural and structural factors that allow abuse to persist. Langbein is one of the foremost voices in the fight to end violence against women, working to educate, empower, and enact change.
The Funk Family Upstander Speaker Series showcases individuals and organizations that stand up for human rights on a local, national, or global level.
Named in loving memory of Blanche & Max Goldberg | Fannie & Isaac Funk
Anchor Series Supporter:
THE PURSUIT OF LIBERTY A
Conversation with Jeffrey Rosen
Tuesday, May 12 | 6 p.m. Reception | 7 p.m. Program
In person at the Museum $10 per person | Free for members
Best-selling author and National Constitution Center CEO Emeritus Jeffrey Rosen joins us for an exploration of a foundational debate that still shapes American politics: how to balance the tensions among federal power, states’ rights, and individual liberty. This debate has shaped pivotal moments in American history, including Abraham Lincoln’s fight against slavery and Southern secession, the expansion of federal power under Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, and Ronald Reagan’s and Donald Trump’s pushes to shrink the scope of government.
Rosen will connect these constitutional tensions to the evolution of equality and civil liberties in the United States, inviting us to consider how the pursuit of liberty and the fight for human rights remain at the heart of the American experiment.
Book signing to follow the program.
FOUNDING SPONSOR
The Rule of Law Series examines the legal system through the lens of human rights issues, both past and present.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Jeffrey Rosen is the CEO Emeritus of the National Constitution Center, where he hosts We the People, a weekly podcast of constitutional debate. He is a professor of law at the George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic. Rosen’s new book, The Pursuit of Liberty: How Hamilton vs. Jefferson Ignited the Lasting Battle over Power in America, was released in October 2025. His other books include New York Times bestsellers The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America and Conversations with RBG: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Life, Love, Liberty, and Law, as well as biographies of Louis Brandeis and William Howard Taft.
Rosen is a graduate of Harvard College; Oxford University, where he was a Marshall Scholar; and Yale Law School. He is an elected member of the American Philosophical Society and the American Law Institute.
from a Kindertransport after their arrival in Waterloo Station in London, February 2, 1939 (ÖNB Vienna: OEGZ S 52/11)
ON VIEW THROUGH FEBRUARY 15, 2026
Kindertransport – Rescuing Children on the Brink of War showcases the astonishing rescue effort that, in nine months, brought thousands of unaccompanied children from Nazi-occupied Europe to the United Kingdom. Through personal artifacts, stories, and firsthand testimony, those who lived through the “Kindertransport,” German for “children’s transport,” tell its history. The exhibition offers a moving look at the rescue effort, the painful choices parents made to send their children to safety, and the lives their children began in the United Kingdom. This exhibition serves as a powerful testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the importance of honoring the legacy of those who endured unimaginable suffering.
Kindertransport – Rescuing Children on the Brink of War was created and organized by Yeshiva University Museum and the Leo Baeck Institute – New York | Berlin.
Made possible by the generous support of the Azrieli Foundation, the David Berg Foundation, the Koret Foundation, the Gruss Hirsch Family Foundation, and by Anonymous. Additional support was provided by the Wolfensohn Family Foundation, Robert M. Kaufman, Temple Sholom of Scotch Plains (NJ), and by patrons and friends of Yeshiva University Museum and the Leo Baeck Institute – New York | Berlin.
SUPPORTING SPONSORS PARTNER SPONSORS
Additional support provided by Larry Ginsburg
Children
50 Children: The Rescue Mission of Mr. and Mrs. Kraus
Wednesday, February 11 | 6 p.m. Reception | 7 p.m. Program
In person at the Museum | Free
In early 1939, few Americans were focused on the darkening storm clouds over Europe. Nor did they have much sympathy for the growing number of Jewish families threatened and brutalized by Adolf Hitler’s policies in Germany and Austria.
One Jewish American couple decided that something had to be done. Despite overwhelming obstacles — both in Europe and in the United States — Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus made a bold and unprecedented decision to travel into Nazi Germany in an effort to save a group of Jewish children. Steven Pressman, author and documentarian of 50 Children, joins us to share their story.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Steven Pressman, a veteran newspaper and magazine journalist, served as a reporter and editor at various publications. He is the author of 50 Children: One Ordinary American Couple’s Extraordinary Rescue Mission into the Heart of Nazi Germany, and the director and producer of a documentary on the same subject. His films, Holy Silence, The Levys of Monticello, and Moses Ezekiel: Portrait of a Lost Artist, have been well received.
ON VIEW MARCH 13 - SEPTEMBER 10, 2026
Step behind the magic and into history with The Walt Disney Studios and World War II. Discover how Disney transformed its studio into a wartime operation producing original artwork, as well as training and public-service films, and how artists, employees, and Walt Disney himself contributed to the war effort. With more than 500 rare artifacts, film clips, and stories of innovation and sacrifice, this family-friendly exhibit explores how one of America’s most beloved entertainment companies helped achieve the Allied victory.
The Walt Disney Studios and World War II is organized by The Walt Disney Family Museum, San Francisco, California.
© Disney
SPECIAL EXHIBITION OPENING
Thursday, March 12 | 6 p.m. Reception | 7 p.m. Program
In person at the Museum
$10 per person | $5 for students | Free for members
Throughout World War II, both Allied and Axis powers created propaganda posters, advertisements, and films designed to rally domestic support and vilify the enemy. Walt Disney Pictures produced scores of theatrical cartoons as well as hundreds of training films for the U.S. Army, Navy, and other U.S. government departments. Some shorts reimagined beloved Disney characters in patriotic roles, while others depicted the schemes of the villainous Nazis. A 32-year veteran of The Walt Disney Company, award-winning artist, filmmaker, and author David A. Bossert joins us to recount how Disney used entertainment to promote the war effort, becoming a powerful force in the fight to win the war.
THE ANIMATED LIFE OF WILLIE ITO
Tuesday, April 28 | 6 p.m. Reception | 7 p.m. Program
In person at the Museum | Free
Join us for an evening with Willie Katsutoshi Ito, Jr., a legendary Japanese American cartoonist and animator. As a young child, Ito learned to draw on the pages of Sears catalogs while incarcerated with his family at the Japanese internment camp in Topaz, Utah, during World War II.
After being released, Ito studied at the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles before joining Walt Disney Studios in 1954. There, he worked on Disney’s Lady and the Tramp, helping illustrate the famous spaghetti-eating scene. Throughout Ito’s extensive career in animation, he worked at various studios on classics such as One Froggy Evening, The Jetsons, The Flintstones, and many other beloved cartoons. Join us for a screening of his most recent work, Hello Maggie!, about a Japanese American boy who raises a baby magpie while interned during the war, and hear Ito share how his childhood in Topaz influenced his career in animation.
The untold true story of the Witches of Oz
♦ 2026 Spring Fundraiser ♦
WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 2026
5:30 p.m. Reception | 7:30 p.m. Performance
Music Hall at Fair Park
Event Chairs
Tonika Cheek Clayton and JoJo Fleiss
Junior Event Chairs
Raiya Clayton and Caroline Fleiss
Join the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum for an Oz-filled evening and a special performance of the national tour of Wicked, one of Broadway’s most celebrated musicals. With unforgettable music, dazzling visuals, and a story that reimagines the world of Oz, Wicked explores themes of friendship, prejudice, and the courage to stand up for what is right.
Sponsorships start at $1,000.
DHHRM.org/Spring | Events@dhhrm.org | 469-399-5202
Proceeds from this event benefit the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
REMEMBRANCE PROGRAMMING
INTERNATIONAL HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY COMMEMORATION
Sunday, January 25 | 2 p.m.
In person at the Museum | Free
Marking the liberation of Auschwitz in 1945, International Holocaust Remembrance Day allows us to reflect upon the profound tragedy of the Holocaust while coming together to share a moment of peace and hope for the future. This year’s commemoration features a conversation between Faris Cassell, author of Inseparable: The Hess Twins’ Holocaust Journey through BergenBelsen to America, and Holocaust survivor Marion Ein Lewin, whose family is the subject of the book.
Cassell will trace the story of the Hesses’ prosperous pre-war life in Germany, their capture by the Nazis in Amsterdam, and their desperate ride in a bullet-strafed boxcar through the rubble of the collapsing Third Reich. Join us to discover the story of a family’s love that endured the most sinister of circumstances, serving as an inspiration to all.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Faris Cassell, award-winning investigative journalist, is the author of Inseparable: The Hess Twins’ Holocaust Journey through Bergen-Belsen to America. Her first book, The Unanswered Letter, won a 2021 National Jewish Book Award and an American Society of Journalists and Authors biography award. Cassell earned her M.S. in journalism with honors from the University of Oregon and her B.A. in History from Mount Holyoke College.
Marion Ein Lewin (née Hess) and her twin brother, Steven Hess, were 6 when they were taken by the Nazis from Holland to Bergen-Belsen, where they endured brutal conditions and lived in a state of fear. The twins and their parents were imprisoned there for approximately one year, narrowly escaping being sent to Auschwitz. After liberation, they moved to the United States.
YOM HASHOAH COMMEMORATION
Sunday, April 12 | 7 p.m.
In person at Congregation Anshai Torah | Free
Yom HaShoah, Holocaust
Remembrance Day, remembers the 6 million Jews who were murdered during the Holocaust while celebrating the resilience of those who survived. Join the Dallas community in reflecting on this tragic history, commemorating the victims, and paying tribute to our survivors. This year’s program will include stories of life in displaced persons camps across Europe following the war.
Salzburg, Austria: Kindergarten in a displaced persons camp
MEET THE AUTHOR
ALAN GRATZ
Tuesday, June 9 | 1 p.m.
$10 per person | $5 for students | Free for members
Award-winning author Alan Gratz joins us to unveil his gripping new young adult novel, War Games. Known for weaving history and high-stakes action in works like Refugee and Prisoner B-3087, Gratz returns with an exploration of conflict, strategy, and the human costs of war. Join us to hear Gratz discuss his inspiration, the research behind War Games, and the power of storytelling to illuminate the darkest corners of our world. Book signing to follow the program.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Alan Gratz is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of several highly acclaimed books for young readers, including Heroes: A Novel of Pearl Harbor, Two Degrees, Ground Zero, Allies, Grenade, Refugee, Projekt 1065, Prisoner B-3087, Code of Honor, and Captain America: The Ghost Army, an original graphic novel.
Presented in conjunction with the Candy Brown Holocaust and Human Rights Educator Series, generously supported by Candy and Ike Brown.
CHRISTOPHER PAUL CURTIS
Tuesday, July 21 | 1 p.m.
$10 per person | $5 for students | Free for members
Christopher Paul Curtis, acclaimed author of The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963 and Bud, Not Buddy, joins us to recount his journey as a writer and how growing up in Flint, Michigan, inspired many of his stories and characters. Known for his powerful storytelling and unforgettable characters, Curtis will bring history to life while highlighting themes of family, resilience, and hope in America. Book signing to follow the program.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Christopher Paul Curtis’ first novel, The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963, was published in 1995 and brought him immediate national recognition, earning the Coretta Scott King Award and the Newbery Honor Book Award, among numerous other awards. Curtis is the first African American man to win the Newbery Medal for his second novel, Bud, Not Buddy. Following the success of his first two novels, he founded the Nobody but Curtis Foundation to improve literacy among children and young adults.
Presented in conjunction with the Candy Brown Holocaust and Human Rights Educator Series, generously supported by Candy and Ike Brown.
ADDITIONAL PROGRAMMING
FILM SCREENING: FOUR WINTERS
Sunday, January 11 | 2 p.m.
In person at the Museum | Free
Deep within the forests of Eastern Europe, more than 25,000 Jewish partisans, also called resistance fighters, tirelessly waged war against the Nazis and their collaborators. Despite extraordinary odds, they escaped Nazi slaughter, transforming from young innocents to courageous men and women. Through personal photographs, letters, rare archival film footage, and historic war records, Four Winters weaves together a complex, layered story that illuminates the many ways in which Jews resisted the Nazis.
FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION: PRESERVING FAMILY TESTIMONIES
Sunday, February 22 | 2 p.m. Reception | 2:30 p.m. Workshop
In person at the Museum | Free
Capturing a loved one’s story can feel overwhelming. In this workshop, the Museum’s Library & Archives Director will guide participants through the basics of interviewing family members, offer practical tips for collecting oral histories, and share simple strategies for preserving family stories for future generations.
GENOCIDE, NAZI MEDICINE, AND POSTWAR JUSTICE
Wednesday, May 6 | 7 p.m.
In person at the Museum | Free
Hear from Michael Emmett, M.D., as he examines the disturbing role physicians played in the Holocaust, and the complex legacy that followed. How did Nazi doctors, individuals previously sworn to heal, become central figures in eugenics, inhumane experimentation, and genocide? Emmett will trace the arc from these atrocities to the public trials at Nuremberg, in which several leading medical figures were held accountable for crimes against humanity. He will also confront a lesser-known dimension of the postwar reckoning, how U.S. medical experiments on vulnerable populations influenced the trials and shaped the international conversation on medical ethics.
Dr. Otmar von Verschuer examines twins at the Kaiser-Wilhelm Institute for Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics.
ADDITIONAL PROGRAMMING
AUSCHWITZ THROUGH THE LENS OF THE SS
Monday, June 8 | 1 p.m.
In person at the Museum | Free
Shortly after World War II, an American intelligence officer in Germany uncovered a personal album of photographs chronicling SS officer activities at Auschwitz-Birkenau. A chilling visual record from the Holocaust, the album was hidden in a garage for 70 years and then donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Historian Rebecca Erbelding, Ph.D., joins us to explore the photo album, which she determines was compiled by Karl Höcker, the adjutant to the camp commandant of Auschwitz. Containing rare images of SS officers at leisure, even as atrocities unfolded nearby, the album offers a disturbing glimpse into the personal lives of the perpetrators. Erbelding will share the album’s historical context, significance, and the complex ethical questions it raises about memory and complicity.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Rebecca Erbelding has been a historian, curator, and archivist at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum for 21 years. She holds a Ph.D. in American history from George Mason University. Her first book, Rescue Board: The Untold Story of America’s Efforts to Save the Jews of Europe, won the 2018 National Jewish Book Award for excellence in writing based on archival research. She and her work are featured in the 2022 PBS documentary “The U.S. and the Holocaust,” directed by Ken Burns, Lynn Novick, and Sarah Botstein. Her next book, Shelter on the Lake: 982 Holocaust Refugees and an American Small Town, will be released in spring 2027.
Presented in conjunction with the Candy Brown Holocaust and Human Rights Educator Series, generously supported by Candy and Ike Brown.
HOW SPORTS UNIFY AND INSPIRE REFUGEES WORLDWIDE
Wednesday, June 24 | 7 p.m.
In person at the Museum | Free
Sports bring communities together, bridge cultures, and forge global ties that resound beyond the stadium. For many refugees, sports — especially soccer — are powerful tools for building confidence and integrating into their new homes. In celebration of the FIFA World Cup 26™ and the global spotlight on our city, join Texas-based athletes and advocates as they reflect on the generational impact of sports in the lives of refugees.
ADDITIONAL PROGRAMMING
ENSLAVED FRONTIER:
WOMEN AND THE INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY IN TEXAS
Wednesday, July 22 | 1 p.m.
In Person at the Museum | Free
Texas women’s involvement in the institution of slavery, both as enslavers and as the enslaved, provides a look into their lives on the frontier during the antebellum and Civil War years. Under Texas law, free women could buy, sell, lease, and contract enslaved men, women, and children, as well as inherit and bequeath them. Using original records from courthouses across the state, Deborah Liles, Ph.D., joins us to offer a closer look at the history of slavery in Texas and the women who, whether by choice or circumstance, participated in its legacy.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Deborah Liles, Ph.D., is an associate professor and the W.K. Gordon Chair of Texas History at Tarleton State University. She is the author or co-editor of five books, including two that have won the Liz Carpenter Award: Women in Civil War Texas and Texas Women and Ranching Her research focuses on the antebellum livestock trade and its relationship to the institution of slavery.
Presented in conjunction with the Candy Brown Holocaust and Human Rights Educator Series, generously supported by Candy and Ike Brown.
FILM SCREENING: DISPOSABLE HUMANITY
Sunday, July 26 | 2 p.m.
In Person at the Museum | Free
This investigative documentary delves into the chilling legacy of the Nazi Aktion T4 program, which was responsible for the deaths of more than 250,000 individuals with disabilities. Most of its perpetrators were released without repercussions, and many continued to practice medicine after World War II. Through this decades-long film effort led by a family team of disability studies scholars and filmmakers, learn how Germany is grappling with the aftereffects of this history, and discover how disability activists and artists are committing to remembering these victims.
Presented in partnership with Coalition of Texans with Disabilities.
Still from a film produced by the Reich Propaganda Ministry. It shows patients in an unidentified asylum. Their existence is described as “life without hope.” The Nazis sought, through propaganda, to develop public sympathy for the euthanasia program.
SURVIVOR SPEAKER SERIES
Join us to hear the testimonies of Holocaust survivors, refugees, and hidden children, as well as second-generation speakers.
In person at the Museum and virtual via Zoom | Free
SPRING BREAK SURVIVOR SPEAKER SERIES
Monday, March 16 - Friday, March 20 at 1 p.m. each day
SUMMER SURVIVOR SPEAKER SERIES
Held at 1 p.m. on the following days:
Wednesday, June 3
Monday, June 1
Friday, June 26
Tuesday, July 7
Monday, July 13
Friday, July 31
PROGRAMS FOR STUDENTS
HOMESCHOOL DAYS
Tuesday, February 17 | 9:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Tuesday, April 14 | 9:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
In person at the Museum | $15 per person
Join the Museum’s Education staff for a day of learning for homeschool students. Activities include a tour of the permanent exhibition (6th grade and above), a Dimensions in Testimony SM experience, and age-appropriate, interactive classroom programs.
STUDENT DAY AT THE MUSEUM
Sunday, March 8 | 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
In person at the Museum | Free
Calling all high school students! Visit the Museum on Sunday, March 8, for complimentary admission and a free afternoon of learning and activities. Explore the Museum’s permanent exhibitions, attend an interactive session in our Dimensions in Testimony SM Theater, participate in an art project and listen to gallery talks by Museum docents on key subjects.
Nonstudent visitors must purchase Museum admission.
CORPORATE ENGAGEMENT OPPORTUNITIES
The Museum offers a range of opportunities to engage with our mission. Join our growing group of leading companies and connect through the following ways:
Business Partner, a corporate membership offering a full year of benefits, including business development, employee and client engagement perks, and marketing exposure.
Sponsorship of the Museum’s ongoing public programming, educational initiatives, and special exhibitions.
Programs for Professionals that engage participants in interactive learning, fostering connection and developing Upstander skills.
Private Rental of our premier venue, an optimal space for receptions, meetings, lectures, and film screenings. Corporate@dhhrm.org | 469-399-5233
CORPORATE ENGAGEMENT
MEMBERSHIP
Become a Museum member and receive exclusive benefits and early access to programming. Starting at $60, membership includes free admission and parking, program discounts, access to our digital content, and more! Members receive a discount online or in the Museum Store.
Member support ensures that the lessons of history live on. By sharing this history, the Museum encourages Upstander behavior and teaches each of us how to make a difference.
469-399-5210 | dhhrm.org/membership
“Being
able to attend and visit the Museum was a truly emotionally and enlightening experience. Thank you for supporting the education of people and becoming the true legacy of humanity.”
- Mikayla, 10th grade student, Lakeview Centennial High School